-Ottawa beat the New York Rangers 3-0 last night. Ben Bishop made 24 saves for the shutout, while Andre Benoit, Guillaume Latendresse, and Colin Greening (empty net) scored the goals. Jim O’Brien, Mike Hoffman, and Andre Benoit joined the lineup (Peter Regin and Mike Lundin were scratches while David Dziurzynski was sent down to Binghamton). It wasn’t a great night for Eric Gryba, but it’s hard to complain too much when the team doesn’t give up a goal. I hope Benoit‘s performance keeps Lundin permanently in the pressbox. I thought Mike Hoffman was solid in his debut; there were a few early turnovers, but on the whole he played well (including a couple of great scoring chances). Oddly, Latendresse played the least of any forward not named Matt Kassian. Here’s the boxscore.
–Nichols breaks down Eugene Melnyk’s appearence on The Fan 590 where he claimed he was going to forensically prove Matt Cooke intentionally injured Erik Karlsson. I have no idea what Melnyk hopes to accomplish through his efforts–the league is not going to change it’s decision to not suspend Cooke, nor is it going to be happy that Melnyk is questioning their process. Let’s say that somehow, some way, Melnyk is able to prove it…then what? Is he going to take Cooke to court? It’s as pointless as it is ridiculous.
-Binghamton plays Adirondack (27-33-5) tonight; the Phantoms are lead by Jason Akeson (44 points) and backstopped by Scott Munroe (12-16-0 2.78 .913).
-The Pittsburgh Penguins have loaded up for a playoff run by picking up Brenden Morrow and Jarome Iginla via trade, which would be a bigger deal if it had happened three or four years ago. Morrow is two seasons removed from his last good year, but Iginla is still capable of putting up top-six numbers. Does the move put the Penguins over the hump? I really don’t know–the ability to grind and score upfront did not strike me as a need for Pittsburgh (puck movement from the back end as well as goaltending are more problematic in relative terms), but on the other hand it denies their competitors those additions. By and large big acquisitions during the season does not translate to Stanley Cup success, but given that the Penguins were doing well without the additions I can’t see it hurting.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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