FanHouse Rich Peverley

After Alex Ovechkin scored his 50th goal last season, he had a rather unique celebration. Even before that happened, Ovechkin's celebrations had drawn the ire of CBC Hockey Night in Canada legend Don Cherry.

Yes, Cherry certainly tends to wear his Canadian heart on his sleeve. However, people generally listen to what he has to say, no matter the potential biases involved. After Ovechkin basically got away with a slew-foot earlier in the week, Cherry was very pointed in his comments on Coach's Corner Saturday night. Video after the jump.

Hockey fans in Atlanta have known nothing but losing and front office incompetence since the Thrashers joined the NHL a decade ago. Even the best season in franchise history, the 2006-07 campaign that saw the Thrashers qualify for their first and only playoff appearance, ended in disappointment as they were quickly swept under the rug in four games by the New York Rangers.

In the two seasons following that trip to the postseason, the Thrashers have returned to their sub-80-point ways, toiling at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. Thanks to a couple of shrewd moves at the start of the offseason, and some returning young talent, this year's version of the Thrashers looks like it has a chance to make some noise.

The defending champs claim the top spot in this week's power rankings, while the Anaheim Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes make jumps of their own as they look to earn playoff berths in their respective conferences.

There's also a new team taking over the basement, thanks to a pair of blowout losses on home ice in the past week.

With the playoff race as tight as it is in the Eastern Conference, every point counts, and when you're faced with winnable games against teams currently out of the playoff picture, picking up the two points is an absolute must.

With less than 10 minutes to play in their game against Atlanta on Saturday, the Carolina Hurricanes were holding a rather comfortable 3-1 lead. Then, for whatever reason, the bottom fell out for the Hurricanes, as Atlanta erupted for four unanswered goals to pick up a 5-3 win.

Devils 4, Bruins 3: The premier matchup on Thursday's schedule had to be the New Jersey-Boston tilt, and it didn't disappoint as the Devils took a 4-3 decision in overtime. Jamie Langenbrunner scored a pair of goals for the Devils, including the game-winner 1:11 into overtime.

After jumping out to a 2-0 lead through the first two periods, New Jersey watched the Bruins roar back with three goals in the third period before Patrick Elias tied the game with just under two minutes to play in regulation. Zach Parise picked up his 29th goal of the season in the win, while Scott Clemmensen made 24 saves. New Jersey has now won seven consecutive games while allowing only 12 goals during the streak. Who needs Martin Brodeur, eh?

The Penguins and Hurricanes entered Tuesday's game in Pittsburgh separated by one point in the Eastern Conference standings, and when you consider the two teams occupied the No's. 9 and 10 seeds respectively, with an opportunity to jump into the No. 8 seed closing out the first half the season, well, it was a pretty big game. Cam Ward rose to the occasion for the Hurricanes, stopping 32-of-33 shots, leading them to a 2-1 win.

Ward was fantastic most of the night, but saved his best play for the final five minutes of regulation when the Penguins were on a four-minute power play. Over the past two nights, the 24-year-old netminder has stopped 66-of-67 shots.

Fantastic game in San Jose between the top two teams in the Western Conference, as the Sharks and Red Wings entered Saturday's tilt separated by just one point in the standings. In a game that featured 11 goals and 75 shots on goal, San Jose emerged with a 6-5 win, extending its lead to three points for the top spot in the conference.

Patrick Marleau's goal with 6:36 to play in regulation proved to the be the game-winner, while Detroit goalie Chris Osgood surrendered six goals on 42 shots. Ryane Clowe picked up four assists for the Sharks, while Milan Michalek registered a goal and an assist in the win.

Columbus goalie Steve Mason was perfect for 59 minutes on Friday night in his quest for his seventh shutout of the season. It was that one minute that proved to be the difference, as Travis Zajac and John Madden scored two quick goals to help lead the Devils to a 2-1 win.

Madden's goal, which proved to be the game-winner, came with some controversy as it needed a review from the infamous war room in Toronto. Mason appeared to have the puck covered long enough for a whistle, only to have Madden continue to dig and push the puck in as the net was dislodged. The call on the ice from referee Don Koharski was that it was a goal, and officials in Toronto apparently agreed, much to the chagrin of the fans in Columbus. Naturally, both teams had their own perspective on the events.

Pavel Datsyuk's goal (shown above) was perhaps the highlight of a great day of hockey in Chicago, and we have to give a well-deserved tip of the cap to Eric McErlain for giving us all a front row seat for the festivities and excitement around Wrigley Field.

Chicago jumped out to an early 3-1 lead after the first period, looking like it was out to send a message after Tuesday night's loss in Detroit, only to have the Red Wings roar back with five consecutive goals -- including a pair from Jiri Hudler -- to take the Winter Classic, 6-4. The Wings are now 4-0 against their original six rivals this season, while improving their record to 25-7-5.

This year's version of the classic, I thought, was far better than last season's game in Buffalo, mainly because this game wasn't played in blizzard conditions. Sure, that was exciting and awesome to look at, but it definitely hurt the on-ice play, while the ice itself was in horrible condition, resulting in multiple stoppages in play to fix massive holes. No such problems this year, just exciting hockey in a historic stadium between two classic teams wearing some awesome, awesome uniforms. Not a huge fan of the rendition of take me out to the ballgame, however. The hockey song would have been a nice touch, but, really, if that's the only negative throughout the event, well, that's a great, great thing for the sport.

Ty Conklin, playing in his third outdoor game in the NHL, stopped 33 shots in the win, while Chicago's Cristobal Huet had to be lifted early in the third period after giving up six goals on 30 shots.

Late in the first period of last night's Predators-Canucks game, with the score tied at one, Vancouver's Rob Davison leveled Nashville's Scott Nichol following a dump-in to the zone, leading to a rather physical night of hockey in the music city. It was a classic, "Hey, keep your head up" moment.

In the wake of the crushing hit, Jason Jaffrey and Rich Peverley squared off at center ice. Not the best scrum we've seen, but Peverley losses points for fighting with his visor on. Doesn't this violate the code?