lordstanley

A former NHLer describes going through an arbitration session. First four minutes of this clip.

I'm going with all four road teams winning outright.

Here's one published at the time that I remember.

Leafs are now in playoff position after knocking off the Avs in Denver.

Texans' defense is stellar. 30-6 at the 2 minute warning. 14 points on defensive plays in the 4th quarter.

Even Paul Woods acknowledges that the ref needs to visit the eye doctor after missing the cross check.

Cry, Canes, cry.

TWO shorthanded goals in the same period would have been embarrassing.

Damn, if Ghost could have at least waited another 20 seconds before tying it.

Including a double minor. Wings will be lucky to get to OT.

Tampa and Montreal are winning (of course), so a win or loss tonight is the difference between 1st and 4th in the conference.

3-0 with 2nd period goals by DeBrincat and Johansson (!). Back to back measuring stick games and so far the Wings are measuring up well.

Ha, I was just thinking about her the other day. Turned 16 the night the Wings won the Cup in ‘97. Rode with Sergei in the parade a few days later.

Kid Kane!

I know the response online has been largely positive, "best thing ever", "hilarious", "so cute", "sign them up" but I had to be the wet blanket. To me they were playing with fire and it was irresponsible of the coaches to allow this - or probably even plan this in advance - with 7 year olds. And with something similar happening a month area in the same rink, that makes it even more egregious, as it suggests this weekend was staged. Skates to the throat are a thing. I almost lost an eye to a skate to the face in the mid'70s. Our team won the championship, flung our helmets off and mobbed the goalie, I fell in the scrum and a kid rushing in stepped on my face. The blood immediately gushed from the goalline to the blue line. I can still remember the screams of my mom from the stands. There was one point in the weekend's video when a kid was on the ice and people were stepping all around him and another time when a goalie came jumping into the pile with skates raised.

Teams 13-16 in the Eastern Conference - NJ Devils, Rangers, Senators, Jackets - have sagged and are now 12-15 points back of the Wings. The bottom teams in the NHL - 25 to 32 overall - are all in the West. If the Wings at least play a point per game the rest of the way (28 of 32 teams are doing so in the season to date) they'd reach 94 points, which virtually always is enough for a spot.

Teams leading at the 2 minute warning of the 4th quarter are 0-3 so far this weekend. Now the Eagles have the ball in Niners territory down 4.

Biggest question for me is whether Gibson can sustain his good play. If the Wings get decent or good goaltending, a playoff spot should be theirs unless they get hit by injuries. A graphic on TV last night showed that Gibson's Save % was around 30th in the league in October-November but 3rd in the league in January-December.

So Stafford, Williams and Allen have all stepped up with their season on the line in the final moments.