Some notes today on various players/teams around the NHL…

Toronto 8, Boston 2
Nuff said. The B’s have stumbled terribly in the past week and last night’s shelling to the hands of the surging Toronto Maple Leafs marked their 3rd loss in a row, the same team that was on a 6-game win streak not too long ago.
And don’t forget that 10-2 massacre of the Bruins by Washington on Monday night either.
During this 3 game skid, Boston has been outscored a combined total of 19 to 4, 18 of those goals against coming in two games.
Head coach Claude Julien says it’s not the time to panic, although, there is definitely cause for concern.
As for the Leafs, they haven’t budged, as their improbable chase for a playoff spot continues…12th in the East, 6 points behind the 8th spot, currently held by the Flyers.
One more loss by the Leafs and a victory by Philadelphia could end their slim hope; the Bruins remain 7th in the East, with 77 points, just one ahead of 8th place Philly.

-Tim Thomas on Monday: 2.34 GAA; .926 SV% (good for 2nd in the NHL)
Tim Thomas over the past 2 games: 10.57 GAA; .745 SV% (ouch)
Tim Thomas on Friday: 2.57 GAA; .919 SV% (GAA up by 0.23, SV% down 7)

-Two heavyweights, Tampa’s Andre Roy and the Flyers’ Riley Cote squared off last night in a fight worth seeing.
Afterwards, Roy was upset and made a throat-cutting gesture to Cote on the Flyers bench.

-As of today, 5 Russians (Alex Ovechkin, Evegni Malkin, Ilja Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk and Alex Kovalev) are in top 15 for points in the NHL!
Leading the way are Ovechkin (92) and Malkin (89)…it’s truly baffling that no Russian born player has ever won an NHL scoring title, you’d think with all the talent they produce there would be at least one guy to have won it already.
Looks like it’ll go down to the wire between Ovechkin and Malkin, with 3rd place Vincent Lecavalier 9 points off Malkin’s tail.

-25-year old Swedish goalie Erik Ersberg made 40 saves for his first NHL shutout and win against the slumping Ottawa Senators last night.

-The ‘Nucks are back to their old defensive woes that saw 4 of their starting 6 out at one point this season, losing Matthias Ohlund and Aaron Miller both to injury last night in a game against Nashville.
Miller was dirtily hit near the end of the game by Jordin Tootoo, who will not receive a suspension, and suffered a shoulder injury while Ohlund has bone chips in his knee and will be evaluated in the coming week.
“He has no respect for the game” were the words Canucks skipper Alain Vigneault said afterwards when asked about Tootoo, who has become somewhat infamous for his occasional cheap plays.

-”There is no NHL team in Columbus”

And that’s all for now, it’s been a pretty boring week in hockey.

-BBeR