by Sam McCaig - April 25, 2006 12:13 AM EDT
Different opponent, same result? Ottawa is praying they don't have another playoff letdown.
Ottawa Senators fans know history repeats itself.
After all, they've seen the Toronto Maple Leafs come in and eliminate their precious Sens more times than they want to remember (four times in five years, to be precise).
by Sam McCaig - April 18, 2006 12:17 AM EDT
Here's an A to Z of things you should know about the season gone by and the playoffs to come.
Things can get a little crazy in the NHL when the end of the regular season collides with the start of the playoffs. In an effort to achieve order amidst the chaos, here's an alphabetical look at the season that wasÂ…and post-season that will be:
A is forÂ…Anaheim's no-name No.
by Sam McCaig - March 21, 2006 12:14 AM EST
Several teams, including the Saku Koivu-led Canadiens, have struggled since the Olympics.
Know what makes an exciting playoff race? When the teams in a playoff position start to fade, and the teams on the outside start to charge.
Welcome to the NHL's playoff race, circa 2006.
by Sam McCaig - March 14, 2006 11:44 PM EST
Vinny Lecavalier and the rest of his T.B. teammates have gone from Cup champions to the playoff bubble.
Two years ago, the Tampa Bay Lightning hit the midway point of the season in ninth place in the Eastern Conference. A couple months later, they finished the regular season in first place.
by Sam McCaig - February 28, 2006 12:26 AM EST
Jaromir Jagr and Dominik Hasek Czeched out of the Olympics with injuries, and they weren't the only ones.
Welcome back, NHL.
Don't worry - not much has changed since you've been away, save that Dominik Hasek can't make any saves for a while due to a strained abductor muscle (which is a fancy way of saying groin injury) sustained in the opening minutes of the Olympics.
by Sam McCaig - February 14, 2006 12:27 PM EST
A look the issues of the week...and weak (as in Theodore's scrawny frame).
The Stanley Cup is hockey's ultimate silver trophy, but the Olympics are all about gold.
And the 2006 edition of the worldwide tournament is starting to feel pretty wide open.
by Sam McCaig - February 7, 2006 3:16 PM EST
Carolina, Buffalo, and the Jaromir Jagr-led Rangers are the NHL's grand revelations this season.
It can be argued that the three biggest surprise teams this season all reside in the East.
While the Nashville Predators have been impressive, they did make the playoffs in 2003-04 (and pushed the mighty Red Wings to six games), so their success this season isn't so much surprising as it is another step in their progression.
by Sam McCaig - January 31, 2006 12:39 AM EST
Thanks in big part to the league's best rookie, the Caps are, at very least, respectable.
Rookie goal machine Alex Ovechkin is getting all the attention - and deservedly so - for the fact the Washington Capitals are not utterly horrible this season.
by Sam McCaig - January 9, 2006 12:34 AM EST
Three extraordinary players will take part in special games this week, making it one to look forward to.
Joe Thornton. Mark Messier. Wayne Gretzky. Three of hockey's biggest names will be in the news this week. More than usual, we mean.
Why? Because they're all going to be present at a special place for a special game.
by Sam McCaig - December 12, 2005 12:39 PM EST
Lemieux and Yzerman would have been great, but Staal, Spezza and Crosby are the right choice.
Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman, two Team Canadians since the late 1980s, have opted to pull out of the 2006 Winter Olympics.
It would have been special for the pair of 40-year-old legends to represent Canada, one more time, on the grandest of world stages.
by Sam McCaig - November 28, 2005 3:20 PM EST
He's no Forsberg, but Pierre Turgeon's been great early on.
Pierre Turgeon arrived in Colorado at the start of the 2005-06 season and told Avalanche fans he “was no Peter Forsberg.”
The people of Colorado, having experienced a decade of Forsberg's finest, quickly concurred.
by Sam McCaig - November 21, 2005 11:30 AM EST
So what if there's more penalty shots this year, it's better than the alternative, says Senior Editor Sam McCaig.
Remember that old Maurice ‘Rocket' Richard TV commercial for Grecian Formula, in which the retired Richard was the referee and a player skates up to him and says, “Hey Richard, two minutes for looking so good!”?
If they made that commercial today, the line would have to be changed to: “Hey Richard, the other team gets a penalty shot for you looking so good!”
No, it doesn't roll off the tongue as easily as the original line.
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"That hockey game will haunt me until the day I die…"
- Toronto's Joffrey Lupul reacting on Twitter to his team's meltdown loss in Game 7 to the Boston Bruins.
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