Thursday, January 14, 2010

Quick Hits For 1/14/10

It was an interesting night in the NHL last night. The Ducks won again, but lost Teemu Selanne to a jaw injury for 4-8 weeks, possibly jeopardizing his Olympic appearance for Finland in February. The Capitals beat the Panthers in a shootout and move into 2nd place in the Eastern Conference.

KOVALCHUK UPDATE:

According to Kovalchuk's agent, Jay Grossman, on his Twitter page, Grossman said his client's first priority is to stay in Atlanta.

"It takes two to get something done," said Grossman, perhaps implying that Atlanta does not want to match the proposal the Kovalchuk camp has put forth. "He knows the fans are behind him and we are hopeful with a resolution he and the team will stay in Atlanta."

QUICK HITS:

-Jason Chimera had a notched a Gordie Howe hat trick last night in the Capitals 5-4 shootout win over Florida. Gordie Howe hat tricks are just, well, awesome. I have nothing to back this up but will assume it was Chimera's first Gordie of his career.

-Jarome Iginla's full name is Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla. I swear to God.

-Sheldon Souray may want out of Edmonton. That's likely just what the Oilers, who have lost 12 out of 13, wanted to hear.

-According to various sources, the Penguins and defenseman Sergei Gonchar have opened up contract talks. Simply put, the Penguins need to make this happen and likely will. Their power play is atrocious without him. According to TSN, contract talks are currently focused around term of the deal.

-Nikolai Khabibulin is out indefinitely for back surgery. This is bad news for the Oilers, who just signed Khabibulin to a monster deal last summer. Even worse news? They'll still be paying him serious coin when he's 41 years of age.

MATCH-UP OF THE NIGHT:

Anaheim Ducks (21-19-7) @ Los Angeles Kings (25-18-3), 10:30 p.m.

The Ducks are hot, the Kings are cooling off, and the Western Conference playoff race is intensifying. The Ducks are coming off a big home win over Boston, but will play tonight without Teemu Selanne. The Ducks will need big contributions from their young guns, as well as Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf if they want to keep up their winning ways.

PREDICTION: Kings, 5-4 OT

That's all for today. Look for our Olympic preview coming up in the next few days and don't forget to follow us on Twitter or add us on Facebook.

2 comments:

  1. Nice to see that 5-4 shootout win the Capitals had over Washington, way to go Jason.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Woops. Thanks for the heads up, it's been fixed.

    ReplyDelete