Susan Slusser Posts

SAN JOSE -- As if Wednesday night's matchup against the Western Conference's two top teams didn't have enough appeal, throw Marian Hossa into the mix for one heck of a showdown between star-studded top lines.

Hossa, Chicago's top offseason acquisition, hasn't played this season because of a shoulder injury, but tonight at HP Pavilion, he'll be joining the Blackhawks' great young players Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. San Jose, the NHL's best team to date, counters with the goal-happy line of Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau.

Whew. What a way to step onto the ice for the first time with a new team.

After nearly making it into the Western Conference finals last year, then re-signing Scott Niedermayer and obtaining Saku Koivu, the Ducks appeared poised for a sure-fire playoff spot.

Instead, Anaheim is struggling to find its footing, with a division-low 19 points, making the Ducks the West's counterpart to inexplicably slow-starting Carolina. The talent level is unquestioned, but the postseason is going to be a dream unless the Ducks get it going fast.

Anaheim does have one good roll going. Corey Perry is riding a 15-game scoring streak.

So far, this season is a disaster for the Hurricanes, a projected contender that fell flat from the get-go, hit with injuries and bedeviled by underperformance.

Asked the reasons for his team's fizzle out of the gate, Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford told FanHouse, "I don't have enough fingers. It's been a little bit of everything."

Yet Carolina is showing some positive signs of late. The team snapped a franchise-record-tying 14-game winless streak last week, then followed that up by playing well in a shootout loss to Montreal. Coach Paul Maurice praised his squad after that game, and Rutherford agreed.

Nashville might not put a lot on the scoreboard every night, but it's not for lack of effort. Their last time out, the Predators out-shot Montreal 55-20, setting team records for most shots and total shot advantage.

That resulted in ... a 2-0 victory, with the Predators coming out on top the way they usually have to win: with smarts, good defensive play and decent goaltending. Nashville isn't going to wow anyone in any particular area, it seems, but the Predators can still get the job done.

"They always work hard," said Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle, whose last-minute goal beat Nashville in San Jose last week. "They're physical. They're very fast. They're tough. We never expect anything different."

SAN JOSE -- As many as one in five NHL players is injured, according to widely repeated estimates, but the athletes themselves would like to see how that breaks down, exactly. It's the names of the players who are out, rather than the body count, that is creating headlines, some say.

"Everyone usually has two or three guys out," Sharks center Joe Thornton said. "That's not unusual. I just kind of pay attention to who's out on our team, and we've got Rob Blake out, an All-Star, and Devin Setoguchi and Joe Pavelski were out. Teams just learn to adjust."

"It seems to be a lot of the top guys who are out," Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle said, referencing injured players like Alexander Ovechkin (pictured) and Evgeni Malkin. "It's not good for anyone to have those guys out, because people are paying a lot of money to come to the games and they want to see those guys play, but it's just a fluke. I don't think there's anything else to it."

In an age of look-at-me professional athletes, full of boasting, silly taunting and big celebrations over routine plays, Steve Yzerman is a reminder that the best and most talented shine all the brighter for humble behavior.

The longtime Red Wings captain, and a three-time Stanley Cup winner as a player, enters the Hall of Fame as a winner on the ice and off, a gentleman respected by his peers and adored by his fans.

Yzerman was, and is, classy and understated, the embodiment of old-fashioned values of sportsmanship and personal accountability.

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Last year, the one knock on No. 1 pick Steven Stamkos, fresh into the league at the age of 18, was that he lacked the strength to compete nightly in the league, even getting scratched on occasion to work on building up his muscle.

So over the summer, the Tampa Bay Lightning center trained with recently retired forward Gary Roberts, known for his dedication to fitness. Stamkos called Roberts "fanatical" about his off-ice training, and he got to see it up close near his home in Ontario.

"We did some unusual things," Stamkos told FanHouse by phone from Ottawa, where the Lightning are playing Thursday night. "The toughest part was on dry land, pulling a 100-pound sled, sprinting the whole way and then turning around and going back. I was face up on the ground, gasping for air."

Among the United States' best hopes for a medal in Vancouver next February is the women's ice hockey team, which has won one of the three gold medals awarded in the sport's brief Olympic history. Host Canada has won the other two, and the United States and Canada will clash in the final tournament before Vancouver 2010 in the Four Nations Cup, which opens today in Finland.

The U.S. is the defending champion in the event, beating Canada 3-2 in the finals last year. The American women have won either gold or silver in the Four Nations Cup every year in which the U.S. has participated, as has Canada.

Last year's top regular-season team, the Sharks, takes on the league's current top squad, the Avalanche, tonight at 10:30 p.m. Eastern and FanHouse will be there, blogging live and fielding questions.

Of the Western Conference's many surprise teams -- Phoenix and Los Angeles are also going strong and Columbus started off fast - Colorado might be the biggest. The Avs had a conference-low 69 points last season and they scored a league-low 199 goals.

Now, behind hot goalie Craig Anderson, Colorado is 10-12 and coming into San Jose to face a Sharks team that lost to the Avs 5-2 on opening night. San Jose is tied with the Kings atop the Pacific Division and has won three in a row, while Colorado has won four straight. Join us for what should be a good one.