FanHouse PeterBudaj

It seems that shootouts have gotten a lot of attention lately. There was this goal in a shootout overseas, and more recently, this one in an IHL game. Thursday night, Dallas Star Mike Ribeiro decided to toss in some artistry of his own. This bizarre goal won Dallas a shootout in what was ultimately a meaningless game, as both teams are long gone from the playoff race in the Western Conference. Ribeiro might have gotten a wee bit lucky on this goal against an unsuspecting Peter Budaj, but he gets huge style and creativity points.

I'm pretty sure I have said this before, but I'll risk being repetitive, because I think it's important. Coaches tend to get way too much credit when things go well, and even more of the blame when things go poorly. This has been especially true, for some odd reason, in the NBA and NHL over the years. Turnover is ridiculous.

Tony Granato is in his second stint as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche. His first shot at the job lasted not even two full seasons, before Joel Quenneville was brought in. When Quenneville left, Granato got a second opportunity. Unfortunately for him, the help from management and the players has been horribly inadequate.

Avalanche 4, Flames 3: Colorado ended a four-game losing streak with its win over Calgary on Monday night, thanks in large part to a three-point effort from Marek Svatos. Svatos chipped in two goals (including the eventual game-winner late in the second period) and added an assist, while Ryan Smyth registered a pair of helpers in the win.

Peter Budaj was strong in net for the Avalanche, turning aside 36 of 39 shots to pick up his 14th win over the season.

There are certainly at least two really good teams in the NHL's Western Conference. Defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit and fast-starting San Jose appear in the clear to duke it out for the right to play for the Stanley Cup later this year.

Of course, we know that anything can happen in a best-of-seven series. In addition, we still have half a season left to play. What we don't know is which team in this conference is set up to challenge either the Red Wings or Sharks. They've beaten - at least once - pretty much everyone who has stood in their way, including each other.

While the top of the conference appears to virtually locked in place at this point, there are still serious battles to be fought, especially for the last four positions in the West. Currently, eight teams are separated by just six points. St. Louis, the last-place team in the West, is just nine points out of eighth.

Okay, so maybe the title is a bit of an overreaction. Still, that doesn't change the fact the New York Islanders are a terrible, terrible third period hockey team, and they proved it once again on Tuesday, giving up four goals in the final 20 minutes on their way to a 5-4 loss to the Rangers.

The Islanders actually entered the third with a 2-1 lead, only to watch the Rangers beat Joey MacDonald -- starting in place of Rick Dipietro -- four times on their final 12 shots. Petr Prucha, playing for the first time in eight games, tied the game just 49 seconds into the third period, while Michal Rozsival gave the Rangers their first lead of the night two minutes later. Markus Naslund and Nigel Dawes also tallied late goals for the Rangers, while Scott Gomez tapped in a tic-tac-toe pass from Nikolai Zherdev and Brandon Dubinsky in the second period, opening the scoring for the Rangers.

Mike Sillinger, Kyle Okposo, Blake Comeau and Mike Comrie scored for the Islanders.

Physical game between the crosstown rivals, resulting in a pair of fights in the first 10 minutes, and capped off with a crushing hit by Ryan Callahan on Trent Hunter early in the third. Callahan smashed the Islanders forward into the penalty box door, forcing it open, resulting in Hunter's midsection smashing off the boards. He was down for quite a while, and appeared to be in severe pain, resulting in a stretcher being brought on the ice. Hunter, however, managed to bring himself to his feet and skate off because, you know, he's a hockey player.

The Islanders jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on Tuesday night, thanks to a pair of goals from Doug Weight and Andy Hilbert less than a minute apart. Unfortunately for them, as has been the case all season, they couldn't hold it, as the Flyers roared back to take a 3-2 lead in the second period, and eventually win, 4-3, handing the Islanders their fourth straight loss.

After Aaron Asham put the Flyers on the board late in the first period, Darroll Plowe, a former undrafted free agent -- a fact Versus mentioned no fewer than 30 times -- tied the game midway through the second with his first NHL goal. Eight minutes later, Jeff Carter scored his 20th goal of the season -- tied for the top spot in the league with Buffalo's Thomas Vanek -- to give Philadelphia its first lead of the night.

The Islanders fought back at the 2:07 mark of the final period, when Blake Comeau scored a relatively weak goal on Martin Biron, after it essentially rolled into the net behind him.

Simon Gagne scored the game-winner late in the third, moving the Flyers into a tie for second place in the Atlantic Division with cross-state rival, Pittsburgh.

Paul Maurice made his debut in his second stint with the Hurricanes on Thursday night, and, well, it wasn't exactly an impressive showing by Carolina, as the Penguins walked out of the building with a 5-2 win. Sidney Crosby registered four assists on the night, while Petr Sykora picked up a pair of power play goals to lead the Penguins.

Carolina goalie Michael Leighton struggled most of the night, giving up the five goals on only 22 shots. He struggled with puck control and wasn't exactly helped by his defense, as they were guilty of a few costly turnovers in the defensive zone. With the Hurricanes trailing 1-0 in the first, Josef Melichar (former Penguin) turned the puck over to Pascal Dupuis who ripped a shot behind Leighton giving the Penguins an early 2-0 lead.

Ruslan Fedotenko and Miroslav Satan also scored for the Penguins, while Tuomo Ruutu and Matt Cullen scored the only two goals of the night for Carolina. Both goals brought the Hurricanes to within two goals on the scoreboard, only to have the Penguins quickly strike back, squashing any momentum Carolina may have built.

The Hurricanes have now lost four of their past five games.

The Minnesota Wild are probably the last team you would expect to be involved in a 6-5 game, but, hark, here we are. Paul Stastny scored a pair of goals and picked up an assist for the Avalanche, as they snapped the Wild's modest two-game winning streak on Monday night.

Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom had what was, perhaps, his worst night of the season, giving up six goals on 26 shots through the first two periods. He didn't come back out for the third, as Josh Harding took over and stopped all five shots he faced in the defeat.

For the Avalanche, Peter Budaj gave up five goals of his own on 17 shots, as Minnesota picked up goals from Pierre-Marc Bouchard (2), Owen Nolan, Mikko Koivu, and Brent Burns.

Bouchard scored his second goal of the game just 22 seconds into the second period, giving Minnesota a brief 3-2 lead. Just three minutes later, Stastny picked up his first, as the Avalanche would fill the net three more times in the period, ultimately chasing Backstrom from the game.

Minnesota head coach Jacques Lemaire called the first 40 minutes the worst two periods he had seen, as Colorado was not only leading 6-4, but also holding a commanding 26-12 edge in shots on goal.

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.

Who's In: Andrew Raycroft, G (FA-TOR); Darcy Tucker, F (FA-TOR)

Who's Out: Jeff Finger, D (FA-TOR); Andrew Brunette, F (FA-MIN); Kurt Sauer, D (FA-PHX); Wyatt Smith, F (FA-TB); Jose Theodore, G (FA-WSH)

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.

Some 'family business' during the lockout seemed to sap any game that Jose Theodore had. The once-upon-a-time-MVP-like goaltender dropped from a sweet 91.9SV% before the lockout to a paltry 88.1SV% after the NHL rebooted, spurring his trade from Montreal to Colorado. Being caught out cheating with skanky Paris Hilton certainly didn't help him much (note to guys: Pink shirts never work, mmkay?), nor being caught with a steroid masking agent in his blood.

Lately, however, Jose Theodore has been showing some flashes of his former self, and has been helping the Avs win some games in the absence of Ryan Smyth and Joe Sakic. Is he on the comeback trail?

Winning has a funny way of making players seem cool again. Theodore's locker stall has been bereft of reporters much of the past couple of seasons with the Avalanche, but has become a crowded place again.

In the past five games, he has a 3-2 record, 2.17 goals-against average and .921 save percentage (139 shots, 11 goals) in 304:41 minutes.

Before we get too excited, let's look at how both Theodore and Budaj are doing this season, overall.

Theodore: 22GP 11-10-1 2.59GAA 90.2SV%
Budaj: 26GP 14-8-2 2.63GAA 90.1SV%

Despite Theodore recent heroics, both Avs' goals are playing below the league average (~90.5%), and neither goalie seems capable of grabbing the #1 spot by the balls and driving Santa's sleigh.

At the very least, Theodore's play this season is a marked upgrade from the past two seasons, where he put up save percentages well below 90%. Perhaps he'll continue to gain confidence in himself and get back to at least league average? Perhaps he'll start to earn that massive salary?