Crosby's not-so-secret gift

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The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says that Sidney Crosby surely was nervous when he returned to the NHL on Nov. 21, and when people -- even the seemingly superhuman among us -- get nervous, they resort to what makes them most comfortable.

And so, when Crosby saw that first opening against the Islanders, he returned to his hockey roots, the facet of his game that has been there since he was a boy.

Backhand shot. Top shelf. Goal.

Crosby's gifts are many, but the most notable might be a backhand shot that is something more than complementary. It is lethal.

"I'm just so comfortable with it," he said. "I don't go to it by design. I don't consciously think about it."

Goalies, however, do consciously think about it.

The two goalies who face him daily in practice confess that they've never seen anything like the Crosby backhand.

"It's the best," Penguins goalie Brent Johnson said. "By far the best I've ever seen. It's so powerful, and he can hit his spot every time. That's something you don't see with backhands."

The article points out that Crosby uses one of the straightest sticks in hockey. While the tactic might reduce some velocity from his wrist shot, it adds to the power of his backhand shot.

"I've used a stick with more of a curve before," Crosby said. "But you start to lose more on the backhand, and (it's harder to) receive passes."

The straight sick makes goaltenders more aware of his backhand.

"It's harder for a guy like Ovi (Washington left wing Alex Ovechkin) to really get a lot on a backhand, because his stick is so curved," Caps goalie Tomas Vokoun said. "But Sid is different. He shoots it from far out, too. And he makes perfect passes on the backhand side. Not fun for a goalie."

Crosby, who is listed at 5-foot-11, 200 pounds, isn't physically imposing on the surface. However, his lower-body strength is the stuff of legend, and those powerful legs are the foundation of his backhand power.

When Crosby torques his body toward the backhand side, a shot with rare velocity frequently follows.

"That's the thing about his backhand," goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. "He can just shoot it so much harder than anyone else. That's what I always notice."

The New York Post writes that if character is what we do when no one is watching, the Rangers’ character has been defined with thousands of people in arenas and hundreds of thousands at home watching the team reel off winning streaks first of seven games and now five within their past 14 matches.

But tonight, as the Blueshirts seek to extend their overall streak to six straight and their Garden streak to eight in a row when the Maple Leafs come to town, it won’t only be the fans watching, but the omnipresent cameras of HBO, too.

And while the club’s foundation appears solid enough to at least withstand the intrusion of the cameras and network people that will be granted access to otherwise walled-off, player-only restricted areas (and there are dozens of those around a John Tortorella-coached team) for the four-part “24/7” series leading into and through the Jan. 2 Winter Classic in Philadelphia, this will introduce a new dynamic into the mix for the next month.

It’s not so much that sensitive information or embarrassing encounters will be revealed to the public, because the Rangers, Flyers and the NHL retain some sort of veto power over the final product.

It’s that the cameras won’t truly be recording reality as much as recording a reality at least partially distorted by their very presence.

The young, hungry and personable Rangers do appear ready for their close-up, but it is impossible to know whether the chemistry within the room will be altered even slightly by the introduction of outside agents into the mix.

The Post continues that it is impossible to know whether the needling, interaction and peer-to-peer criticism that occurs when no one is watching will change if the whole world has the chance to watch; impossible to know whether any individual will play to the cameras or whether any individual will shrink from them.

It is as well impossible to know whether Tortorella, who is a calculated personality even as he appears to be a spontaneously combustible one, will alter his message-delivery in his practice, pregame and intermission meetings with the team.

At the same time, however, the television series will present the opportunity for this group of self-effacing, low-key and likeable young men to thrive in the spotlight, just as they have thrived in the aftermath of the pre-season trek through Europe that was followed almost immediately by a trip through Western Canada.

And it will give this team an idea of the type of spotlight it would face if it can make it to June, a prospect that is not unthinkable.

Cameras can distort reality. But they can also illuminate character.

The Road to the Winter Classic begins tonight. It is the Rangers’ responsibility to ensure HBO does not present a fork in the season that thus far has been on the straight and narrow.

The Winnipeg Free Press notes that it was just a few weeks ago -- Nov. 7, to be exact -- when Bryan Little faced reporters for the umpteenth time to speak about his offensive struggles.

He was goalless through the first 14 games of the season and understandably frustrated. Well, here we are less than a month later and Little has seven goals in his last 12 games. Coupled with Evander Kane and Blake Wheeler, the unit now comprises the Jets' top line.

"It's basically confidence. Once you get that, it can help a lot," said Little. "And when our line is going like it has been it's pretty easy and the points come fast, especially the way Kaner is playing and shooting the puck. It's going to come like that."

"This is a really good example of what happens when you have confidence," said head coach Claude Noel. "Confidence is infectious. You feel good about things.

"He recognizes he needs to use his speed and size and the elements he has. And he's shooting the puck. Why would you not shoot when you shoot like him?

"I don't know if he's doing a lot different, but he's getting opportunities. He's maybe doing some things different from the beginning of the year where you are trying to figure out new linemates, new teammates, new coach, new environment. But now he seems to be really comfortable in everything he does."

Kane's two goals against New Jersey gives him 12 points (9G, 3A) in his last nine games; Little had two assists, giving him 11 points (5G, 6A) in his last nine games while Wheeler had an assist, giving him eight points (2G, 6A) in his last eight games.

"It's everybody," said Noel. "Confidence is really a funny thing. It's something you can show them and give them, but it's something that has to be earned. It comes from success. Your team plays with a confident air, and with Kane, I think that's a big part of it.

"When you play like that, you come to the rink expecting to score. When you lack confidence, you come to the rink hoping to score. As simple as that sounds, that's pretty much how it works because it's pretty much between your ears."

The Columbus Dispatch says that Ryan Johansen has been one of the NHL’s top rookies and one of the Blue Jackets’ most consistent forwards in recent weeks.

Not bad, considering he’s playing a position that’s new to him.

Johansen has spent the past 17 games playing on the right wing, not his typical center.

“I’m so used to the middle of the ice,” Johansen said, “being able to go left or right.

“Coming down the right wing, there’s really only three or four options, and everything is off to your left side. When you’re at center, you can do a lot of different things. It just takes some getting used to.”

Johansen has five goals, five assists and an even rating in 22 games. Only veterans Rick Nash (eight) and Vinny Prospal (six) have more goals.

Blue Jackets management and coaches, though, said this past summer that Johansen would only stick in the NHL this season if he were ready to play center.

About two weeks into the season, he was switched to right wing.

“Once the play starts, if I can get to the middle of the ice off the wing, I’ve been doing it,” Johansen said. “I just feel more comfortable with the puck there.

Ed Jovanovski thought his days of dodging rubber rats were long over, according to The Miami Herald.

In recent years, one or two might rain down from the BankAtlantic Center stands, reminiscent of the days when the Panthers were the coolest game in town and the fans would celebrate each home-team goal with a fusillade of rubber. Even when the occasional rodent was launched in recent years, Jovanovski wasn’t around to see it, having moved on to other teams.

Now he is back, and so are the Panthers. They head into tonight’s home game against Washington in first place, after a decade of mediocre hockey.

“It was funny. I wasn’t even thinking about them and one whistled right by my head,’’ the Florida Panthers’ 35-year-old defenseman said of the rubber rat launched onto the ice after a home victory last month. “It’s good to see that old tradition back, good to see fans have fun again. It’s nice to give them something to cheer about.’’

As a rookie in 1996, Jovanovski was a big part of the Panthers’ run to the Stanley Cup Finals. The young hockey team captured the region’s heart. He missed the past decade of futility — the Panthers have missed the playoffs for 11 straight years, an epic stretch of ineptitude.

Since their initial success in the ’90s, the Panthers have given their fans few opportunities to really get excited. But this is one of those times.

Jovanovski is glad to be a part of it, after signing as a free agent in July.

So is the team’s longtime radio voice, Randy Moller.

“I run into people at Publix now and everyone is stopping me wanting to talk about the team,’’ said Moller, who has been around the Panthers since retiring as a player in 1995. “They’re an exciting team to watch. The fans believe the Panthers have turned the corner. My neighbors used to dodge the subject of the Panthers or try to lift my spirits. Now? It’s ‘how ’bout those Panthers!’ I’m having a blast calling these games and talking about this team.’’

The St. Petersburg Times indicates that blueluiner Mattias Ohlund, who has not played a regular-season game this season, is no longer skating and said Saturday that he does not know when he will.

Said coach Guy Boucher of Ohlund's recovery from Oct. 11 arthroscopic surgeries on both knees, "I don't know where we are."

That is quite a difference from two weeks ago, when there was optimism Ohlund was close to returning. Now, Ohlund said, "I don't even have a timetable."

"He's having some discomfort," GM Steve Yzerman said," so we're going to back off a little bit and re-evaluate and look at other ways that he can get back to training."

Yzerman said he would not characterize the episode as a re-injury but simple "irritation." Ohlund said nothing specific happened. He theorized he might have been too quick to get on skates after the procedures the team said cleaned out "loose bodies" and Ohlund called "pretty extensive."

Ohlund began skating by himself in mid November and participated in a couple of morning skates. Now, Ohlund said, the plan is to "stay off skates, rehab and see how it goes."

"It's hard," he said. "You want to be part of everything. It's not going to help coming in and complaining every day. I try to be as positive as I can, but clearly it's hard."

The Orange County Register wonders: What are the odds are of the Ducks making the playoffs?

This is where we would insert the oft-played Jim Mora sound byte: "Playoffs? Are you kidding me? Playoffs?"

That probably applies here, too, considering the Ducks went into Sunday night's game against Minnesota ranked 14th in the 15-team Western Conference, 10 points behind the four teams tied for the eighth and final playoff spot.

But Bruce Boudreau, the new coach, doesn't think it's a longshot.

"It's been done before," Boudreau said matter-of-factly, referring to his Washington Capitals rallying to make the playoffs in 2007-08, the first season after he took over as interim coach in late November. "We were 30th (in the NHL)."

Yes, and the Capitals went 37-17-7 the rest of the way to finish with 95 points and win the Southeast Division in the East, earning NHL Coach of the Year honors for Boudreau.

Why can't lightning strike twice?

Boudreau said he has studied the Ducks' remaining schedule and concluded making the playoffs is a realistic goal.

"I've already gone through the (Ducks) schedule," he said. "I'll show them (his players) how we can do it, if you put the basis on 97 points needed for the playoffs. I told them, 'You just have to believe it.'"

Not to be a killjoy, The Register continues, but would a closing surge similar to that Capitals team even be enough for the Ducks to pass all of the teams in front of them?

Granted, there are still 56 games left in the regular season, and the Ducks are known for their late-season runs. A year ago, for example, the Ducks were 11th in the Western Conference with 20 games left, went 15-5 down the stretch and wound up as the No. 4 seed.

But here's the difference. The Ducks were never more than four points out of the final playoff spot last season, and that was on Nov. 3. After that, their largest deficit was three points out of playoff spot on March 2. But why let a little math problem spoil Boudreau's fun?

Playoffs?

"Why not?" Boudreau said.

Mike from TO: "Hey Chris, Great work so far this year - I love your input following games = so helpful.

I recently pulled off a trade in my Y! Keeper to acquire Patrick Kane although it cost me Rick Nash and some spare parts, I'm looking to solidify my keepers

So far - My keepers are: C- Backstrom, LW - Hall, RW - Kane, D- Green, Util - Parise, G- Thomas

I want to trade Thomas while he's hot for a legit keeper goalie that isn't going to retire soon

My sights are narrowed to Lundqvist and Rinne (both managers are open to dealing) if Thomas and other players are in the mix..

a. which would you rather have long term?

b. what's considered too much to give up? (I don't want to give up any of my current keepers)

Thanks as always."

Chris: Thanks Mike. Thomas's "hot" streak has lasted a few years now... :) Point taken about his age though.

I'd take Lundqvist over Rinne any day of the week. What's too much to give up? Hard to pinpoint that without knowing which player in addition to Thomas you'd have to give up, since we're not talking about those keepers you listed.

Consider this though: Thomas has pretty incredible stats, his overall value - even in a keeper league - should be pretty high, and his track record over the past few years has been excellent. The Bruins are a strong team and the next few years should see really helpful numbers from Thomas as he and Rask begin to blend more and more of their starts. You'll have to give up something decent, but I think you're on the right track without parting with another keeper to make the Thomas/ Lundqvist swap. It's really going to come down to what the other owner is interested in and what you're comfortable parting with.

As you know though, I'm a huge Lundqvist guy. I'd get the deal done if at all possible.

­Chris Nichols is Sportsnet.ca's fantasy hockey writer.