The Detroit Red Wings took advantage of the shootout to win three times during their NHL-record, 23-game home winning streak. Detroit's good fortune in the one-on-one duels ran out and its run ended against the Vancouver Canucks. Alex Burrows scored the only goal in a shootout, which was made possible when Daniel Sedin scored his second goal of the game with 15.4 seconds left in regulation, to...
No. 1 Star: Devan Dubnyk, Edmonton Oilers
Dubnyk kept the Philadelphia Flyers at bay all night with a 35-save performance earning him his 12th win of the year in a 2-0 Oilers win. Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall scored both Edmonton goals in the second period. The shutout was Dubnyk's first of the season and third of his career.
No. 2 Star: Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks
Marleau's 24th and 25 goals of the year came in the game's opening 10:43 and were the only tallies for the Sharks in their 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Marleau's first of the night came just 32 seconds into the game that helped drop the Leafs to their seventh loss in eight games. Antti Niemi made 29 saves to record just his second win in his last eight starts.
No. 3 Star: Andrew Ladd, Winnipeg Jets
The Jets captain scored twice in the opening two periods as they built up a 4-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning and held on for a 4-3 win. It was the second straight two-goal game for Ladd, who also assisted on Dustin Byfuglien's 10th of the year to make it 4-0.
Honorable mention: Ray Whitney scored in regulation, assisted on another and put home the only goal in the shootout as the Phoenix Coyoted downed the Calgary Flames 4-3 to win for the ninth time in 10 games. Mike Smith made 21 saves for his ninth straight win ... Corey Perry recorded his third straight 30-goal season and eighth goal in nine games as the Anaheim Ducks slipped by the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in a shootout. Saku Koivu netted the only goal in the skills competition and Jonas Hiller stopped 30 shots ... The game marked the 2,900th in the career of Hurricanes broadcaster Chuck Kaiton ... Matt Cullen scored in regulation and later in the shootout as the Minnesota Wild edged the Florida Panthers 3-2. Niklas Backstrom made 41 saves ... Stephen Weiss played in his 614th game with the Panthers, passing Radek Dvorak on the franchise's all-time list ... Vladimir Sobotka tied things at two with under seven minutes to play and T.J. Oshie and Andy McDonald both scored in the shootout as the St. Louis Blues beat the Nashville Predators 3-2. Jaroslav Halak made 25 saves for his fourth win in six starts ... Ryan Malone has your assist of the night with this sweet between-the-legs dish to Steven Stamkos:
Steve Ott, Michael Ryder and Loui Eriksson all scored third period goals for the Dallas Stars as they defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1. Richard Bachman stopped 26 shots as the Stars ended Chicago's four-game winning streak ... Daniel Sedin's second goal of the night with 15.4 seconds in regulation forced overtime and Alex Burrows would later pot the shootout winner as the Vancouver Canucks got by the Detroit Red Wings 4-3. Henrik Sedin, of course, assisted on both of Daniel's goals and Roberto Luongo made 33 saves ... Darren Helm recorded three points in the loss for Detroit. Kyle Quincey scored in his first game since being acquired by the Red Wings.
Fight of the Night: Jody Shelley vs. Darcy Hordichuk:
Did you know? The Ducks have earned 36 points since January 1, tied with Detroit for the most in the NHL. (@AnaheimDucks)
Dishonorable mention: The loss ends the Red Wings' 23-game winning streak at Joe Louis Arena. Their last defeat at home came on Nov. 3 against Calgary ... Mathieu Garon lasted just 22 minutes for the Lightning, allowing four goals on 18 shots ... Finally, Scott Hannan may have a few sleepless nights after this turnover:
The Vancouver Canucks ended the Detroit Red Wings' historic home winning streak at 23 games Thursday, defeating the Wings 4-3 in a shootout. The winner was scored by Alex Burrows, who celebrated the streak-ending goal in reminiscent fashion, pretending to break a stick over his knee, just as he did after a very similar big goal four years ago.
Here's Burrows, beating Jimmy Howard with his go-to backhand deke to win the game for Vancouver:
You'll notice that, after the goal, he curls around to the boards and feigns breaking his stick over his knee.
The gesture is a familiar one to Canuck fans. In 2008, with the team mired in an 8-game losing streak and 1:30 to go in a 3-3 tie versus the Carolina Hurricanes, Burrows broke in alone, shorthanded, and scored the eventual game-winner using the exact same deke -- and then he celebrated in the exact same way.
Of course, in that case, it was the Canucks' own streak they were breaking, not someone else's. When you break someone else's streak then celebrate like this, isn't it just showboating?
While we're talking about this, to anyone complaining that the Wings' streak ended in a skills competition: it was made possible by the same skills competition. Either there's asterisks everywhere or there's none anywhere. I'm in the latter camp.
It was an incredible streak and now it's over. That is all. As the saying goes: live by the arbitrary skills competition, die by the arbitrary skills competition.
Here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished.
• The first step in an east coast/west coast mascot war equivalent to Biggie versus Tupac. [Getty]
Preview: San Jose Sharks at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. ET. The Sharks are currently fighting for their playoff lives as they sit tied with the Phoenix Coyotes at 69 points atop the Pacific Division and enter tonight's game against the Leafs losers of their last four and nine of 11 on the road. Toronto is in a similar battle but are clinging to eighth in the Eastern Conference with four teams behind them within six points.
Preview: Vancouver Canucks at Detroit Red Wings, 7:30 p.m. ET. Next up to attempt to snap Detroit's 24-game win streak at Joe Louis Arena are the team sitting right behind the Red Wings for No. 1 overall in the NHL. Vancouver holds the most road wins (20) in the league and have a game in hand behind the Western Conference-leading Wings.
Preview: St. Louis Blues at Nashville Predators, 8 p.m. ET. A night after St. Louis' 22-game home point streak ended, their opponents look to extend one of their own. The Predators have picked up at least a point in their last nine games at Bridgestone Arena and with a regulation win will move to within a point of the Blues for fourth in the West.
Preview: Phoenix Coyotes at Calgary Flames, 9 p.m. ET. Despite the muck surrounding their future off the ice, on the ice the Coyotes are playing their best hockey of the season. Winners of eight of their last 10 and led by Radim Vrbata and his 30 goals, Phoenix has played themselves into the top-8 in the West and a win coupled with a San Jose loss would give them the Pacific Division lead. The Flames currently sit just outside the West playoff picture, but a win puts them into eighth ahead of the Los Angeles Kings.
Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page. For tonight's starting goalies, check out Left Wing Lock.
Evening Reading
• After today's blog post about a press conference room inside Nationwide Arena being expanded for what appeared to be preparation for something, Aaron Portzline reports that the Columbus Blue Jackets and Los Angeles Kings are deep in talks about a deal that may go down tonight involving Jeff Carter. Not involved? Jonathan Bernier. [@APortzline]
• Nick Cotsonika on why Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson should wait until the summer to deal Rick Nash. [Y!]
• Stephen Weiss will play in his franchise-record 614th game with the Florida Panthers. Here are some Stephen Weiss "facts", courtesy of fans. [Panthers]
• Vancouver Canucks forward David Booth returns to his hometown of Detroit tonight and he'll have plenty of friends and family in attendance at Joe Louis Arena, including his brother, who's supposedly going to dress up as one of the Green Men. [Vancouver Sun]
• Debating Alex Goligoski versus Matt Niskanen one year after the deal. [Defending Big D]
Puck Daddy Reader Comment of the Day: Galen on Jonathan Toews' car accident today:
"He was talking to Peggy from USA Prime Credit. Juke to the left, high glove side….Doh he hits the post."
Bold Prediction: Detroit wins again and Radim Vrbata scores again.
Just when you think the euphoria (and revenue-producing opportunities) surrounding the NHL's return to Winnipeg might ebb, along comes a limited run beer featuring local water blessed by hockey fans.
Beginning on Monday, Budweiser will release 24,000 two-fours of Winnipeg Jets Fan Brew — which comes in specially marked cans and a certificate of authenticity to assure the beer-swilling public that this beer does use, like, Saskatchewan water.
(Check out the can design here; the one shown on this post is from earlier this season.)
Back during the euphoria of the Jets' home opener on Oct. 9, Budweiser took water from historical landmarks in Winnipeg, including The Forks, the MTS Centre and the Manitoba legislature, put it in a container and took it around town to be blessed by hockey fans.
Some of that water was even poured onto the ice surface at the MTS Centre by Jim Ludlow, president and CEO of True North Sports & Entertainment.
That's awesome, while also something that makes us grateful for the brewery filtration process. Does Nathan Horton have any of that Boston Dirty Water left from the 2011 Finals, or did he empty it all on the ice? Because Sam Adams would be all over that.
Said Dan Chubey, district sales manager of Labatt Breweries of Canada, which produces Budweiser in Canada:
"The brewing process for the fan brew is identical to the regular Budweiser brewing process. We took the water from Winnipeg and transported it to our brewery in Edmonton that has been brewing Budweiser for 30 years," he said.
Hey, that's really … EDMONTON? This was brewed in Edmonton?! Great, now it's going to taste like Gretzky coaching the Coyotes.
Seriously, though: This is just another example of the off-the-charts fervor that's embraced the return of the Jets and led to their rather impressive 18-9-3 home record — a mark that potential No. 6 seeds in the East should keep an eye on if, per chance, the Jets win the Southeast.
Here's a video shown at MTS Centre about the whole blessed Manitoba water thing.
What kind of beer would you like to see your NHL team brew?
You should all know the Spin Doctors rules by now: Two members of the Yahoo! fantasy team debate the merits of two similarly ranked fantasy assets, then readers get to tell us both how horribly wrong we are in comments. And then everyone gives a thumbs-down to Fitzy. Today, we're discussing Toronto's Brett Lawrie (Yahoo! ADP 54.4) and New York's Alex Rodriguez (45.9), which would have seemed ridiculous just 12 months ago. But times change, and so we spin...
Behrens begins: If you want to accuse me of drinking the Lawrie Kool-Aid, fine. I'll accept your abuse. If you think I'm naively paying a hopeful price on a guy who might be great in the big leagues, but hasn't done it yet, well ... yeah, OK. Fair enough.
The fact is, I don't make a habit of drafting very young players (he's 22) with very early picks (he's No. 29 in my ranks) unless I think I'm getting an absolute star, a player with the potential to deliver first-round value. Lawrie, to me, looks like a five-category beast. He was basically unstoppable at Triple-A last season, hitting .353/.415/.661 at Las Vegas with 18 home runs over 69 games, plus he was 13-for-15 on stolen base attempts. When he made the jump to the majors, he continued to produce: .293/.373/.580, nine homers, seven steals in eight attempts. If you're worried about the risk associated with this kid, then by all means leave him for me. I'll take him.
Lawrie went 27/20 across two levels last year in just 112 games, reaching base at an excellent clip. I won't be surprised if he delivers something close to a 30/30 season in 2012. It's tough not to like Toronto's lineup, and the home park is friendly. I'll gladly reach for a player ahead of his ADP if the skill-set and team context looks like Lawrie's.
Of course A-Rod will do his hitting in a better lineup this season, in an incredibly friendly park. He gets the edge if we're only talking about surroundings. But let's also remember that Rodriguez turns 37 in July, he hasn't delivered a .280 average since 2009, he's no longer a threat to run (four steals in 2011, four in 2010), and he's spent time on the disabled list in each of the past four seasons. It was a meniscus tear last year, a calf injury the season before, a hip issue in '09, and a quad in '08. It's always something. He's an aging player with his best years (and his healthiest years) behind him. There's little doubt he can still be a useful fantasy commodity, but A-Rod is no longer a horse. Um...so to speak.
Pianowski responds: I understand that I'm probably set up to fail with this Rodriguez defense. Every non-Yankee fan seems to hate the guy, for one thing. Rodriguez has been around long enough to get on everyone's nerves. Lawrie is the fresh kid on the scene, the newborn puppy you get on Christmas morning.
Rodriguez is clearly in his twillight years, we all see that, but careers don't always decline in a linear fashion. He was a monster in 2011's first half, posting a tasty .295-53-13-52-4 line, elite numbers. A troublesome knee problem took over in the second half and Rodriguez was a washout down the stretch, fine. It doesn't mean he can't have a strong 2012 season. Early rehab reports have been positive.
Okay, I can't be that vague about A-Rod's health: we've got an issue to discuss. Rodriguez headed to Germany in late December to have an experimental procedure done on his knee. I know, sounds dicey — leaving the country for an experiment. But the Orthokine treatment was recommended by A-Rod's pal Kobe Bryant (who had it done a few months ago), and we can all see Kobe's current stats are terrific. Here's to science.
There's a solid lineup in the YYZ, but The Bronx is the safest place to invest — the Bombers ranked second, first and first in MLB runs over the last three seasons. For all of Lawrie's glittering skills and rookie stats, he's played all of 43 games in the show. Remember how Buster Posey, Jason Heyward and Brian Matusz ruined your life last year? Do you remember Chris Coghlan and Andrew Bailey regressing after winning 2009 hardware? Be careful when it comes to pricing in improvement with those buzzy sophomores. (I know, I know, this is a recording.)
Sometimes the boring vet is the way to go. Alex Rodriguez, the devil you know.
Whereas Tuesday night's slate presented a handful of bubble teams with opportunities for resume-building wins, Wednesday night was all about avoiding damaging losses.
Teams like Purdue, Drexel and Dayton did that. Teams like George Mason, Saint Joseph's and Southern Mississippi did not.
Here's a look at the five most damaging losses bubble teams suffered Wednesday night. Not all of them were against inferior competition but all of them were costly.
1. Southern Mississippi: Seemingly well on its way to its first NCAA tournament berth in more than two decades as recently as a week ago, Southern Mississippi has suddenly slipped toward the bubble with its first two-game losing streak of the season. The Golden Eagles lost 73-71 to Houston on Saturday and 76-68 to UTEP in 2OT on Wednesday, falling out of a first-place tie with Memphis in the process. Although solid wins over Memphis, Colorado State, South Florida and Marshall keep Southern Mississippi (22-6, 9-4) in the field as of today, the Golden Eagles' hold on a spot is growing tenuous. They certainly cannot lose to Rice or SMU in their final two home games and they may need to win at Marshall in the regular season finale to feel good about their position entering the Conference USA tournament.
2. Saint Joseph's: Had the Hawks beaten rebuilding Richmond on Wednesday night, they would have been alone in third place in the Atlantic 10 with a home matchup against league-leading Temple up next. Instead they fell from the fringes of the bubble right off it completely, losing 52-49 to a Spiders team that lost all but one starter off last year's Sweet 16 team. There may still be a glimmer of hope for Saint Joseph's with a win over Temple and a run to the A-10 title game, but realistically Wednesday night's loss may have been a death blow for a team likely a year away from contending for the league title. There are simply too many bad losses to be overcome for a modest collection of quality wins against the likes of Drexel, Dayton and Creighton.
3. West Virginia: Although there's no shame in a road loss at streaking Notre Dame, it wasn't a good omen for the Mountaineers that they were outscored by 25 points in the second half en route to a 71-44 throttling. Worse yet, West Virginia (17-11, 7-8) shot only 31.1 percent from the floor and 1 of 11 from behind the arc, falling for the sixth time in the past eight games. Victories against Georgetown, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Miami and Oral Roberts boost the Mountaineers' resume, but their margin for error has vanished. They may need to win two of their final three against Marquette, DePaul and South Florida and avoid an opening-round Big East tourney loss to feel safe on Selection Sunday.
4. George Mason: While George Mason still can win a share of CAA title if it beats VCU in its regular season finale and Drexel falls to Old Dominion, Wednesday night's overtime loss to Northeastern probably ends the Patriots' at-large hopes. An at-large team cannot have losses to Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Duquesne, Delaware and Northeastern no matter how well it fared the bulk of conference play. What hurt George Mason (23-7, 14-3) against Northeastern was a poor shooting night from star Ryan Pearson and way too many turnovers, a problem that cropped up in many of their early-season non-conference losses. The Patriots committed 21 turnovers, six alone by guard Bryon Allen.
5. South Florida: How damaging South Florida's 56-48 loss to Syracuse is depends on whether you take a glass-half-empty or glass-half-full approach. On the one hand, the Bulls wasted a 13-point first-half lead and let an opportunity for a desperately needed signature win slip away. On the other hand, the Bulls challenged the perception that they aren't NCAA tournament-caliber by pushing the nation's second-ranked team until the final minutes on its home floor. Either way, South Florida definitely has more work to do to play its way into the field. Despite a 10-5 Big East record, the Bulls (17-11) probably need to win at least two of their final three regular season games against Cincinnati, Louisville and West Virginia to boost a profile currently lacking enough quality wins.
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