Some pretty big injury news around the NHL today, as the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins learned they will be without some key players for at least the next month.
In Boston, the Bruins will be without their top playmaker, center Marc Savard, for the next four-to-six weeks because of broken left foot, which comes just two days after power forward Milan Lucic had surgery on a broken finger, which will also sideline him for more than a month.
The NHL's new hard-line stance on message-sending and late-game fisticuffs seems to have lasted, oh, about two weeks. Late in the third period of Pittsburgh's 7-4 win on Thursday, Carolina's Ryan Bayda was involved in a line brawl of sorts that featured Bayda delivering what appeared to be a cross-check to the face of Kris Letang.
In the end, Miroslav Satan fought Patrick Eaves, Tim Gleason fought Letang, and Bayda was issued a match penalty for intent to injure. By rule, Bayda was immediately suspended from further competition pending a league review. That review has taken place, and Bayda walks away with a $2,500 fine and no suspension.
Tonight the Bruins and Hurricanes played a hockey game that went about as close as any game could. The two teams went toe-to-toe for nearly four periods, matching each other in every facet of the game. Goaltenders Cam Ward and Tim Thomas showed why they were big reasons as to how their teams made it to this point, making 35 and 34 saves respectively. Fittingly, the game headed to overtime and the Bruins would fall thanks to a familiar foe.
During Game 5 Scott Walker received a game misconduct for a punch -- or sucker punch depending on your view -- to the face of Aaron Ward. The NHL decided to rescind the automatic one game suspension that comes with an ejection and let him play, drawing the ire of Boston and many in the media. Tonight, Walker made a few more enemies in Boston by netting the game winning goal with 1:14 to go in overtime.
After losing three straight games for just the third time this season, the Boston Bruins were facing elimination on Sunday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Bruins, behind a 19-save shutout by Tim Thomas, managed to keep their season rolling with a commanding 4-0 win at TD Banknorth Garden.
Following Boston's 4-1 loss in Carolina on Friday, head coach Claude Julien made mention that his team picked a bad time to be playing its worst hockey of the season, getting outscored by a 10-3 margin during its three-game skid. For one night, all of that was forgotten as the Bruins played a relatively perfect game in every phase.
During tonight's game between the Bruins and Canadiens, Mike Komisarek and Milan Lucic had a couple interesting encounters. The video above is of the fight between the pair towards the end of the second period. At that point, the Habs were trailing 4-1 and maybe Komisarek was just looking to get his team jump started. Lucic dropped him with one punch this time around. Later in the game, Komisarek decided to cross check Lucic in the face (video after the jump). These two guys are really very cordial.
In Saturday's recap of Boston's 5-1 dismantling of Montreal, we made mention of the fact Milan Lucic was given a game misconduct as a result of his cross-check to the head of Montreal's Maxim Lapierre. As it turns out, he was actually issued a match penalty which means he is suspended until a disciplinary hearing is held.
Here's the video, with the cross-check coming about 50 seconds in:
Let's just come right out and say it: the Canadiens are in trouble. The Boston Bruins systematically dismantled Montreal on Saturday night, putting on a clinic in their 5-1 win at TD Banknorth Garden to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.
Marc Savard led the way with two goals and two assists, helping the Bruins chase Carey Price after two periods as the 21-year-old netminder surrendered five goals, including one to Michael Ryder with just under three seconds to play in the second period.
Entering Saturday clinging onto the eighth spot in the East and, thus, their playoff lives, the Rangers could ill afford any adversity in their final four games.
Yet in one Milan Lucic knee-to-knee hit, adversity swooped in from Boston and settled over Manhattan in a big, gray cloud. In one knee-to-knee hit in the second period of Saturday's contest between the Bruins and the Rangers, which the Bruins won, 1-0, Lucic knocked Nik Antropov out of the game and put the rest of his regular season in jeopardy.
Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead.
Blues 5, Blue Jackets 2: After knocking off Columbus in a shootout on Saturday, the St. Louis Blues completed their weekend home-and-home sweep of the Blue Jackets with a 5-2 win at Nationwide Arena. Patrik Berglund picked up a goal and two assists for the surging Blues, while Brad Boyes scored his 30th goal of the season, giving him two straight 30-goal campaigns.
T.J. Oshie made some highlights on Saturday for his crushing hit on Rick Nash, and followed it up on Sunday with his 14th goal of the season.
With the NHL All-Star break officially over, 22 teams will be back in action on Tuesday night. Safe to say that the most anticipated match of the evening will take place in Boston where the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins will host the Washington Capitals. The Southeast Division-leading Caps are in second place in the conference, 10 points in back of the Bruins.
Some pretty big injury news around the NHL today, as the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins learned they will be without some key players for at least the next month. 
The NHL's new hard-line stance on message-sending and late-game fisticuffs seems to have lasted, oh, about two weeks. Late in the third period of Pittsburgh's 7-4 win on Thursday, Carolina's Ryan Bayda was involved in a line brawl of sorts that featured Bayda delivering what appeared to be a cross-check to the face of Kris Letang. 
Tonight the Bruins and Hurricanes played a hockey game that went about as close as any game could. The two teams went toe-to-toe for nearly four periods, matching each other in every facet of the game. Goaltenders Cam Ward and Tim Thomas showed why they were big reasons as to how their teams made it to this point, making 35 and 34 saves respectively. Fittingly, the game headed to overtime and the Bruins would fall thanks to a familiar foe. 
After losing three straight games for just the third time this season, the Boston Bruins were facing elimination on Sunday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Bruins, behind a 19-save shutout by Tim Thomas, managed to keep their season rolling with a commanding 4-0 win at TD Banknorth Garden. 
Entering Saturday clinging onto the eighth spot in the East and, thus, their playoff lives, the Rangers could ill afford any adversity in their final four games.
Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead.
With the NHL All-Star break officially over, 22 teams will be back in action on Tuesday night. Safe to say that the most anticipated match of the evening will take place in Boston where the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins will host the Washington Capitals. The Southeast Division-leading Caps are in second place in the conference, 10 points in back of the Bruins.
