This is The End (But Not Really)

Vol. I, No. 35

The final day of a drawn out, Olympics-prolonged regular season.  Here are some snapshots.

INDIVIDUAL RECORDS:

Sid the Kid scores two goals in one evening, to tie Steven Stamkos for the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, at 51 regular season goals.  Keep this in perspective against Wayne Gretzky (92 goals in 81-82), Teemu Selanne (still active, 76 goals in 92-93) and Alex Ovechkin (still active, 65 goals in 07-08).   Even so, Crosby's achievement should not be under-estimated after last year's Stanley Cup victory, and his Canadian gold-medal performance just 43 days ago.  His second goal tonight sealed a 6-5 victory over the NY Islanders.  The man just has that knack of scoring at the right time.

Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks captures the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer (points from goals and assists).  112 points in 82 games.  Impressive.

Martin Brodeur gets his FIFTH William Jennings Trophy, as the goaltender for the club finishing the season having surrendered the fewest goals. 191 to be exact. Every other team, all 29 of them, gave up more than 200 goals against.

At the other end of the spectrum, Toronto gave up 267 and the Edmonton Oilers surrendered 277.

TEAM RESULTS AND STANDINGS:

The Philadelphia Flyers solve the NY Rangers in a down-to-the-wire shootout scenario.  Flyers 2, Blueshirts 1. Henrik Lundqvist just was out-dueled by Brian Boucher in the shootout.  New York was on top well into the third period.  The loss was called "devastating". Truth is that the Rangers dug themselves into a hole too deep at the start of the season. Flyers hold on to 7th place in the east.  Rangers get to hold their nine irons on the golf course starting tomorrow. 

Boston dumps the league-leading Washington Capitals, also in a shootout. The game did not affect the standings.  But it proves something about how competitive the 6th place, 91 point Bruins were against the Washington juggernaut.  Will the Capitals go all the way, as some have predicted? First, they have to get past the Montreal Canadiens. Season results - Caps won 2 games, Habs won 1.

NJ Devils clinched 2nd place in the east, beating the Buffalo Sabres at 19:57 of the third period (that's right, 3 seconds left on the clock).  #15, Jamie Langenbrunner scored an empty net goal, after Buffalo's coach pulled goaltender Patrick Lalime.  It was the only thing Lindsey Ruff could do, since a tie was not enough for Buffalo to catch the Devils in the conference standings.

And last but not least, in the west, the Detroit Red Wings downed Chicago 3 - 2 in overtime to deny the Blackhawk's bid to be the top seed in the Western Conference.  Chicago needed two points to move past the San Jose Sharks but could not get the job done. The Hawks looked strong most of the season, and the Wings fought their way back to 5th place in the West.  They are an age-old nemesis of Chicago. Detroit has appeared in the last two Stanley Cup finals. The men from Hockeytown remain tough competitors. Chicago will face #7 Nashville Predators.

The stage is set for the second season (or third, if you count the Olympics as a separate season).  The games begin on Wednesday.  The schedule has already been released by the NHL.  Go to:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=524984

Hockey Rules.