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Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:28 am EST

Wednesday's Three Stars: Hossa's double; Pavelec blanks Wings

By Sean Leahy

No. 1 star: Marian Hossa(notes), Chicago Blackhawks

The highly anticipated debut of Hossa was not a disappointment for the Blackhawks and their fans. A 7-2 rout of the San Jose Sharks included three consecutive shorthanded goals chasing Evgeni Nabokov(notes) after the second period. Hossa scored twice with one of his tallies coming shorthanded. It was the second time in the past week that Chicago has scored seven goals in a game. 

No. 2 star: Ondrej Pavelec(notes), Atlanta Thrashers

Thrashers fans are quickly forgetting about injured-goaltender Kari Lehtonen(notes) with every stunning performance by Pavelec. Stopping 40 Detroit shots, Pavelec blanked the Red Wings 2-0 for his seventh win of the season. It was the ninth time this season that Atlanta has allowed 35 or more shots with Pavelec in goal. Almost ruining the shutout was Henrik Zetterberg(notes) who came close to taking advantage of a Pavelec turnover before being robbed. 

No. 3 star: Semyon Varlamov(notes), Washington Capitals

The Capitals rookie came up big making 25 saves and posting his first career regular-season shutout in the NHL as Washington blanked Buffalo 2-0. Varlamov, who had lost his previous two starts in overtime, improved his record to 9-1-2. Washington remains tied with Pittsburgh atop the Eastern Conference standings with 34 points. 

Honorable Mention: Niklas Hagman's(notes) pair of goals and rookie Carl Gunnarsson's(notes) three helpers were key in Toronto's 4-3 win over Tampa Bay ... Sidney Crosby(notes) now has 23 points in 16 games against the Montreal Canadiens after scoring a goal and adding an assist in Pittsburgh's 3-1 win. Marc-Andre Fleury(notes) made 18 stops for his third straight win ... Jamie Langenbrunner(notes) set up Patrik Elias'(notes) first goal of the season, the game-winner, in the second period and added an insurance tally with the Senators net empty as New Jersey defeated Ottawa 3-1. Martin Brodeur(notes) stopped 24 shots for his 570th career NHL win. Props to Devils color analyst Sherry Ross who made history tonight becoming the first woman to do full play-by-play of a NHL game in English ... Slava Kozlov(notes) scored his fifth goal in six games against his former team, the Detroit Red Wings ... Jonathan Quick stopped 22 shots and Wayne Simmonds(notes) tallied a goal and an assist in Los Angeles' 3-1 win on the road in Edmonton ... Teemu Selanne's(notes) 12th goal of the season was originally the insurance marker for Anaheim until it turned into the game-winner when Carolina's Brandon Sutter(notes) cut the Ducks lead to one with :53 second left ... Duncan Keith(notes) assisted on three of Chicago's seven goals and finished a plus-four.

Did You Know?: Nashville is 12-0-0 when they score on the power play. (AP)

Dishonorable Mention: In a tight game with Philadelphia, the Islanders could only muster one shot in the third period and ended up losing 2-1 to the Flyers ... Dallas went an ugly 29-for-76 in the faceoff circle ... Joe Thornton(notes), Dany Heatley(notes) and Dan Boyle(notes) all finished minus-four. Not the kind of stat category you want to be a leader in ... A hot topic on American Thanksgiving will be Alex Ovechkin(notes) who scored the opening goal for Washington, but made bigger news for his hit on Patrick Kaleta(notes) that saw the reigning Rocket Richard winner given a 5-minute major for boarding and a 10-minute game misconduct. The question now becomes if Colin Campbell's "Wheel of Justice" will be spun and if so, where it will land:

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73 Comments

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  1. dezmarez02
    1. Posted by dezmarez02 Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:48 am EST

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    what the hell was kaleta doing....he spins in the danger zone to put himself in a terrible position to get hit... he even looks up and sees OV coming...terrible call...there has to be some responsibility on the player receiving the hit....get up on those boards and dont be a [profane]... oh and first :)
  2. j_n_16
    2. Posted by j_n_16 Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:58 am EST

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    I think Ovechkin gets a game
  3. Mazarin
    3. Posted by Mazarin Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:59 am EST

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    It was Sharp that scored after Demers fell.
  4. studyhardfortherevolution
    4. Posted by studyhardfortherevolution Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:02 am EST

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    not even a [profane] penalty, referees must be smoking some purple [profane] in their mothers basement....but then again, nothing should ever make sense...god knows all humans are retards
  5. thegoaltender82
    5. Posted by thegoaltender82 Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:11 am EST

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    @ 4
    are u an idiot?
    that hit was from behind.
    the hit was when the guy was a foot off the boards.
    i guess you do need to study hard, because apparently you dont know anything about the rulebook.
  6. MikeT
    6. Posted by MikeT Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:12 am EST

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    Ovie's hit is worth 2 minutes, but a game misconduct? WTF? Kaleta turned on Ovie. I understand that once Kaleta started turning Ovie had a duty to let up, but come on!
  7. Capital Punishment
    7. Posted by Capital Punishment Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:26 am EST

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    It was a shoulder hit.
    Dude saw him coming.
  8. Death by Leafs
    8. Posted by Death by Leafs Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:28 am EST

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    Not even close to being from behind. He comes in from the side, Kaleta's shoulder is the point of contact and it's clearly in the centre of Ovechkin's chest (0:56-59)
  9. Tim
    9. Posted by Tim Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:32 am EST

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    Not an AO fan by any means, I live in Pittsburgh.
    The hit was made worse by the backhand pass. The ref saw a guy go into the boards face first and a player down with a bloody face. The penalty was the right call, by rule, since he hit him from behind a few feet away from the boards. But if Kaleta continues to skate he gets rocked and ends up in the fat blonds lap.
  10. Tacks
    10. Posted by Tacks Thu Nov 26, 2009 3:05 am EST

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    Don't forget Kaleta is a guy that takes runs at people and then not man enough to drop the gloves when he gets challenged. This is pure karma. I can watch that clip over and over.
  11. ranndino
    11. Posted by ranndino Thu Nov 26, 2009 3:10 am EST

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    The call on Ovie was one of the worst all year. Kaleta, who's far from an angel himself, saw Ovie coming and turned. Even though he turned Ovie clearly hits his shoulder, not his back. Should not have even been a penalty, let alone a 5 min major and a game misconduct. There's no way Ovechkin should receive any further punishment.
    @ 5
    You're an idiot yourself or a very biased Buffalo fan. Get some glasses.
  12. dag88ca
    12. Posted by dag88ca Thu Nov 26, 2009 3:52 am EST

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    The hit doesn't even warrant a suspension in my eyes. What's scarier is the Hawks. They are for real, and hungry.
  13. rr
    13. Posted by rr Thu Nov 26, 2009 4:16 am EST

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    the hawks were awesome even before hossa, which is pretty scary. hossa is ready to play, and huet can be a real goalie at least half the time. detroit did it with osbad... chicago is the team to beat out west, imo.
  14. Panda God
    14. Posted by Panda God Thu Nov 26, 2009 4:43 am EST

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    Aww, someone got fancy, and tried to be all sneaky and fool the other team by that cute behind the back pass. What guess what, moron, you fooled the 200 lb hockey player that you saw coming. I've seen worse for 2 min. Hell, I've seen worse not called at all. Shoulder to shoulder contact and the momentum from his dumb pass takes him straight into the boards. When I first heard about this, I was ready to rip Ovechkin a new one. Then I saw the video. This...this is marginal at best.
  15. Fox
    15. Posted by Fox Thu Nov 26, 2009 4:47 am EST

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    Mazarin is correct; that was Sharp's goal. I thought I was keeping up to date on my Sharks, but I must have missed them hiring Tom Renney as a PP consultant. It wasn't as close as the score looks.
  16. GERALD
    16. Posted by GERALD Thu Nov 26, 2009 5:02 am EST

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    puhlease!!!!!!! he clearly looks up ans accesses the situation, (Ovie coming at him) and still looks down and digs for the puck, uhhh don't they teach not to do that at the pee wee level? I know I learned that when I was 7.....(rolling eyes).....by the way I'm not a Caps fan either, retarded, 2 mins, no more
  17. mario66briere21
    17. Posted by mario66briere21 Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:25 am EST

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    The Blackhawks are indeed loaded and hungry...but nobody ever won the Cup in November. Chicago and San Jose are easily the best in the West. Either would make a great Cup champion, but there's a lot of hockey left....
  18. Phil Wood
    18. Posted by Phil Wood Thu Nov 26, 2009 8:09 am EST

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    Well, Kaleta was turning because the puck was behind him and he was attempting a pass. Ovechkin came in, caught part of Kaleta and put him into the boards. It's a bit borderline, but can we say reputation? Ovechkin is cultivating a reputation of a star player who hits big. Refs know that. I don't have too many complaints about the call, but wouldn't not expect any suspension from Ovechkin. It is boarding, but it is not overly malicious.
    Hey! Leafs won. Cool.
  19. Richie
    19. Posted by Richie Thu Nov 26, 2009 8:51 am EST

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    A suspension would be way too much for a borderline hit - hell the misconduct was even excessive.
  20. ChrisG
    20. Posted by ChrisG Thu Nov 26, 2009 8:59 am EST

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    Borderline hit at WORST!!! Kaleta makes a stupid play!!! He set himself up for that hit. By the way, Kaleta would do the same thing to OV if the roles were reversed. Only OV actually has SKILL and would never put himself in a vulnerable position. Jesus Christ, Mike Richards' hit keeps getting called,"A clean hit" yet this hit is a , "dirty Russian scumbag trying to injure a key Sabre". I am getting sick of the NHL. Kaleta and OV shouldn't even be in the same league.
    Stupid salary cap.
  21. The Bog
    21. Posted by The Bog Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:22 am EST

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    That's boarding by the letter of the law, and if an injury occurs from boarding the ref can call the major. The guy was bleeding which constitutes an injury in the NHL (see moronic high sticking double minor rule). By the way the NHL calls games this is pseudo consistent. Not worth a suspension though I wouldn't think.
  22. Garth the Hoser
    22. Posted by Garth the Hoser Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:39 am EST

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    OV flies in from about 40 feet away, elbows up, and delivers a blind-side hit. What part of that don't you retards understand?
    I got a better idea than Kaleta "keeping his head up." Why don't you neanderthals learn to "keep your brains out of ur@nus."
    But OV's a star who's allowed to cross the line. So I'd be shocked if he gets suspended.
    Because "that's part of hockey" or whatever excuse you NASCAR dummies will use to justify seeing a guy get BOARDED. As in Rule 12 Subsection 3(g) - or whatever it is; I'm sure it's in there somewhere still.
  23. Alison
    23. Posted by Alison Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:40 am EST

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    typical [profane] nhl ref call.
  24. Slazz
    24. Posted by Slazz Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:41 am EST

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    SJ, spanked. OV, boarding. Me? Hungover.

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