The Vancouver Canucks play in one of the two worst Divisions in the National Hockey League, yet they are nowhere close to running away with the Northwest.
In fact, as Minnesota arrives at Rogers Arena tonight for that ol’ four-pointer, the Canucks are just four points better than Edmonton and, for that matter, Columbus. Then there is this factoid: Vancouver’s team save percentage of .906 that is considerably worse than the Jackets (.917), Edmonton (.916), and Toronto (.912)
That’s right, folks. That $9.3-million tandem of Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider has a lower save percentage than the firms of Dubnyk-Khabibulin, Bobrovsky-Mason, and Reimer-Scrivens.
Of all the lines we never thought we’d write…
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Minding the Plus-Minus
You can’t spell egregious without S-E-R-G-E-I.
We’re not sure we’ve ever seen a player bail on a checking assignment like Nashville’s Sergei Kostitsyn did in Edmonton on Sunday night. Nor had his coach, Barry Trotz.
“I can’t give you a logical explanation for an illogical event,” said Trotz afterwards. “He didn’t recognize the situation.”
Kostitsyn either didn’t know or didn’t care that Oiler Lennart Pettrell was steaming up the far side to join Kostitsyn’s check, Sam Gagner, on a shorthanded two-on-one. So Kostitsyn waived at Gagner, then hopped the boards for a change, leaving Gagner free to slow right down before setting up the go-ahead goal midway through in the third period of a 3-2 loss.
Watch the Nashville coaches yelling at Kostitsyn to “Get back out there!” And poor Roman Josi. He jumped on for the minus, though it somehow went to Victor Bartley on the score sheet.
“I made a mistake,” said Kostitsyn, who played junior with Gagner in London. “I went to change, I should have back checked, but didn’t see the second guy was coming there.
“Even if it was a 1-on-1, I should go back, it doesn’t matter if I was tired. I should have gone back and pressured him from behind.”
Kostitsyn was a healthy scratch the game before Edmonton. Trotz gave him another shift at Rexall after his gaffe, but will he dress Kostitsyn Tuesday night in Columbus?
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Kaleta Up Front?
It was odd to hear Patrick Kaleta gripe directly about Buffalo coach Ron Rolston over the weekend for making him a healthy scratch on the first game in which he was available after his five-game suspension.
Usually Kaleta takes his runs from behind, where you can’t see him coming. That’s always been more his style.
“I’m pissed off. I want to play,” Kaleta told Mike Harrington of the Buffalo news. “And especially after watching some things, sitting there watching the game, I want to play.
“I guess they don’t need me right now, I guess. I’ve been pissed off watching for the past couple weeks.”
Goaltender Ryan Miller, who seemingly has an opinion on everything that happens in Sabreland, had this to say: “That’s just drama and he needs to just grow up. You know what? He had a stupid play in a game. He sat. He was punished. He has to get over it and move on.”
Miller later revealed that the refereeing wasn’t up to his standards in Sunday’s 5-3 loss to Washington either. “Luckily we were on NBC and everybody got to see how lazy refereeing effects the game,” he said.
Good thing Miller has never made a mistake, or let in an, um, iffy goal on a, well, momentous occasion. (See: Sidney Crosby, Vancouver 2010.)
With the eighth highest payroll in hockey, the Sabres are 14th in the East and tied for 29th overall. It’ll get uglier before things get better in Buffalo, mark our words, and Miller could well be one of the players who get moved.
If there is one for certain seller at the April 3 trade deadline, it’s Buffalo. The Sabres have got awful chemistry.
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Grabo No Go
So the Toronto Maple Leafs go 10 deep into a shootout in Saturday night against the surprising Winnipeg Jets, and Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle doesn’t call Mikhail Grabovski’s name? Even at No. 7 or 8?
In fact, defencemen Dion Phaneuf and Cody Franson each had a go, and Toronto’s $5.5-million skill player never did get the tap from Carlyle. If this is a sign of the relationship between coach and player, those next four years on Grabo’s deal — with a $5.5 million AAV — could be tense in Toronto.
The Leafs are winless in five. They get Tampa at home on Wednesday, are in Buffalo Thursday, and then have a home-and-home with Boston. The pressure’s on to snap that losing streak before Boston comes to town.