FFFFFrigid Frontier; Klassian (red wings howard)

red wings howard

FFFFFrigid Frontier; Klassian

By GARTH'S CORNER

Dec 14, 2013 • 10:22 am

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Updated 11pm EDT:

Rochester Amerks captain Matt Ellis scored the game-winning goal in the sixth round of the shootout as the Rochester Americans froze the Lake Erie Monsters with a historic 5-4 victory under the stars Friday night in front of 11,015 fans at Frontier Field in the kickoff to the Greater Area Rochester Honda Dealers Frozen Frontier presented by Labatt. The win marks three consecutive victories for the Amerks over Lake Erie and vaults Rochester to first place in the AHL’s North Division with a record of 12-10-2-2.

Ellis and Jerome Gauthier-Leduc both finished with a goal and an assist to lead the Amerks, while Colton Gillies and Phil Varone also scored goals to round out the scoring. Joel Armia added two assists, and Matt Hackett earned his seventh win of the season with 26 saves.

Matt Hunwick scored two goals for Lake Erie, while Mark Olver finished with a goal and two assists and Andrew Agozzino tallied three assists. Garrett Meurs also scored in the loss for the Monsters and Calvin Pickard turned aside 25 shots.

Despite 18 degree temperatures for the opening face-off, the division rivals wasted no time getting acquainted with each other. Just 2:05 after the puck dropped to start the game, Frederick Roy dropped the gloves with Mitchell Heard. Both players land blows in a spirited bout before officials stepped in and escorted the pair to the penalty box.

Heard is the character who sucker punched rookie Rasmus Ristolainen two weeks ago, causing a concussion for the young Finn.

Thanks, Amerks.com

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According to a report, Ellis has been called up to Buffalo for Saturday's game vs. Calgary.

A well deserved honor for a great role model in Ellis.

How injured is center Cody Hodgson?

The broadcast of the game will be re-aired Saturday at noon ET on NHL Network in the United States.

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Former Amerk Zack Kassian has been in John Tortarella's dog house this season. Kassian is struggling to live up to his head coach's high standards. Kassian isn't scoring and he isn't adding value to his team. On Friday night, the Canucks woin their sixth straght game by beating the Edmonton Oilers 4-0. The game marked the first time that Sam Gagner had faced the Canucks since Kassian broke his jaw with an ugly stick swing in a September preseason game. Kassian was rightly suspended for five games.

Kassian felt the need to allegedly taunt and clown Gagner's face shield on Friday night.

Klassian.

Kassian should be ashamed of himself. Rather than be contrite and apologetic for crushing an opponent's jaw and teeth with a hockey stick, Kassian went the other way and trivialized it.

Thats garbage. One of these days Kassian is going to grow up. Maybe.

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Updated 6:30pm:

Its was a Christmas miracle. Evander Kane participated in Friday's practice.

Earlier this week, Jets head coach Claude Noel said that his star power forward's lower body was going to keep him out of the lineup for more than a little while.

Three days after that news, Kane was cleared for contact.

Kane went out of his way to avoid pissing off his head coach after his first practice in a while.

Thanks jets.nhl.com

Kane has missed the past five games with a lower body injury.

Is he ready to play vs, Dallas? Don't go there!

“We’re not going to go down that road again,… Kane said. “We’ll see. I have to talk to Claude and we’ll go from there.…

Here's some context in case you haven't been watching the Kane-Noel drama to this point:

Just over a month ago, Kane, coming off a one-game injury, created quite a stir by suggesting he was a healthy scratch in Chicago, contradicting head coach Claude Noel.

A month ago, Evander had the audacity to suggest that he was a healthy scratch for a game against the Chicago Blackhawks. Noel was selling that the 22 year old was injured. Noel and his star forward were not on the same page.

When asked on Friday is Kane is ready to resume his role on the top line, Noel wouldn't say one way or another.

“Normally we go a little longer for that,… Noel said, referring to Kane’s lone practice with the team. “Nothing’s changed. You want to try set a player up to succeed. And I’m not sure I feel comfortable with that right now.…

Ambiguity.

Kane will play when Noel says that hes ready.

I won't be surprised if Kane is traded in the weeks to come. He and Noel are definitely at odds and their relationship seems strained beyond repair. The line of suitors interested in acquiring Kane is a long one. Buffalo, Boston, Toronto, Nashville, and the NY Islanders are all interested in the 30+ goals scorer.

The .500 Jets need Kane's offense and swagger in their lineup. They are a different team when he's on the ice than they are when he's in the press box rockin Armani gear.

Noel needs a break from Kane, and vice versa.

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Brutal news for the severely injured Detroit Red Wings.

Its bad enough that Henrik Zetterberg has been on the shelf with a bad back for a week and will not return to the lineup until 12/28 at the earliest. Pavel Datsyuk, Stephen Weiss, Todd Bertuzzi, Darren Helm, and Danny DeKyser have also missed multiple games due to their own personal injuries this season. Now comes news that their starting goalie Jimmy Howard will be lost fo ran extended period of time.

Howard's terribly inconsistent 2013 season has taken a turn for the worse. He has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 MCL sprain, and is expected to miss 2-4 weeks while he rests and recovers.

Howard is 6-8-7 this season and is the owner of a .910 save %.

Its very likely that Howard will be missing out on playing against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2014 Winter Classic at the "Big House" in Ann Arbor.

Jonas Gustavsson will be the Red Wings' go-to goalie until further notice. 8-1-2 record with a 1.92 GAA and .933 save %. If Howard has to sit for four weeks, "The Monster" will have to start 12-14 games. Can he handle that kind of grind during this compressed pre-Olympics NHL schedule? We shall see.

The Wings have also recalled recently-recalled Petr Mrazek from Grand Rapids to back up Howard.

Its too soon to say whether or not this injury will have a negative impact on Howard's candidacy for one of three goalie roster spots on Team USA. Howard is by no means a lock to make Team USA. Jonathon Quick will be returning to the Kings' lineup shortly and Ben Bishop has been full value in Tampa.

My take:

Ryan Miller will be the starter.

Only time will tell if Howard will be Sochi bound. First, he must get himself healthy.

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