The Fifth Liners

When Steven Stamkos suffered a broken leg back in November (coincidentally the same day I arrived in Toronto!) many people believed the Tampa Bay Lightning's season was done like the turkey. Well it appears that there is hope for the Sunshine State after all, because this season Tampa Bay look like a revitalised team and right they stand 4th in the Eastern Conference with 25 wins to their name! Last season, the 2004 Stanley Cup champions were derided by hockey fans as a spent force, and in fairness a lot of this criticism was justified as the Bolts limped home 14th overall in the East, only place up from their sister team, the Florida Panthers and the jokes about Florida hockey team increased dramatically! Guy Boucher for his efforts (or lack of efforts in this case) was given the chop by Steve Yzerman and replaced by Jon Cooper. Under the new leadership, Tampa Bay have looked a genuine threat offensively and although losing star man Stamkos has been a blow, the team had ralli...

A Sidney Crosby Hat tricked helped the Pittsburgh Penguins come back from an embrassing defeat last night to the Panthers with an entertaining 5-4 win against Tampa Bay Lightning ! One of the most interesting offensive teams this- their trip to the Sunshine State has been a mixed one so far! Valtteri Filppula gave the Penguins a shock when he scored off a deflection from Killorn after 13 mins of the third period and again it looked like Pittsburgh were in for a tough night. But when Crosby tied the scores at 1-1 on a powerplay after only two minutes of the second period, the mood was temporarily lifted. But then Steven Stamkos pushed the home side in front again three minutes later. Brooks Orpik levelled the game at 2-2 with a tip in for Pittsburgh after 7 minutes to complete a stunning opening goal flurry! But again it was the Lightning who went ahead at the break when Teddy Purcell tipped Sami Salo 's shot into Fleury's net to make it 3-2 after 15.42. In the third...

My brain melted a little bit yesterday when I saw the news that Daniel Alfredsson had left the Ottawa Senators to move to the Detroit Red Wings . We've discussed on this  here blog  what the Gothenburg native would do when his contract came to an end. Although at the time the speculation was that he'd probably retire. Of course as part of the Detroit faithful, I'm pleased with the signing, although there are echoes of Mike Modano's final NHL season. While Modano lifted the Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars, Alfredsson has never lifted the cup and despite playing over 1000 games with the Sens, he's only been to the final once.  Hence why he's made the move to the Joe instead of hanging up his skates for good. Alfredsson wants his shot at getting his name engraved on Lord Stanley's Cup. The 1 year deal is worth 5.5 million. Like Daniel Alfredsson, Stephen Weiss  has also spent his whole NHL career at a single club. The 30 year old has been at t...

I don't know if ducks can technically sink but writing catchy headlines is tough. Anyway. After twice being behind in the series, those plucky Detroit Red Wings have managed to bring it back twice to equalize and forced the Anaheim Ducks into a final game decider. Detroit Captain (and beard idol) Henrik Zetterberg opened the scoring early in the first period, and goals from Justin Abdelkader and Valtteri Filppula sealed the victory. It wasn't all plain sailing though as Emerson Etem and Francois Beauchemin scored for the Ducks but it wasn't enough to top the Red Wings who now make the 300 mile journey to Illinois for the semi finals where they will meet conference champs the Chicago Blackhawks . Detroit made things difficult, giving Anaheim more powerplays than necessary. Zetterberg took the final powerplay of the game after launching the puck over the glass and receiving an Delay of Play penalty for his troubles. This allowed the Ducks the opportunity to ...

The Detroit Red Wings are determined not to miss out on that last playoff place in the Western Conference. Last night the LA Kings were welcomed to the Joe Louis Arena (minus Dustin Brown). The Kings opened the scoring in the second period Kyle Clifford wristed past Jimmy Howard . Pavel Datsyuk responded with a backhanded effort five minutes later to restore parity. In the third period, Jordin Tootoo gave the Wings the edge and Valtteri Filppula sealed both points. The win puts the Wings a point ahead of Columbus and edges the team back into the playoff places. Columbus, Dallas and Detroit are all still in the competition to see who'll get knocked out by Chicago in the playoffs. Full story  here.

The Detroit Red Wings welcomed the Phoenix Coyotes to the Joe Louis last night, desperate for two points to keep them in the race for a placeoff place.  Super Swiss Damien Brunner tipped the puck to Johan Franzen to score in the third minute before then scoring himself just before the end of the first period.  Valtteri Filppula added a third goal late in the second period and Franzen stole another in the fourth period.  Jimmy Howard made 34 saves in his fourth shutout of the season. The win puts the Wings one point outside the playoff places with three games left.  Full report  here.

The never ending game of musical chairs that is the Wings' injury list continues. It's great to see Valtteri Filppula back in the starting lineup after so long but it was announced today that Jimmy Howard missed training with sickness. This means that Swede Jonas Gustavsson will be guarding the net tonight against the Calgary Flames. Ian White is also of tonight's game out for personal reasons. The Wings really need to find some consistency in this condensed season. In such a tight conference, it's not hard to see them slipping out of the playoff positions. While nobody is doubting Gustavsson's credentials, the Flames are coming in off the back of three losses on the bounce and have a serious point to prove. Tonight will not be easy for either team. Here's hoping Howard has a speedy recovery and is back between the sticks very soon.