Y! Sports Blogs

Here are your Weekend Puck Headlines: A glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

• R.J. Umberger said that Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has "probably the most confidence" he's seen in him "from the AHL until now." Can the Philadelphia Flyers figure out a way to rattle him like they turned Carey Price into a festering pool of JELL-O in the previous series? Or can that only happen inside the friendly confines of the Wachovia Center? In other news, please shave, Sidney. You look like the singer in the boy band that's supposed to be from "the streets." [Philly.com]

• Looking at the animosity between John Stevens and Michel Therrien from back in their AHL days. [Canadian Press]

• Guessing the suspension for Mike Ribeiro after his two-handed slash on Chris Osgood of the Detroit Red Wings. Since the NHL has what appears to be a 10-to-1 ratio of regular season suspended-games to postseason suspended-games, this should be a one-gamer. Then again, Waiting for Stanley believes he shouldn't even receive any suspension at all because Osgood goaded him into it: "Be a man and own up to the stick job you put on Ribeiro! Gutless puke."

• Is Patrick Roy the next coach of the Colorado Avalanche? Better question: Will his son be hired as either a goalie fight coordinator or to rap the team's official theme song? [Avs Talk]

• Buffalo Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn has made it clear that the team won't be sold to anybody who might relocate the franchise. But it's not exactly up to the owners; if the NHL wants hockey in Buffalo, it'll stay in Buffalo. [The Buffalo News]

• Larry Brooks believes it's time for the New York Rangers to stop playing hardball and get serious about re-signing Sean Avery. Because it's going to be very difficult for him to get time off from Vogue for salary negotiations this summer. [NY Post]

• Jacques Lemaire says he'll return to coach the Minnesota Wild next season, and admits something rather interesting: Some of his players completely tuned him out during a rough spot back in February. [Twincities.com]

• Going to Disney World and discovering the obvious: That the Stanley Cup Finals are dead to Orlando. [Wild Puck Banter]

• Finally, the Flyers could turn to Steve Downie tonight, Max Talbot is back for the Penguins, and Flyers Goal Scored By offers a rather funny look at the top only five commercials on Versus.

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Hockey moms are awesome. Yes, even Mama Niedermayer, who once chose to root against Scott in the Stanley Cup Finals. Yes, even the moms that drop F-bombs (and MF-bombs and SOB-bombs and C-sucker bombs) at their kid's youth hockey game (video, very NSFW). Because who else is going to pack up the SUV or mini-van with hockey equipment at 4:30 in the morning in order to drive to some godforsaken tournament on a Saturday? Who else keeps a warm blanket and a winter jacket in the car during August? Our buddy Nemmy from The 2 Man Advantage said it best in his tribute to hockey moms: "Every loving mother deserves at least a day of recognition. Hockey mothers deserve a little more. After all, if that lady had taken you to soccer camp all these years you'd probably be a p---y and wouldn't know anything about true teamwork. But you aren't." So Happy Mother's Day to everyone for which the salutation applies.

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The assorted tomfoolery continues between Pittsburgh Penguins fans and Philadelphia Flyers fanatics over the desecration of assorted landmarks in their respective cities. Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Horses put out a hit list of other Philadelphia targets for Penguins fans to hit with shirts, jerseys and digital cameras. The Pensblog published photos of a few competed missions, including this assault on the Robert Indiana "LOVE" sculpture.

But the epicenter of this battle continues to be the Rocky Balboa statue, which Penguins fans gleefully defaced even after a Philadelphia radio station attempted to protect it with a bodyguard. This silly attempt at hexing the Flyers has even started its own fashion trend: The image here is from a T-shirt currently being sold by Moewampum.com, which is also the producer of the "Avery Rule" shirts.

But there have been so many attempts at draping The Italian Stallion with Penguins schwag that some fans want credit where it's due. This weekend, we received an e-mail from a reader who claimed he and his boys were the "original guys" to hit the Rocky statue before the series, and provided this YouTubage as evidence:

It should be noted that they also ominously wrote "there is more to come against philly." Honestly, what else could these Penguins fans have in mind? You don't think ... nah.

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Detroit 90, Orlando 89 

We'll have a Detroit-only column coming around the bend pretty soon, and I don't want to run the risk of repetition, so pardon me while I focus on the ways in which Orlando blew this one.

Up 15 with eight and a half minutes left in the third quarter, the Magic clanged three three-pointers, bombs that the team thought were going to break Detroit's back. The Pistons were playing without the injured Chauncey Billups, they were toiling against an Orlando outfit that played them to a hilt in Game 2 and trounced them in Game 3, and the Magic likely assumed that one more 25-footer would break the camel's back.

The shot never hit. And Detroit came down with the rebound (after a few tries, actually), moved the ball, and poured in a series of mid-range looks. Orlando kept turning the ball over (12 times in the game, a great mark for the Magic, but several came in that costly third period), and Detroit outscored the Magic by 18 points in about seven minutes before Maurice Evans hit a game-tying three-pointer to finish the third quarter.

Now I know why Ben Q. Rock gave his Magic blog the name he did.

Hedo Turkoglu took over in the fourth, and the Magic were a few unlucky rolls away from pulling out the win in the final seconds, but this is a game they should have wrapped up in that third quarter. Sure, the Pistons are good enough to beat the Magic in Orlando without Chauncey Billups, but it doesn't mean you let it happen. Read More >>

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As we've mentioned before, committees are only formed for two purposes: to create the illusion that you're addressing a problem, and to diffuse blame when things keep going badly.

Even though we're hearing stuff like this out of St. Louis...

The manager said he expected to "mix and match" his pitching options in the ninth going forward, though he did say right-handers Ryan Franklin and Russ Springer would be the "guys who match up the best" if everyone is well-rested and healthy.

...it appears that Franklin will be the primary ninth inning option for the Cardinals, at least until Jason Isringhausen can recover his lost command, mechanics, and his will to close. As long as Franklin continues to be successful, there won't really be any need for a committee.

Thus, in public leagues, the 0.5 percent-owned Franklin should be on someone's roster today. Here's us last night: "If you can only add one of Isringhausen's potential replacements, make it Franklin. But we say that with only limited confidence." Today we're somewhat more confident.

Franklin earned the save in Saturday's 5-3 win over the Brewers, and he faced the top of Milwaukee's order in doing so. He lowered his ERA to 1.89, though he still only has eight Ks in 19.0 innings.

Springer pitched a shaky eighth inning today, allowing two walks and a hit. The 39-year-old escaped a bases-loaded jam when Jason Kendall missed a sign on a squeeze play, and Bill Hall was caught between third and home.

"I cost us the game," Kendall later said.

Well, there were other culprits, too...

• Eric Gagne gave up three singles and an intentional walk in the top of the ninth, allowing two earned runs. Gagne now has two losses, five blown saves, and a 6.89 ERA. His post-game comments were oddly similar to Isringhausen's the day before:

"I don’t deserve that ninth inning right now. It’s pretty simple."

Unlike Isringhausen, Gagne did not explicitly ask to be relieved of his responsibilities, he just said that he doesn't deserve them. Reject/denounce...we concede the point. Read More >>

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No. 1 star: Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings
Hey, nice to see the Red Wings get some secondary scoring. The Mule can't do it all, you know. Especially when he's not in the lineup. Ok, so Zetterberg doesn't play second fiddle to anyone on this roster. Johan Franzen and Tomas Holmstrom are getting all kinds of attention, and justifiably so, but Zetterberg hasn't been too shabby of late with points in seven straight and goals in five of six. Saturday he potted the game-winner on the power play, registered seven shots for the second straight game and won nine of 14 faceoffs.

No. 2 star: Darren Helm, Detroit Red Wings
Helm was a fifth-round draft pick. He was drafted by Detroit. So of course he'll be a star. They were gushing about Helm Saturday in Detroit. A sample from coach Mike Babcock:

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All right, here's the deal. In preparation for tonight's Dodge Challenger 500, we've given you a history of the Darlington track. We've given you ten track facts. We've given you what to watch for tonight, and the top five storylines headed into the race. We've shown you the keys to victory at the racetrack.

And that's not all. We've also given you a picture of a gorgeous lady in black (see what we did there?) at right. Heck, we've even given you some video of Danica running a dude over. We'll be giving you lap-by-lap commentary from the experts over on the NASCAR front page.

And frankly, friends, we're tired. We want you to shoulder some of the load. And that's where the weekly "Running wide open" talkback thread comes in.

It's your turn -- give us your thoughts on tonight's race as it takes place. Who's going to win? Who's going to wreck?  How soon will Kyle Busch get put into the wall? On the pace lap? Be fast, be funny, be witty, be insightful -- remember, you're being watched -- and have fun with it.

Fire away, people!

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The NHL claims that The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is "an annual award under the trusteeship of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association and [that] is given to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey." But what it really means is that the award is given to the player that overcame the most squeamish, tragic or devastating ailment or injury.

In many ways, the Masterton is like the NHL's version of the Best Actor Academy Award -- it's usually the battle between those who put in remarkable performances, those who have paid their dues and deserve some career-affirming hardware, and those who overcame some sort of ghastly malady (on screen). Yes, there are exceptions; but as good as Denzel was in "Malcolm X," he didn't play a blind guy like 1992 Best Actor Al Pacino did in "Scent of a Woman." Tom Hanks ruled the world in "Big," but there was no chance Dustin Hoffman wasn't going to win for "Rain Man" in 1988.

That's why as much as he deserved a nomination, Ty Conklin of the Pittsburgh Penguins was ignored. Criminally, really: If this award is the League's de facto "comeback player of the year" honor, almost no one deserves it more than the guy who rebounded from one of the ultimate playoff embarrassments (video) to an unlikely career resurrection that helped lead the Penguins during their injury-plagued regular season. Should have been you, ConkBlock.

The nominees this year are Jason Blake of the Toronto Maple Leafs, defenseman Chris Chelios of the Detroit Red Wings and right wing Fernando Pisani of the Edmonton Oilers. Of the three, Chelios is clearly at a disadvantage because he's just ancient rather than living with an unfortunate disease. Here's the skinny on the Masterton field:Read More >>

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Oh, Danica. And things were going so well:

Based on her appearance afterward, I think we can rule out "putting on her makeup in the rearview mirror" as a cause of the accident.

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