The Fifth Liners

Last season the Chicago Blackhawks as celebrated Dave Bolland's goal to seal the 2013 Stanley Cup against the Boston Bruins, you could be forgiven for thinking for thinking that the good times were only just getting started! This season the Blackhawks seemed to be suffering for a severe case of post cup winning hangover and after last night's 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, this once destructive Illnois crew seems have run out of petrol! But what has caused this team to decline so quickly? With the playoffs looming, Chicago currently lies 5th overall in the Western Conference, over 8 points drift of surprise leaders the St Louis Blues and they have racked up a whopping 15 losses so far! This is more than double the amount than during the 2012-13 regular season where they only recorded an incredible 7 losing games. Also their defence is leaking goals faster than the faulty pipe in my boiler at home and their goals against figure stands at 182 conceded! Compared to last se...

User Actions   Following Zenon Konopka Verified account ‏ @ZenonKonopka If you don't think Ryan Miller is the Best Goalie in the NHL you haven't seen enough Sabres games #unreal Wow. That's one hell of a statement to make. One that warrants further investigation. Firstly I'll accept that I haven't seen every game that Miller has played, as a neutral, there's only so much hockey you can watch which still holding down a job. Sure he's a good goalie, but the best? In the same league as Marc-Andre Fleury, Mike Smith, Ben Bishop and Jonas Hiller, well that's some esteemed company. It's difficult to grade goalies, usually Save Percentage (Sv%) is the best reflection of how well a goalie is doing, but it doesn't always paint a true picture. Niklas Svedberg has the second best Sv% in the league (.943) but he's only played one game so far. That was against the Nashville Predators, not exactly prolific shooters. Fleury has t...

Today the Olympic Ice Hockey rosters for the upcoming Sochi 2014 games have been officially confirmed, after much speculation surrounding them there has been some interesting selections made and no doubt this will spark furious debate among hockey fans, let's take a look at the main contenders. Canada  The 25 man Canadian squad certainly isn't lacking in depth, and this year they will be the team to beat and 11 of 2010 Gold Medal team will make a return journey! The defensive selection is one I highly commend as they have mixed youth of players like PK Subban along with defensive quality like Jay Bouwmeester. The St Louis pairing of JB along with Pietrangelo could well be a wise selection! Offensively the star count is ridiculously high with Crosby, Toews, Perry, Stamkos and Kunitz among others being featured and Canada will rely on this goal power to see them through! There are few surprise selections with Marc-Andre Fleury missing out in favour of Roberto Luongo and the ...

After last nights 7-2 steamroller over the Colorado Avalanche , it would appear that the Chicago Blackhawks are the public's favourite to retain their Stanley Cup crown this year! If they do succeed in taking back to back titles, it will make them the first team to achieve this since the 1997-98 Detroit Red Wings and will already make them one of the big successes of this decade alone! After their up and down start to their title defense, the Red Express has got back on the rails and it ain't going to stop any time soon! But as always with winning, things are never straight forward because across from our brothers in Illinois are another team who are equally hungry and have a burning desire not to repeat last years play-off nightmare in the shape of the Pittsburgh Penguins ! Both sides have an equally strong case as they possess offensive units to die for- Chicago this season have been led by free scoring winger Patrick Kane, whose 21 goals have pushed them to the top of the...

The Pittsburgh Penguins won a titantic back and forth battle against the Toronto Maple Leafs last night for a 6-5 shootout win at the Consol Energy Center! From the very outset, things were far from straight foward and despite Chris Connor putting the Penguins ahead after 1.57 of the first period, James Van Riemsdyk soon made thing a tie game after he scored on the powerplay after 5 minutes. From there things got very tricky for the home team as Nazem Kadri gave Toronto the lead after 11 minutes. Less than 43 seconds into the next period- the Leafs hit Pittsburgh with a double blow as a crucial mistake by Marc-Andre Fleury as he attempted to pass the puck behind his net to Jayson Megna let in Van Riemsdyk for his second goal after only 13 seconds! Thirty seconds later Phil Kessel would score to put Toronto 4-1 in front and add to the home fans frustrations! Powerplay goals by Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang midway through help raise spirits- but when Tyler Bozak popped up to score...

The New York Rangers scored an impressive win last night at Madison Square Garden as they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1! They were lucky not to fall behind after 20 seconds though when Henrik Lundqvist stopped Sidney Crosby's breakaway chance! He was also faced with challenging efforts from Tanner Glass and Marcus Niskanen, but the Swede's efforts kept things at a tie game! But in a late 1st period flurry, the Rangers took control as Ryan McDonagh scored on 18 minutes to give them the lead and this was then followed up just over a minute later when Derek Stepan put the Rangers 2-0 up! Into the second period and New York went further in front when Brian Boyle slammed past Marc-Andre Fleury to make things 3-0 after 13.10 played. Kris Letang gave Pittsburgh a solitary reply when he scored on a powerplay, but Pittsburgh would get no further than that! But Rangers captain Ryan Callahan restored their three goal advantage shortly after when he deflected in Carl Hagelin'...

The Pittsburgh Penguin s won a closely won 4-3 contest over the Vancouver Canucks last night at the Consol Energy Center which was only decided by a shootout! Vancouver got a somewhat fortunate start as Alex Edler's spectacular centre ice slap shot on 13.49 minutes bounced off the mask of Marc-Andre Fleury and crept into the goal but Pittsburgh didnt waste time and captain Sidney Crosby made things a tie game after 15.44 played. On the powerplay, Chris Kunitz pushed the Penguins in front after 7.56 of the second period following good work behind net by Malkin. But Vancouver weren't going down without a fight and Brad Richardson levelled things at 2-2 following some good drop passes. Into the third and Zach Kassian deflected Kevin Bieksa's shot past Fleury to put the Canucks ahead 3-2 after 12.50 played! But cruely only 22 seconds later Olli Maata scored a rebound off Luongo to claim his first ever NHL goal and tie the game at 3-3. But there was to be late drama as Bra...

After his trip to hospital to dissolve a blood clot, Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tomas Vokoun will be out three to six months while he recovers. The announcement was made today. Rookie Jeff Zatkoff will serve as Marc-Andre Fleury's backup. We both wish Vokoun a speedy recovery and hope to see him back soon.

Pittsburgh Penguins ' goalie Tomas Vokoun  is currently the go-to man between the sticks, however after he conceded three goals in 12 minutes against the Boston Bruins and was pulled, it looked like it would be Marc-Andre Fleury's time to shine. Not so. The Pens' coach Dan Bylsma has publicly backed Vokoun and announced that he'll be the starting keeper in tonight's game. It's pretty rare that Byslma publicly backs anyone. No pressure eh Tomas?

Looks after Vokoun's display last night, this picture's predictions may have been a false dawn- it was a good run while it lasted Tomas! 

The Boston Bruins doubled their advantage in the Eastern Conference with a dominant 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Consol Energy Center! So far their sharp offensive play is proving the difference in this series and at the moment! In the first period- the Bruins ran riot with Brad Marchand' s break away goal after only 28 seconds putting them on their way and  after 14 minutes the lead was doubled by Nathan Horton before the in form David Krecji pushed the Penguins deeper under water to make the score 3-0! Coach Dan Byisma then proceeded to pull Tomas Vokoun from net and returned Marc-Andre Fleury to active duty! Despite Brandon Sutter 's snap shot pulling one back for Pittsburgh with 34 second left in the period, Fleury was to have an equally hard time, this was confirmed when Marchand bagged his second with only 9 seconds remaining! Scoring took a break in the second period but 27 second in the third period, Patrice Bergeron scored to put the game ...

Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that backup goalie Tomas Vokoun will be start in net for thursday's game 5 against the New York Islanders. After some uneven displays by regular goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, including letting in 6 goals in 24 shots in a 6-4 game 4 defeat in New York, the Penguins management have decided to sit the struggling Fleury on the bench at let Vokoun have his shot. Will this gamble pay off? We'll let the results of this series tell that story!