FanHouse ColtonOrr

We're a little less than 24 hours removed from Friday's Red Wings-Blackhawks game, which saw Chicago claw its way back into the series with a 4-3 overtime win, while a lot of the debate has been centered around Niklas Kronwall's devastating hit on Martin Havlat.

While Havlat was knocked six ways from Tuesday, Kronwall was issued a five-minute major and a game misconduct for interference which set off a firestorm of discussion around the hockey blogosphere and message boards. Was it interference? Was it charging? Was it a legal, clean hit? We asked the NHL for comment.

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During Pittsburgh's 4-3 win over the New York Rangers this past Saturday, Colton Orr received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for interference on Penguins defenseman Mark Eaton. The call sparked some harsh reactions from the Rangers blogosphere and fan base, while head coach John Tortorella and goalie Henrik Lundqvist spoke out regarding the officiating in general following the game.

It's common to complain about the officiating in any professional sport, but the NHL in particular deals with a confusing and inconsistent disciplinary structure (where a sex joke might get you shelved longer than a hard elbow to the head).

It all prompted us to take a look at the power play/penalty kill differential for every team across the league. But we needed more; we needed some perspective from the league. Luckily, Stephen Walkom, NHL director of officiating, was more than willing to talk it out.

For about three years now, tin foil hat wearing, conspiracy theorist hockey fans have been living under the delusion that the Penguins have commissioner Gary Bettman, and the league's officials, in their back pockets. It's all part of a diabolical scheme designed to push the Penguins into the postseason, or so I've read.

In the third period of Pittsburgh's 4-3 win over the Rangers on Saturday afternoon, Colton Orr was issued a five-minute major for interference (and a game misconduct) for this hit on Pittsburgh's Mark Eaton.

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Devils 3, Rangers 0: Scott Clemmensen has been fantastic for the Devils this season in the absence of Martin Brodeur, and on Monday night he registered his first shutout in New Jersey's 3-0 win over the Rangers.

Zach Parise picked up a pair of goals for the Devils, while Bobby Holik scored what proved to be the game-winner midway through the second period.

The Penguins needed a game like this, and it's quite a way to open up the second half of the season as they scored five third period goals on their way to a 6-2 win over the New York Rangers. Marc-Andre Fleury kept the Penguins in it early, turning aside 32-of-34 shots, while the offense took over in the third period, peppering Henrik Lundqvist with 16 shots.

On Monday, we told you about former Lightning head coach Barry Melrose who openly admitted that he is taking great delight in the struggles of the organization that fired him, not to mention the fact he's openly rooting for them to lose every game they play. Well, Melrose has to be loving this current nine-game losing streak Tampa Bay is on, as it dropped another one on Wednesday night in Buffalo, 4-2.

The Lightning actually jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period, thanks to goals by Mark Recchi and Martin St. Louis.

With less than a minute to play in the opening period, Buffalo's Drew Stafford picked up a power play goal, which set the stage for Thomas Vanek to tie the game and, ultimately, give the Sabres the lead in the second period with a pair of goals, giving him a league-best 22 on the season. Vanek has four goals in his past three games, all Buffalo victories.

Jason Pominville picked up an empty net goal late in the third, while Ryan Miller stopped 26 shots in the win.

The release of the hotly-anticipated Care Bears - 25 Years of Caring DVD couldn't come at a better time. The world has lacked a force that can battle all of the hatred and anger in the world with the power of love. The world has generally been an angry place, as we've seen by such hateful incidents as the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, or just about anything the Philadelphia Flyers do.

As hockey is a physical sport, we expect some members of the league will harbor a lot of anger, more so than they really ought to. Despite the fact that the NHLers are some of the best in the world at what they do, and get well compensated for their efforts, it just doesn't seem to be enough to make them truly happy.

Since we all lack the power to stand together and radiate light from our respective tummy symbols, we can, instead, give these gentlemen a good ol' Happy Holidays Hug.

1. Dion Phaneuf (pictured). Despite the fact that he's one of the brightest young stars in the league, and probably has enough groupies to fill up ten Persian palaces, Phaneuf has a permanent sourpuss look on his face. Perhaps he's pissed off that his mother named him 'Dion', or he's tired of listening to Keenan's tirades. Still, that's no excuse to go skating around with a bug up your ass like life sucks. Try smiling sometime, son!

Perhaps the greatest measure of the utter lack of confidence hockey fans have in the NHL disciplinary system occurred after Colton Orr's open-ice hit on Matt Cullen of Carolina, as reviewed by EMac on an earlier FanHouse entry. The majority of fan reactions I came across just assumed the injurious play, which left Cullen with a broken nose, would result in a procedural short suspension from the League. Orr was a repeat offender, after all; and as clean as the hit was, it resulted in an injury -- always a clincher for suspensions.

But NHL goon czar Colin Campbell remains as unpredictable as ever, deeming the Orr check to be free and clear of any additional jail time from the League offices. (I'd give him a pat on the back, but I've seen how he reacts to hits from behind.) Orr, or any player who unleashes a similar hit, didn't deserve a suspension or even that game misconduct he received for the check. It was a hockey play, as Orr told the media in review: "I just cut through the middle of the ice and was just playing the man. We were both just cutting to the middle and I was just defending myself."

And yet we have Mark Pargas of the New York Times asking if, in the future, Orr could take a moment before delivering a high-speed hit to ask himself, "W.W.M.P.O.T.N.Y.T.D.?" ("What Would Mark Pargas of the New York Times Do?") Pargas argues for "a more responsible way to play a physical brand of hockey," that targets the lower body with body checks. He uses the infamous Scott Stevens/Eric Lindros collision as evidence, which would have been a fine example had his blog focused less on the checkers delivering hard hits and more on the checkees skating with their heads down in the middle of the ice.

For Carolina, watching Mike Commodore skate over to "enforce" Orr led Hockey in the South to issue a post-Christmas wish for a heavyweight goon. Bubba over on Canes Country doesn't see the need for an enforcer because he doesn't believe that players policing themselves is a better deterrent than the League suspending reckless offenders. And this is coming from someone who watched Brooks Orpik get just three games for a brutal act of chiropractory on Erik Cole.