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How bad is the goaltending in Washington these days? With Holtby struggling and Neuvirth getting injured during warm-ups, the easy duct tape solution was to tell the video coach to pull a Clark Kent and to dress as Superman. Recalling a disaster goalie from AHL Hershey was not an option. Word is that Neuvirth was supposed to start the game vs. Montreal tonight.
The Caps have decided to dress their video coach Brett Leonardi as the backup tonight as they have in the past. The 6'7" "Stretch" played at Oswego State. He has served as backup to the Caps' starters in the past.
2nd intermission for Stretch. pic.twitter.com/Yj14X2UJ7u
— Sergey Kocharov (@SergeyKocharov) November 30, 2013________________________________________________________________
Darren Helm channels his inner Evil Knievel!
Look sat this beauty of a goal. My choice for goal of the year.
Helm uses his Mazzerati speed to track a loose puck and to embarrass MacDonald and Poulin.
Sick!
Jimmy Howard made 28 saves for the shutout.
Wings head coach Mike Babcock told us in the visitors' room in Buffalo in Sunday night:
"As "Howie" (Howard) goes, we go"
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Sharks spanked Blues.
6-3 Final.
Brent Burns with the hat trick.
Ken Hitchcock and Doug Armstrong better face facts. Jaro Halak and Brian Elliott are not big game goalies. Good goalies? Yes, they are. Great goalies? Stanley Cup caliber goalies? No, they are not.
Evidence:
Today's first period in San Jose. The Sharks busted out to a 4-0 first period lead by exposing Elliott and the Blues D. Before the fans could take a sip of beer, Brent Burns scored twice and Joe Thornton and Tommy Wingels scored the others.
The Blues have been feasting on lesser teams. They have problems against the Western power houses like San Jose, Chicago, LA, and Anaheim. Halak and Elliott are not of the same ilk as Niemi, Crawford, Quick and Hiller
Armstrong netter make a trade right now for Ryan Miller. Overpay if you have to, Doug.
The Blues will be a first round casualty of they don't shore up their net with a game changer like Ryan Miller. NOW!
Hitchcock needs to be able to trust Halak, Elliott in money games. They are shaky and inconsistent. All the more reason to trade for Miller
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) November 29, 2013The Blues goalies have notoriously blinked first on pressure, playoff-like games in recent years.
The Sharks curb stomped the Blues on the shot clock: 12-2 teal guys in P1
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Winnipeg Jets power forward Evander Kane's name has been percolating through the NHL trade rumor sphere since earlier this month when his head coach Claude Noel scratched him. There have been rumblings of strife between Kane and Noel for the past two seasons.
TSN Insider Bob McKenzie spoke about the the possibiilty of friction between Kane and Noel on TSN 1050 earlier this week:
"Curious situation in Winnipeg because he's not asked for a trade, and the Jets aren't shopping him so why is his name even out there? Well, one goal in twelve games, you saw the Claude Noel news conference in the last week or two and it was after a game Kane had played particularly poorly... Noel froze and thought better of ( "touching that" ) and said 'not going there.'There is tension and people can't figure out fully whether it's that Evander does not really like it in Winnipeg or with the Jets? Are the coaches unhappy with him, how has he fit in with the team? And so outside people looking in are saying 'one goal in the last 12 games, minus player more than not, still playing 21-25 minutes a night... is he available?'
And nobody's really gotten to that point yet, but they're kind of waiting to see if this guy might be available."
The Winnipeg Jets have been scouting Buffalo Sabres home game for the past couple of weeks. Makes me wonder if the Sabres are interested in the 22 year old shooting machine. Kane loves to shoot the puck. Thats why has is a 30 goal scorer. The more you shoot, the more your score. The Sabres are averaging an NHL-low 1.5 goals per game.
Kane is a left winger who loves to play the physical. 200 foot game. I think he has a 40 goal season or three in him. He's skating between 20-21 minutes a night for the Jets this season.
He's in year two of a $31.5 million contract which makes him a tidy $5.25 million AAV. A very cap-friendly number for a player of his skill set and upside potential.
The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators are also said to be interested in Kane. who suffered a lower body injury early in the 2-1 loss to Philadelphia earlier on Friday.
Perhaps a change would do him good.
Thanks to The Score. _______________________________________________________________________
From the waiver wire to the starting lineup. Its been an eventful past 48 hours for veteran winger, Matt D'Agostini, who will take Mikhail Grigorenko's roster spot tonight when the Leafs invade First Niagara Center.
Thanks, Sabres.com
Ted Nolan will make the following lineup tweaks to counter-balance his lineup:
* Start D'Agostini with Ott and Leino * Move Tyler Ennis back to center between Adam and Girgensons where he can skate and create * Skate Scott on L4 with Flynn and Foligno * Sit Grigorenko
Thanks, sabres.com
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Here are the Buffalo lines:
Moulson – Hodgson – Stafford Ott – Leino – D’Agostini Adam –Ennis – Girgensons Scott – Flynn – Foligno
Ehrhoff – Sulzer Tallinder – Myers Weber – Pysyk
Miller Enroth
Scratches: McBain, Grigorenko, McNabb
Orr and McLaren will have to dance with Scott.
Photo credit: Dan Hickling
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The Toronto Maple Leafs have lost two in a row. They fell asleep on a 4-1 lead in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night and lost 6-5. The Pens outshot the Leafs 17-0 in the third period of that regrettable game.
The Buffalo Sabres, losers of their last five games, sawed-off a home-and-home series two weekends ago, with each team winning in its own building. The Sabres will play games are at Air Canada Centre later this season.
The Leafs have recalled forward Carter Ashton from the Marlies.
Here are the Leafs lines from Thursday's practice:
JVR-Bozak-Kessel Raymond-Kadri-Clarkson Smith McClement-Kulemin Orr-Smithson-McClaren
Phaneuf-Gunarsson Fraser-Franson Rielly-Ranger
Bernier Reimer