wednesday info

[wigs]

pit/nj

important to note this is a totally different team since trading deadline, pens have brought in several new faces, article here goes in detail on their strategy to pound and outwork the opposition..."Since we got the new guys it's a different hockey game right now," winger Alexei Kovalev said. "Before, we had some shots at the net but we never had anybody in front of the net. Now, it's a different story. When they first came, we had bodies in front of the net right away but we didn't make enough shots at the net. Right now, we've put it all together."

http://www.post-gazette.com/Penguins/20020327pens0327p3.asp

Manderville missed the Washington game after sustaining an ankle injury against Philadelphia and won't play tonight for Pit.
The Penguins worked with the following line combinations at yesterday's practice:
Jan Hrdina with Aleksey Morozov and Kovalev;
Robitaille with Jeff Toms and Ville Nieminen;
Milan Kraft with Dab Lacouture and Shean Donovan;
and Kris Beech with Toby Petersen and Krzysztof Oliwa

Hedberg and Brodeur expected in goal--

 

[wigs]

ATL

ATL

atl as well has a trio of new players entering lineup tonight, from atlanta journal:

Thrashers rookie center Dan Snyder was suspended for three games by the NHL on Tuesday for an elbow to the head of Ottawa's Sami Salo on Saturday.

Because of Snyder's suspension and injuries to defenseman Brian Pothier (concussion) and center Kamil Piros (bruised knee), the team recalled three players from Chicago of the AHL.
Defenseman Francis Lessard, right wing Brad Tapper and center Yuri Butsayev all will play tonight against Minnesota.
Lessard, 22, will provide toughness. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder had 251 penalty minutes in 60 games with the Philadelphia Phantoms before being acquired on March 15 for David Harlock and draft picks.

The Thrashers also will get their first look at Butsayev, who was acquired at the trading deadline from Detroit with picks for Jiri Slegr.

 

[wigs]

chi

chi

chi tribune says sutter hasnt named goalie for tilt against nash--"Hawks coach Brian Sutter won't say which goalie will start. Backup Passmore has the hot hand with an 6-1-1 record in his last eight decisions, while Thibault is 1-5-2 since the Olympic break. "I know we've got a lot of games coming up and we're going to need them both," said Sutter. "Between Wednesday night and Friday night and Sunday afternoon, you probably are going to see them both."

fitzgerald plays against old mates tonight--
If I have to go through them, I'll go through them," said Fitzgerald, who was the Predators' captain before being traded to the Hawks on March 13. "I'll prepare for them the same way as the St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars or whichever the team may be.
"They're not my friends. They're my enemies?until the game is over.

Sutter was delighted with the performance of his fourth line?Casey Hankinson, the newly recalled center from Norfolk, and wingers Ryan VandenBussche and Aaron Downey?in Sunday's 4-3 victory over St. Louis. "Best game our fourth line has played all year," said the coach. "St. Louis had the momentum in the second period. Our fourth line had two good shifts in the last six or seven minutes of the period and got it back."

tennessean says "Vokoun will start in one of the next two games against Chicago and Detroit since Nashville has back-to-back outings."

 

[wigs]

yotes

yotes

phoenix--from az republic

first of back to back between ducks and coyotes...

"The Coyotes have met Anaheim three times this year. They are 0-3.... the teams last met on back-to-back nights Dec. 21-22 with Phoenix on a two-game winning streak, and the Ducks came away with 2-1 and 4-1 wins.
Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere has bested Phoenix's Sean Burke in all three meetings.
"I wouldn't call it domination," Mighty Ducks coach Bryan Murray said after Tuesday's morning skate. "We beat them in overtime, and we got the great start in Phoenix and Giguere played well from that point on. We're not that far away from anybody. If we get a good start, or play particularly well, we can win. And, sometimes, you just match up against a team well."

Coyotes coach Bobby Francis had the team fly in early and practice at the Pond on Tuesday. The fact that Anaheim has scored six of its nine goals against Phoenix in the first period has caused him to question the team's preparation for the Ducks.
"We've allowed them to dictate the tempo," Francis said. "They're doing it to other people as well. Allow them to dictate how the game is going to be played, you're going to have trouble. It's why we changed up the trip.

"We wanted to come in here and skate on their sheet - which is definitely a different sheet (slow and bumpy). We want to make sure our focus is ready for tomorrow and again for Thursday. We want to make sure our execution and tempo is high. The last game we came in here, we weren't prepared. We were out-chanced 9-1 in the first period. It makes you believe you'd better make some adjustments in your preparation."

Coyotes G Sean Burke could play both games. His save percentage is .923; Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere, .919.

Phoenix's D Ossi Vaananen (shoulder), C Denis Pederson (hip) and D Danny Markov (broken foot) are out. Anaheim's C Marc Chouinard (shoulder) is out. RW Patric Kjellberg (neck) is day-to-day.

 

[wigs]

more from az paper--
markov out for awhile, sounds like he had a sweet day...

"Danny Markov was grounded in more ways than one on Monday. First, the Coyotes defenseman learned, as expected, that he will be sidelined for at least five weeks after tests revealed he has a broken bone in his left ankle.
Then he got stuck at the team's Scottsdale training facility without a ride home.

"(Andrei) Nazarov borrowed my car and dropped it off, but he left with my freaking keys, the big jerk," Markov grumbled. "This is not so good a day for me."

The Coyotes, 10-2-2-1 in their past 15 games, also are without defenseman Ossi Vaananen. He is expected to miss four more games because of a bruised shoulder.

"We've relied on our defense all year; it's been our entire team concept," Francis said. "We're just going to have to ask more from certain individuals, who will have to step up and assume more responsibilities. The forwards will have to do a little more, too. We'll have to make up for it collectively."

Phoenix recall danny focht
The 6-foot-6 Focht, 24, will play a pivotal role as the No. 6 defenseman. He has appeared in only five NHL games, all this season, since the Coyotes made him a first-round pick six years ago.

"He's made some huge strides," Francis said. "We moved other guys and he assumed the No. 1 role down in Springfield. His play and his confidence have really come on. At this stage in his career, he should be ready and willing to play in this league."

 

[wigs]

REFS--

min/atl- langdon & hasenfratz
nj/pit- kimmerly & devorski
phx/ana- sutherland & shick
phi/nyr- walkom & vanmassenhoven
nas/chi- martell & heyer
ott/nyi- walsh & fraser

 

[ND2002HORNS]

Great stuff as always wigs, what is up with the Stars? I think trading or releasing 12 players during the season has alot to do with it. Too many new faces.

HORNS

 

[wigs]

yep, they have changed so many faces and are having great difficulty getting any cohesion as a unit. lines seem to change constantly and often make no sense to me-- they havent played horribly the past few games but they just lack scoring depth. looks more like 3 checking lines to me at times. so they are back to trying to win dallas' way 2-1, yet they dont have the carbonneau's, keane's etc to make sure they can win by only putting up 2 goals.. especially on the pk unit, which has been dreadful--

 

[wigs]

ref stats tonight

phx/ana shick 19-32 ov/un 4.88 gpg, sutherland 5.17 gpg
nj/pit- kimmerly 24-29 o/u 5.32 gpg, devorski 24-35 o/u 4.92 gpg
langdon in min/atl only ref in 6 games so far...
heyer in chi is 22-36 o/u 4.63, coupled with martell 5.34 gpg

 

[wigs]

nyr

blackburn in nets, this kind of sums up the rangers right now:

from newsday
"When Low was asked if he might try to rally the Rangers for tonight's showdown against Philadelphia by giving some fire-and-brimstone pregame speech - something like, "Nobody believes that we can make the playoffs but us, boys, so let's go out and show up everybody! Let's prove they're wrong!" - Low smiled weakly and cracked, "That was actually part of the pregame speech last night [before the loss to the Islanders]. Were you listening at the door, or what?"
good info and some stories
http://www.allsports.com/nhl/rangers/

expect plenty Low must go chants at the garden tonight
"Somebody sent me an e-mail a couple of days ago and the e-mail said, 'Please resign before we have to boo you out of the building,' " Low said. "Well, guess what? You aren't booing me out of the [expletive] building and I'm not quitting. So, that's where we're at."

 

[TORONTO-VIGILANTE]

thanks for the info WIGS!!!

 

[wigs]

minny
from paper--
Wild's first trip ever to atlanta
The Wild is playing on back-to-back nights after Tuesday's game in St. Louis. The Wild is 4-8-1 on the second night of consecutive games. . . . Defenseman Filip Kuba (broken hand) is out, but could be a week or so away from returning. Center Sergei Zholtok (shoulder) also is out. .. Manny Fernandez started in goal Tuesday, so Dwayne Roloson could start tonight -- his first start since March 18

Wild center Aaron Gavey sat out his third consecutive game Tuesday. Four games ago, Gavey left because of the flu and hasn't returned. He is well enough to play, but Lemaire said last week that he wants to get a long look at forward Tony Virta, who was called up from Houston. Virta played his third game Tuesday.

atlanta--"Entering tonight's game, Atlanta has killed off 22 of 23 penalties dating back to the second period against Pittsburgh at Philips Arena on March 18 ... The Thrashers lead the NHL with a 93 percent penalty killing percentage (66-for-73) since the Olympic break...