No. 1 Star: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

One month to the day since his hat trick against the Montreal Canadiens, Crosby had good timing delivering his fourth career three-goal performance on free hat night at Mellon Arena. The Penguins captain added two assists for a five-point night as Pittsburgh the New York Rangers 8-3. Crosby is now tied for sixth in the scoring race with 30 points.

No. 2 Star: Johan Hedberg, Atlanta Thrashers

"Moose" made 34 saves for his first shutout of the season in a 1-0 Thrashers victory. Atlanta entered the game on a 14-game losing streak against Philadelphia before Rich Peverley's 10th goal of the year put the Thrashers up for good. Hedberg has now won four of his five last starts and Atlanta is undefeated in their last three games. 

No. 3 Star: Eric Fehr, Washington Capitals

Down a goal with under a minute to play and on the power play, Washington won a faceoff in the Montreal zone and Fehr knocked home a rebound to send the game into overtime. Nicklas Backstrom's goal in the shootout gave the Capitals a 4-3 win. Fehr ended the night with two goals giving him six on the year. He's currently half way to his single-season high of 12 goals which he reached last year.

Read More »

(No, the first decade of the 21st century doesn't technically end until 2011. Save your bellyaching. But we've had nine NHL seasons and one stolen from us since 1999-2000, and Yahoo! Sports has decided it's time to rank the best and worst of the last "decade." Enjoy, and snark freely in the comments.)

Moments of unjustifiable criminal behavior. Economic despair. Debilitating physical ailments that irrevocably changed the lives of many.

Man, was this a great decade for the NHL or what?

It wasn't all doom, gloom, frustration and desperation. The lowest points for the NHL sometimes led to new heights for the game. But in thinking about the stories that received the most scrutiny, coverage and attention from fans and media over the last decade, there's no question that bad news made the headlines more often than the positive vibes.

Here's a look back at the 10 biggest stories in the NHL over the last decade ...

Read More »

As their fight 18 seconds into the second period became a tepid collection of misplaced blows and sweater jabs, Craig Rivet(notes) of the Buffalo Sabres and Daniel Carcillo(notes) of the Philadelphia Flyers could probably hear the natives in Philly getting restless on Friday. Booing from the underwhelmed masses began just over halfway through the pedestrian fight, before the two pugilists finished strong:

If at first you don't succeed, pummel, pummel again. In a textbook example of the kind of staged fight the NHL may eventually legislate out of the game, Rivet and Carcillo yapped before the faceoff and then dropped the gloves for Round 2. They didn't disappoint this time, even if it was a clear win for the Flyers goon:

Carcillo received an additional 10-minute misconduct penalty for a 20-PIM day during Buffalo's 4-2 win. Unfortunately, Rivet appeared to suffer a fairly serious leg injury late in the game and was helped off the ice. He's third in average ice time (19:56) for the Sabres, meaning his loss would sting more than anything Carcillo landed in their two fights on Friday.

Thanks to HockeyFights.com for the clips.

No. 1 Star: J.S. Giguere, Anaheim Ducks

The Chicago Blackhawks rolled into Anaheim with an eight-game winning streak, but Jean-Sebastien Giguere put an end to that with his first shutout of the season. The Ducks won, 3-0, as Teemu Selanne had two power-play goals and Nick Boynton added another. Giggy had 28 stops against the fifth-best offensive team in the NHL, and the Ducks have won four of their last five games.

No. 2 Star: Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks

There was a lot of fun hockey played in the NHL on Friday night, but few games matched the high drama of Dany Heatley's visit to the city he refused to be traded to last summer. Yet it was Patrick Marleau who stole the show. Heatley was a plus-2 and had an assist on Marleau's first goal, who later completed his hat trick in the third period with a shorthanded goal from Joe Thornton at 18:34 to tie the game. Joe Pavelski had the shootout game-winner for a 5-4 San Jose victory.

No. 3 Star: Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames

The Flames goalie made 40 saves in shutting out the Detroit Red Wings, as Calgary skated out of the Joe with a 3-0 victory. He made 32 saves in the first two periods. Of course, this being the Red Wings playing in a game officiated by NHL referees, controversy reigns: Dan Cleary had two near-goals waved off on the night, first on a goalie obstruction call and the second when Brad Meier lost sight of the puck. Here's the first call: Does Cleary appear to make contact with Kiprusoff while in the crease? Because Mike Babcock believes he did not. If not, does simply being in the crease interfere with the goalie attempting to make the save?

Read More »

In the last 48 hours, Patrick Kaleta of the Buffalo Sabres has kept himself quite busy and it had nothing to do with planning Black Friday shopping strategies.

Things began on Wednesday night when Kaleta took a hit from Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals in the third period and went face first into the boards at Verizon Center. Ovechkin was given a five-minute major for boarding, a 10-minute game misconduct and ejected from the game. (Strangely enough, Ovechkin's only other ejection also came against the Sabres after a late hit on Danny Briere.) 

Capitals beat writer Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post reported today that the NHL spun its "Wheel of Justice" and it landed on "zero games" for Ovechkin. The only punishment doled out to him was the hefty $200 fine given to all players who receive game misconduct penalties.

This afternoon when the Sabres visited the Flyers, Kaleta handed out a controversial hit to Philadelphia rookie Jared Ross:

Kaleta was give a 5-minute major for boarding, a 10-minute misconduct and ejected from the game. Does he deserve supplemental discipline?

Read More »

NCAA Hockey 101 is a weekly feature on U.S. Division I college hockey. Stick around and you just might learn a thing or two.

As if things weren't bad enough for Michigan.

Earlier this week, not one but two players, current sophomore forward Robbie Czarnik, a Los Angeles Kings prospect and incoming freshman goalie Jack Campbell, the top-rated goalie in Central Scouting's latest report.

Both jumped from the program, or, in Campbell's case, a commitment to the program, in favor of joining the OHL, and both serve to underscore problems with the NCAA's relationship with Major-Junior hockey in Canada.

Read More »

Here are your 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.

• The Edmonton Oilers players who twisted in the wind during the Dany Heatley trade drama during the summer (like Andrew Cogliano, pictured angrily above) speak out as the San Jose Sharks visit Alberta this evening ... while the Edmonton media cranks up the rancor: "This is like running into an ex-girfriend (sic) a month after she dumps you - she's holding hands with a Tom Cruise-looking fighter pilot and you're asking if they'd like fries with that." [Edmonton Sun, and CBC Sports]

• Chris Botta talks with Sherry Ross about being the first female play-by-play voice for an NHL team, even if for one night with the New Jersey Devils. (For the record, Cassie Campbell was a color commentator for HNIC back in 2006 -- not play by play.) [FanHouse]

• According to Sportsnet, the Leafs will retire Carlton the Bear. Among the proposed new mascots: Angry the Fist and Ian White. [Sportsnet ... UPDATE: This tweet calls B.S.]

• Kevin Allen reports that the NHL is only experiencing an attendance decrease of less than 2 percent this season. Which is what happens when a business protects its popularity by allowing franchises to paper arenas with free or steeply discounted tickets while reporting gate numbers based on tickets distributed rather than turnstile counts. Anyone with functioning retina knows attendance is down more than 2 percent this season. It's not the NHL's fault, necessarily; the economy is just not one in which the purchase of hockey tickets in October or November is a priority. But that's reality -- not the number in the box score. [USA Today]

• With Hossa in and that win over the Sharks, the Chicago Blackhawks are now being called an elite team and a measuring stick for the rest of the NHL. [Between The Circles]

• That being said, is every team on which Marian Hossa plays doomed for failure? [THN]

• Hockey Wilderness called for Alex Ovechkin to be suspended for his hit on Patrick Kaleta of the Buffalo Sabres Wednesday night, but Tarik El-Bashir said there's no supplemental discipline coming his way for the hit. HW is right and wrong: The NHL made the right call here, but that's not saying Ovechkin doesn't get away with more borderline calls than most physical players. Because he does. [Hockey Wilderness]

• Boy, imagine how sexy these women would be if they weren't wearing Habs gear? [Eyes On the Prize ... indeed]

Read More »

After the ominous buildup to Boston Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli's media meeting this morning regarding Milan Lucic's(notes) injury, the news that it's a high ankle sprain brings the threat level down a few notches.

Despite having not played "Operation" in several years, we can tell you there's a world of difference between the ankle and the knee. (No word if he actually had butterflies in his stomach as well.) From the Boston Globe:

Lucic injured his left ankle Wednesday night in St. Paul, Minn., late in Boston's 2-1 win over the Wild, as he reached to gather in a pass from defenseman Dennis Wideman(notes). As he reached back, Lucic's left leg buckled from under him, sending him hobbling back to the Boston bench and then to the dressing room.

Speculation ran rampant after the game that Lucic suffered a knee injury and could be lost to the lineup for a much longer period of time. Chiarelli noted that the estimate of a one-month absence comes with some guess work. Lucic, he said, could be back earlier or later

Since signing his three-year, $12.25 million extension with the Boston Bruins at the beginning of October, Lucic has missed more games than he's played. He has 5 points in 10 games, and the Bruins were 7-3 with him in the lineup; without him (and center Marc Savard(notes)), it was panic time. Getting him back for only four games before this injury was a bitter tease for B's fans.

So his value to the Bruins can't be questioned, right? Well, the reaction to the injury news was interesting to that end, as hockey folks like Illegal Curve wondered if investing in Lucic (and over Phil Kessel(notes)) was a wise decision.

The deck's already stacked against Looch, because the "can he live up to the contract?" questions were flying around as soon as his pen hit the dotted line on that extension. Now along with whether his game is worth $4 million a season, there's the issue of Lucic's durability on top of it.

It all speaks to what's going to be an inevitable question in hockey circles: Is Milan Lucic overrated? We'd say "no," especially when these verdicts are being passed before his new deal even kicks in.

Unfortunately for him, there are now other questions, too: Can 10 games this season earn him an Olympic roster spot for Canada? And are hockey fans going to be deprived of Lucic vs. the Flyers in Fenway if this ankle injury goes longer than expected?

A few of these T-shirts were spotted after a recent Washington Capitals home game, as fans are obviously swelling with pride over Alex Ovechkin.

"Do you have a strange, pseudo-sexual devotion to a Russian professional athlete playing in your town or are you just happy to see me?"

Well, never let it be said the Capitals fans are ashamed to stand up and be counted, although clearly this "Rock the Red" thing has been taken to new heights. Perhaps the most surprising thing about these "Erection for Ovechkin" shirts is that they were available at Bleacher Shirts before Leonsis could trademark the term for his official team store ...

Alas, we were unable to locate any "Turgid for Turco" or "Engorged for Gorges" casual wear, but that isn't to say there aren't a ton of creative T-shirts floating around e-retailers onthe Web.

Here's a sampling of them in our unofficial Black Friday holiday hockey shirt buying guide, for the puckheads you love (or, of course, for yourself, you selfish jerk).

Read More »

No. 1 star: Henrik Sedin(notes), Vancouver Canucks

Henrik picked up the secondary helper on Alex Burrows's(notes) first-period goal and scored the eventual game-winner in Vancouver's 4-1 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Kings. His third-period goal, answering a late second-period tally by Wayne Simmonds(notes) of the Kings, came after Sedin won the faceoff, Alexander Edler(notes) cranked a shot from the blue line and Sedin collected the Jon Quick(notes) (30 saves) rebound for his 14th of the season.

No. 2 Star: Nick Foligno(notes), Ottawa Senators

With the Senators tied 1-1 against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets, Foligno collected a pass behind the net on a power play and surprised Steve Mason(notes) with a wraparound goal for the game-winner. Ottawa wins, 2-1, and moving back into first place in the Northeast Division.

No. 3 Star: Kyle Wellwood(notes), Vancouver Canucks

The TV announcers initially gave Tanner Glass's(notes) third-period goal to Wellwood, who helped start the scoring play, but the Canucks forward would finally score his first of the season into an empty net to clinch the Vancouver victory. There's simply no way Kyle Wellwood could score a goal on Turkey Day and not earn at least third star, right?

Honorable mention: Jason Spezza(notes) had a goal for the Senators, taking some of the heat off the struggling center. ... Roberto Luongo(notes) made 31 saves in the Canucks win, while Brian Elliott(notes) had 32 for Ottawa. ... Jesse Winchester(notes) had two assists for the Senators. ... In perhaps the most interesting news of the night, the Kings signed last summer's first-round draft pick Brayden Schenn(notes) to a one-day amateur tryout contract, making him the third-youngest player to ever appear in a regular season game for LA at 18 years, 97 days. He played 12:31 with no points and a minus-1.

Did you know?: The Canucks won the faceoff battle with the Kings by a lopsided 41-25 margin.

Dishonorable mention: Dustin Brown(notes) was a minus-4 for Los Angeles, while Alex Frolov was a minus-3. ... Steve Mason is now 1-3-1 in his last five starts. ...