Avalanche forward Darcy Tucker was immobilized and taken away on a stretcher after he was checked into the boards by Carolina forward Tuomo Ruutu.
The hit came just over five minutes into the second period in Friday night's game in Colorado. Tucker had turned away from Ruutu to play the puck, and Ruutu drove Tucker into the glass from behind. The game was tied 2-2 at the time.
Columbus goalie Steve Mason entered Friday's game in Colorado having registered three consecutive shutouts. He managed to keep the Avalanche off the board for 17 minutes, until Darcy Tucker snapped Mason's streak with his fifth goal of the season at the 17:20 mark of the opening frame. The 20-year old rookie posted 199 consecutive minutes of shutout hockey for Columbus, and Tucker's tally in the first period was the only goal he surrendered on the night, as he turned aside 23-of-24 shots in a 6-1 Blue Jackets win.
Mason has been a great story for the Blue Jackets, as he's pretty much carried them this season when you consider they've scored only nine goals in the eight games he's lost, including being shutout three times. He's allowed more than three goals only two times this season, and has yet to surrender more than four in a single game. Should be interesting to see how long he can continue to ride this hot streak.
As for the rest of the Blue Jackets, following Tucker's goal they pretty much took this game over and erupted for six goals over the final two periods. Rick Nash finished with a four-point night (penalty shot goal, three assists) while Kristian Huselius (two goals), Mike Commodore, Jakub Voracek and R.J. Umberger also scored for Columbus.
The win actually puts Columbus one-point ahead of Colorado for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, while the Blue Jackets are 3-0 to open their current six-game road trip, extending their winning streak to four games overall.
It's been a couple weeks since we rolled out the NHL Wheel of Discipline, so I guess it was due for a return.
Our subject this time around is John Zeiler of the Los Angeles Kings. During Saturday's game against Colorado, Zeiler attempted to decapitate veteran Avs defenseman Adam Foote, sending him head-first into the boards while the two were chasing a loose puck in the Colorado zone.
We have reached the stage where the NHL needs to do something. While the hit by Doug Weight on Brandon Sutter may have been clean (according to the letter of the law, so to speak), this was most certainly not. Foote was facing the boards the whole way, and Zeiler followed him, hit him hard from behind, and drove him into the boards.
Video and discussion of a possible suspension after the jump.
A couple of nights ago the Maple Leafs and Canadiens renewed their classic rivalry with an incredibly physical game in Toronto, which the Leafs ended up winning, 6-3. The most newsworthy item to come from the game, of course, was Montreal's Tom Kostopoulos sending defenseman Mike Van Ryninto the boards head-first on a vicious hit from behind.
As a result, Kostopoulos was handed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding, while Van Ryn suffered a concussion, a broken nose and a broken hand, all of which will keep him out of the lineup for at least a month.
Today, the long arm of the law in the NHL, Colin Campbell, hit Kostopoulos with a three-game suspension for his actions, as reported by TSN. The Canadiens forward has since issued the following apology:
'' First and foremost, I sincerely regret the injuries suffered by Mike Van Ryn,'' Kostopoulos said in a statement. ''This is an unfortunate turn of events. I was just trying to get in on the forecheck and get the puck. I didn't anticipate him turning and couldn't stop. I was trying to finish my check and obviously it did not end up well. I never intend on injuring another player. I feel bad. I hope he is going to be all right and resume playing as quickly as possible.''
Thursday night, Colorado's Darcy Tucker, hardly a Lady Byng candidate at any point in his career, thought it would be a good idea to de-knee Minnesota defenseman Nick Schultz. It didn't work, as Schultz wasn't hurt, but it was pretty obvious that Tucker was aiming low and behaving that way, too. Again.
The low blow by Tucker was spotted by the referees, who called him for clipping. But given Tucker's history (including the fact that the clipping penalty was put in because of his penchant for going after guys' knees), it was pretty obvious that he would get suspended.
Right?
Well, as we all know, you can never assume anything when you spin the NHL Wheel of Discipline.
It's no secret that here at FanHouse, I never hesitate when it comes to posting fight videos. I'm not ashamed to admit I like hockey fights and admire the men who partake in them. The fact is, standing up for your teammates in a hockey fight takes the sort of guts and courage that few of us can understand.
But there's another side to violence in hockey, the one that's represented by folks we call agitators -- your Sean Avery types, the guys who stir things up. But one step beyond that, we have players that we can fairly call cheap shot artists, folks who have little respect for the game and even less for their opponents.
And the name that comes to mind when I think cheap shot artist is Colorado Avalanche winger Darcy Tucker. Most of the hockey world is familiar with Tucker thanks to the many years of his antics in Toronto with the Maple Leafs, with perhaps no moment more famous than the shot to the knees he delivered to Michael Peca in the 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs -- a hit that may very well delivered a playoff series on a platter to Toronto.
Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.
What's Changed: The Avalanche are not younger, and it's hard to argue that they look like they're going to be better. Joe Sakic is back to lead the offense, and he's just a small part of an aging group. Sakic turns 40 next summer, and he's joined by over-30 guys like Ryan Smyth, Milan Hejduk, Ian Laperriere, Scott Parker, Brian Willsie, and Tucker.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, under Interim/Semi-permanent GM Cliff Fletcher, have been busy this summer trimming the fat from the roster in anticipation of a new GM *cough*Brian Burke*cough* coming in to right the ship. Kyle Wellwood's fat ass, Darcy Tucker's temper, and Andrew Raycroft's five-hole have all been told to get the hell out, and Trader Cliff isn't done yet.
Cliff's next target seems to be Bryan McCabe, the highly-paid defenseman with the big shot and woeful defensive ability.
The problem? McCabe has a no-trade clause, a huge contract, and the Leafs are unwilling to pay to have the rest of his $10M contract bought out.
Sources tell TSN the Maple Leafs approached McCabe's agent, Ian Pulver before the NHL Entry Draft hoping to encourage the veteran defenceman to waive his no-movement clause to open the door for a trade.
However, this time, whether intended or not, Toronto turned up the heat and according to sources, hinted McCabe may be asked to stay home, rather than join his teammates for training camp if he wasn't willing to change his mind.
Of course, these 'sources' could easily be the janitor at the Air Canada Centre, or Cliff Fletcher's nephew's brother's friend. Take it all with a grain of salt.
All I can say is that IF the Leafs decided to play such games, they can ensure themselves that future free agents are going to stay the hell away from Leafland. What player is going to want to put up with that? It's not McCabe's fault the Leafs lavished him with one of the worst contracts this decade.
He admitted that he's going to miss the theme music that's been with Hockey Night in Canada for 40 years when the show returns in the Fall, but hastened to add that he was disappointed that the composer of the song, Dolores Claman, didn't show more loyalty to the program;
Defended Maple Leaf veterans Bryan McCabe and Darcy Tucker, dismissing calls for either player to be bought out of the remainder of their contracts; and
Complained bitterly that Hockey Hall of Fame voters had passed over Ontario-native and Cherry favorite Doug Gilmour in the latest round of balloting earlier this week. Said Cherry: "That's ridiculous ... I'm not knocking the guys who were in there now but they couldn't carry his jockstrap."
One question I would have liked to ask Cherry: What did he think of the contention of Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy that the Lakers lost the NBA title to the Celtics because they had too many Europeans on the roster?
Sean Avery and Darcy Tucker are two of the most polarizing players in the game today. You either hate them for their barking, whining, and general annoyance factor, or you love them for their work ethic, grit, and passion for the game.
For most hockey fans, seeing them beat the living hell out of each other would be a dream come true. Fortunately, this dream did come true in the form of a tussle during this past Saturday's Leafs/Rangers tilt.
As you'd expect with these two, the scene was set before the game, as Tucker and Avery were yapping at each other during the pre-game warmup, after Avery gave Jason Blake a little 'love' with his stick. It was definitely a natural attraction between Avery and Tucker, and the pent up rage exploded in a fit of fighting passion later in the game.
"He has no sense of class," an irritated Tucker said after the Leafs' 3-2 shootout loss to Avery's New York Rangers last night during the annual Hall of Fame game at the Air Canada Centre. "What goes around, comes around in this game.
"Through the entire warmup, he would not stop yapping. He comes in there and gets in my face."
Columbus goalie Steve Mason entered Friday's game in Colorado having registered three consecutive shutouts. He managed to keep the Avalanche off the board for 17 minutes, until Darcy Tucker snapped Mason's streak with his fifth goal of the season at the 17:20 mark of the opening frame. The 20-year old rookie posted 199 consecutive minutes of shutout hockey for Columbus, and Tucker's tally in the first period was the only goal he surrendered on the night, as he turned aside 23-of-24 shots in a 6-1 Blue Jackets win. 
It's been a couple weeks since we rolled out the NHL Wheel of Discipline, so I guess it was due for a return.
A couple of nights ago the Maple Leafs and Canadiens renewed their classic rivalry with an incredibly physical game in Toronto, which the Leafs ended up winning, 6-3. The most newsworthy item to come from the game, of course, was Montreal's Tom Kostopoulos sending defenseman Mike Van Ryn into the boards head-first on a vicious hit from behind.
We had our fun last year with NHL dean of discipline Colin Campbell.
It's no secret that here at FanHouse, I never hesitate when it comes to posting fight videos. I'm not ashamed to admit I like hockey fights and admire the men who partake in them. The fact is, standing up for your teammates in a hockey fight takes the sort of guts and courage that few of us can understand.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, under Interim/Semi-permanent GM Cliff Fletcher, have been busy this summer trimming the fat from the roster in anticipation of a new GM *cough*Brian Burke*cough* coming in to right the ship. Kyle Wellwood's fat ass, Darcy Tucker's temper, and Andrew Raycroft's five-hole have all been told to get the hell out, and Trader Cliff isn't done yet.
Hockey Night in Canada personality Don Cherry is the gift that keeps on giving to hockey bloggers. Whenever the guy opens his mounts, he's equally likely to say something entertaining, enlightening or outrageous. And when a Canadian Press reporter caught up with him at a racetrack in Toronto on Thursday, he was a little bit of all those things.
