Month: April 2008

ANAHEIM, Calif. – High-flying a year ago, the Ducks are down and out.Like every other Stanley Cup champion of the past decade, Anaheim won’t be repeating.

After playing 77 regular season games and losing in the first round of the playoffs, Martin Brodeur has turned down an invitation to backstop Canada’s team in this year’s World Championship.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Nashville Predators’ reward for surviving a year with enough twists and turns for a soap opera came in the form of a fourth straight playoff berth.

DETROIT – Chris Osgood helped the Detroit Red Wings eliminate Nashville.Now, he’ll get a chance to keep the Red Wings rolling in the second round.

DALLAS – Sergei Zubov was already out with an injury. Then Philippe Boucher went down, too. So the Dallas Stars cringed when Stephane Robidas, another reliable defenceman, took a puck off his face and rushed straight to the dressing room during Game 5 of their first-round playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks.

MONTREAL – Game 7s were a hot topic this week, and a player who was in a truly memorable do-or-die contest was Boston Bruins backup goaltender Alex Auld.

TORONTO – Scott Niedermayer’s season is over but just how much he will earn in salary remains in question.The Anaheim Ducks star defenceman already lost about US$2 million in wages from his $6.

TORONTO – The NHL’s competition committee got a face lift Monday.Brian Campbell of the San Jose Sharks, Jeff Halpern of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres, Mathieu Schneider of the Anaheim Ducks and Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators have been selected by the executive board of the NHL Players’ Association as the new player representatives on the committee.

Brian Campbell of the San Jose Sharks, Jeff Halpern of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres, Mathieu Schneider of the Anaheim Ducks and Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators have been selected as the NHLPA’s new representatives on the competition committee.

MONTREAL – Guy Carbonneau plans to wear his lucky tie behind the Montreal Canadiens bench for Game 7 of their playoff series against the Boston Bruins.

TORONTO – Martin Brodeur is eyeing his fourth career Vezina Trophy and while he doesn’t have Roberto Luongo to worry about this year, Evgeni Nabokov is a serious threat.

NEW YORK – The NHL is out with its three finalists for the Vezina Trophy.
New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur, Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers and San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov are up for the top goaltender award.

NEW YORK – The NHL is out with its three finalists for the Vezina Trophy.New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur, Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers and San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov are up for the top goaltender award.

DALLAS – The Dallas Stars are taking their chase of the Stanley Cup into the second round of the playoffs – and the reigning champs aren’t.Stephane Robidas, playing with a cage covering his broken nose, scored the tying goal on the power play early in the third period then set up Stu Barnes for the go-ahead goal 52 seconds later, sending the Stars past the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 Sunday night to end their first-round series in six games.

CALGARY – The Calgary Flames staved off elimination from the NHL playoffs with a 2-0 win over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday.Game 7 of the Western Conference quarter-final series is Tuesday in San Jose.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nicklas Lidstrom and Jiri Hudler each scored, and the Detroit Red Wings closed out their opening series by beating the Nashville Predators 3-0 in Game 6 on Sunday.

DENVER – Sometimes the best moves are the ones that aren’t made.The Colorado Avalanche could’ve severed ties with goalie Jose Theodore last off-season by buying him out of the final year of his contract.

DENVER – Sometimes the best moves are the ones that aren’t made.The Colorado Avalanche could’ve severed ties with goalie Jose Theodore last off-season by buying him out of the final year of his contract.

VOORHEES, N.J. – Alex Ovechkin has at least one more game to play up to his “Alexander the Great” nickname.The Philadelphia Flyers don’t want to give the Capitals star forward any more chances to rediscover his scoring touch.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nashville captain Jason Arnott was diagnosed with a concussion and will miss his second straight playoff game Sunday.The Predators enter the game trailing the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in the series.