FanHouse Slava Kozlov

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.

Thrashers 5, Capitals 1: Break up the Thrashers. Thanks to its 5-1 drubbing of Washington on Monday, Atlanta has now won six in a row and seven of its past eight, as Kari Lehtonen turned aside an incredible 49 shots to lead the Thrashers. He was 1:15 away from registering his fourth shutout of the season, as Washington's Keith Aucoin finally broke through with his first goal of the season.

On the opposite end of the rink, Washington's Jose Theodore was mercifully yanked after giving up four goals on 19 shots, while the Thrashers converted on three of their four power play attempts -- without the services of Ilya Kovalchuk. Colby Armstrong, Slava Kozlov, Anssi Salmela, Tobias Enstrom and Eric Perrin all scored for Atlanta, while Salmela's goal was the first of his career.

Flyers 3, Thrashers 2: Thanks to a pair of goals from Jeff Carter the Flyers were able to hold off a late rally from Atlanta to pick a 3-2 win. Trailing 3-0 late in the third period, the Thrashers were able to cut the deficit to just one thanks to a pair of power play goals from Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov, before Antero Niittymaki and the Flyers shut the door to preserve the win.

After winning three in a row a little over a week ago, Atlanta has now lost six of its past seven games.

Capitals 5, Devils 2: The Washington Capitals took advantage of their three power play chances on Tuesday night, converting on all of them on their way to a 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils. Mike Green and Brooks Laich scored a pair of goals with the man advantage just three minutes apart in the first period, while Michael Nylander picked up his second goal of the game at the 10:59 mark of the third period.

Jose Theodore stopped 32-of-34 shots in net for Washington, including 16-of-17 in the third period. The loss for New Jersey snaps its eight game winning streak, despite receiving another goal another Jamie Langenbrunner, who has now picked up seven goals in his past four games.

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.

What a dreadful month of December for the Penguins. After their 2-0 loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday night, the Penguins find themselves with a 4-6-1 record this month, and have dropped back-to-back home games to Toronto and Tampa Bay by a combined score of 9-3, while getting outshot 69-38 in the process. There's no way to sugarcoat it -- that sucks. Even worse, the Penguins haven't won two straight games since November 13-15. Ouch.

Tampa Bay picked up goals from Matt Pettinger and Paul Szczechura, while Mike Smith turned aside all 15 shots he faced. Though, he received a little help from the Penguins, when Petr Sykora honked a pair of shots wide of the goal when he had Smith beat, and then Evgeni Malkin inexplicably attempted to make a pass when he had a breakaway. Perhaps he's serious about that century mark with the assists, I don't know.

Though, the save of the night was when Malkin, shorthanded, had another breakaway in the third period -- in what was still a one-goal game -- and was stoned by Smith. Tampa Bay turned it around the other way and Szczechura redirected a pass from Jussi Jokinen passed Marc-Andre Fleury to ice the game.

It's important to realize it's only December and that the Penguins had a similar record a year ago today -- and, hey, that season turned out okay -- but that doesn't change the fact this is some really bad hockey right now.

Bizarre game in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon, as the Capitals fired 48 shots at Flyers goaltender Antero Niittymaki -- including 25 in the first period -- only to get their lunches handed to them on the scoreboard in the form of a 7-1 dismantling at the hands of Philadelphia.

The Capitals went into the third period with a 39-13 edge in the shots department, yet trailed on the scoreboard 3-0. Perhaps their spirit was crushed, or something, because they allowed the Flyers to strike four more times in the final frame.

Scott Hartnell recorded a hat trick for Philadelphia in the win, which was its sixth victory in the past seven games. Jeff Carter added two goals, giving him 24 on the season, while Simon Gagne and Joffrey Lupul also joined in the goal-scoring fun, tormenting the Washington goaltending duo of Brent Johnson and Jose Theodore.

Brooks Laich scored the only goal for Washington, as Niittymaki made 47 saves for the Flyers.

I'm sure that a vast majority of NHL players value their privacy a grand deal. Just witness what happens when a duo of idiot fans decide to hit up Sidney Crosby's old dwelling in Nova Scotia. *facepalm*

I always figured that any player moving or living in Florida had it made in terms of seclusion. Most any professional hockey player can go to a shopping mall in Miami and be more anonymous than the guy/girl who played Pat on Saturday Night Live.

BUT, what happens when your address gets published publicly, as is the case with Slava Kozlov and the purchase of his new house in Boca Raton, Florida. Check out this posting on Blockshopper.com:

NHL veteran Viacheslav "Slava" Kozlov and his wife, Tatyana Kardivar, bought a four-bedroom, 3.5 bath at 3051 NW 30th Way in Boca Raton for $1.25 million from Craig Monaghan and his wife, Mary Louise, on July 9.

Not only do you know how much Kozlov paid for the house, but the address, his wife's full name, and biographical information on the guy he bought it from.

Sheesh! Why not give out the guy's phone number, favorite ice cream flavor, and Social Security Number, as well?

If I were Kozlov, I'd be just a little pissed that my private real estate transaction is being published for the whole world to see. Does he need a crazed fan or two knocking on his door, or pipe bombs mailed to his house?

On another note, why the hell is Kozlov paying a premium on the house? With the housing market in a huge tumble, Kozlov ought to be able to do a bit better than that. Then again, he's not exactly hurting for cash.

After about five months worth of votes, the guys over at Orland Kurtenblog have finally determined a winner in their exhaustive poll to determine the greatest NHL hit of all time. The winner: Scott Stevens' clean and righteous destruction of Slava Kozlov during the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals:



Sitting proudly in the second spot: Brian Campbell's number on R.J. Umberger during the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Click here to check that one out. Thanks to the guys at Kurtenblog for leaving no video evidence unconsidered in what has to be considered the ultimate hit reel.

As for me, well, there's one hit I'll always consider above all others.