Every Friday, FanHouse sifts through the rubble and picks the best NHL fight, with the help of HockeyFights.com.
Sometimes, one fight just isn't good enough. Such was the case in Calgary recently, as the Flames and Canucks met for one of six matchups between the division rivals this season. It took just 2:32 for two fights to break out. Even though there were two good scraps going on at once, there was a clear winner for our Fight of the Week honors.
It's a thin line between being clutch and being a goat. The Blackhawks are learning how to handle that delicate balance.
Another dreadfully slow start had Chicago staring at a 3-1 series deficit to the Canucks, until they decided to stop playing with fire and start turning that heat on Vancouver. As a result, the NHL saw another late goal change the landscape of a game this postseason, with the Blackhawks getting the better of this one and leveling the series at two games apiece.
The Florida Panthers scored three third period goals, including a game-tying score from Radek Dvorak with 1:38 to play, to force overtime at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Sunday afternoon. Defenseman Andrei Markov, one of four Montreal players voted to start in the All-Star game, scored the lone goal in a shootout helping lead the Canadiens to a 6-5 win.
The Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to goals from Brett McLean and David Booth, only to have Montreal come out in the second period and take over the game, scoring four goals -- including a pair in the first two minutes of the period -- while outshooting the Panthers by a 19-5 margin.
Florida rebounded in the final frame with goals from Dvorak (two) and Jassen Cullimore, sending the game to overtime. .
As long as we're on the subject of the Panthers, Greg Wyshnyski over at Puck Daddy passes along the report (from George Richards of the Miami Herald) that Brett McLean thinks Sidney Crosby is a liar, and that no challenge was ever issued prior to the drop of the puck in Saturday's game. So, basically, it's all coming down to a bunch of he said, she said. Moving on ...
It's been a rough stretch for the Minnesota Wild over the past two weeks, and it continued on Sunday as they dropped their fifth in a row -- and sixth in their past seven games -- as they fell to Anaheim, 4-2. During this current losing streak, Minnesota has scored only five goals, and is finding out that it's quite difficult to win every game 1-0.
After overcoming a 2-0 deficit thanks to a pair of goals by Marc-Andre Bergeron and Eric Belanger, the Wild allowed Brendan Morrison and Bobby Ryan to reclaim the lead for the Ducks. From that point on, J.S. Giguere shut the door for Anaheim, as he turned aside 26 shots in the win. The Ducks also received goals from Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, as they won for the third time in their past four games.
Josh Harding received the start in goal for Minnesota, making 30 saves on 34 shots.
Rookie goaltender Cory Schneider made 16 saves in the Canucks 2-1 win on Friday night, picking up his first career win against the Minnesota Wild.
Vancouver outshot the Wild by a 14-3 margin in the first period, and took advantage of -- according to the box score -- 15 Minnesota giveaways to escape with the victory. Kevin Bieska picked up his fifth goal of the season in the first period, while Jason Jaffray scored his first of the season at the 3-minute mark of the second period.
Mikko Koivu scored Minnesota's only goal of the night, while Niklas Backstrom turned aside 29 shots in the loss.
The win is only Vancouver's second in six games since the loss or Roberto Luongo, while the Wild had won three of four coming into action on Friday.
The best action of the night was probably the assortment of brawls in the first and second periods, resulting in the two teams combining for 56 penalty minutes during the game, and the ejections of Derek Boogaard and Darcy Hordichuk.
Over the past 48 hours or so, as the hockey world stopped dead to consider the behavior of one Sean Avery, I couldn't help but think back to the early part of October when, during a trip to the penalty box in Nashville, Avery decided to tangle with a Predators fan sitting next to the glass.
At the time, it was impossible not to laugh a little. After all, who couldn't get a chuckle out of what looked to be a rather proper lady giving the NHL's No. 1 bad boy a piece of her mind. It was hard to get her out of my mind too. After all, she probably had a story to tell, one that plenty of other folks would like to hear.
And boy, does she have a story to tell.
(Editor's note: Some of the language that follows is extremely graphic and is not suitable for younger readers.)
Calgary's Michael Cammalleri picked up a hat trick on Thursday night, helping lead the Flames to 4-3 win in Vancouver. Jarome Iginla assisted on two of Cammalleri's goals, while Curtis Glencross picked up the game-winning goal with just under seven-minutes to play in regulation, breaking a 3-3 tie.
For Cammalleri, it was his first career hat trick, and his first multiple-goal game as a member of the Flames.
According to our friends at Hockey Fights.com, NHL heavyweight Darcy Hordichuk went 7-1-4 in 12 bouts last season with the Nashville Predators. But if one of the folks Hordichuk has been training with this Summer is on the money, a whole lot of other NHL players might want to think twice about taking him on as a dance partner this upcoming season.
As it turns out, Hordichuk, now in Vancouver, spent two weeks this Summer working out with UFC star Chuck Liddell and his trainer John Hackleman in California. Ben Kuzma of The Province has the details:
"It's all about confidence and just seeing how those guys work -- they train, then they're meditating on the beach and running in the hills -- was kind of neat and a good experience," Hordichuk said Wednesday following an informal skate at Burnaby 8-Rinks.
"Obviously, it's lot different than training on the ice. It's violent, but it's a controlled violence and there are things you can learn from hitting the bag with them, wrestling and other stuff to get your stamina up a bit.
Hackleman, who trained Hordichuk at The Pit in San Luis Obispo, told Kuzma that he expects that Hordichuk's punching power will turn out to be five times as effective thanks to his UFC-inspired training. Last season, the Canucks finished third in the NHL in fighting majors, with 68, only two behind league leading Calgary. Something tells me that adding Hordichuk to the mix will make road trips to Vancover all that much more intimidating.
Every Friday, FanHouse sifts through the rubble and picks the best NHL fight, with the help of HockeyFights.com.
It's a thin line between being clutch and being a goat. The Blackhawks are learning how to handle that delicate balance.
The Florida Panthers scored three third period goals, including a game-tying score from Radek Dvorak with 1:38 to play, to force overtime at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Sunday afternoon. Defenseman Andrei Markov, one of four Montreal players voted to start in the All-Star game, scored the lone goal in a shootout helping lead the Canadiens to a 6-5 win. 
It's been a rough stretch for the Minnesota Wild over the past two weeks, and it continued on Sunday as they dropped their fifth in a row -- and sixth in their past seven games -- as they fell to Anaheim, 4-2. During this current losing streak, Minnesota has scored only five goals, and is finding out that it's quite difficult to win every game 1-0. 
Rookie goaltender Cory Schneider made 16 saves in the Canucks 2-1 win on Friday night, picking up his first career win against the Minnesota Wild. 
Calgary's Michael Cammalleri picked up a hat trick on Thursday night, helping lead the Flames to 4-3 win in Vancouver. Jarome Iginla assisted on two of Cammalleri's goals, while Curtis Glencross picked up the game-winning goal with just under seven-minutes to play in regulation, breaking a 3-3 tie.
According to our friends at Hockey Fights.com, NHL heavyweight Darcy Hordichuk went 7-1-4 in 12 bouts last season with the Nashville Predators. But if one of the folks Hordichuk has been training with this Summer is on the money, a whole lot of other NHL players might want to think twice about taking him on as a dance partner this upcoming season.
