Hockey Today - April 1
Sat, Mar 31, 2007
By Associated Press
SCOREBOARD
Sunday, April 1
Toronto at N.Y. Rangers (7 p.m. EDT). The playoff-hopeful Maple Leafs have taken two of the first three meetings with the Rangers this season. Oddsmakers have listed the Rangers as -150 favorites and the total is set at 5 1/2 goals.
STARS Friday
-Vincent Lecavalier, Lightning, scored his NHL-leading 50th goal and added two assists to lead Tampa Bay to a 4-2 victory at Carolina.
-Martin Gelinas, Panthers, scored his second goal in overtime to give Florida a 3-2 win over Washington.
-Chris Drury, Sabres, scored twice during Buffalo's five-goal first period that ignited a 6-4 win over the New York Islanders.
-Mike Fisher, Senators, scored twice in Ottawa's 5-2 win over Montreal.
-Sergei Zubov, Stars, scored the only goal of the shootout to lift Dallas to a 4-3 comeback victory at Detroit.
NIFTY FIFTIES
Vincent Lecavalier became the league's first 50-goal scorer this season during Friday night's 4-2 win at Carolina. He had never scored more than 35 goals in his seven previous NHL campaigns. ... Buffalo became the first team to reach 50 wins this season and moved back atop the NHL standings with its 6-4 win over the New York Islanders. The Sabres have 107 points, one more than Detroit.
INCHING CLOSER
Martin Brodeur tied Vancouver's Roberto Luongo for the NHL lead with 45 wins, two shy of Bernie Parent's league record for a single season, in New Jersey's 3-1 win over Philadelphia on Friday night.
RARE FEAT
Montreal's Sheldon Souray scored his 18th power-play goal of the season during the first period of Friday night's 5-2 loss to Ottawa, tying Hall of Famer Denis Potvin and Adrian Aucoin for the NHL single-season record by a defenseman.
CENTURY MARKS
Ottawa, New Jersey, Dallas and San Jose all reached 100 points with wins on Friday night. The Senators and Devils each did it for the fourth straight season, while the Sharks reached it for the second time in team history. There are now 10 100-point teams, matching the total in each of the past two seasons, and Minnesota can become the 11th with a win on Saturday.
RALLY TIME
Dallas scored three straight goals after trailing 3-0 midway through the third period and had the only tally of the shootout for a 4-3 win at Detroit on Friday night. The Stars pushed their points streak to six straight games.
SNAPPED
Martin Havlat ended a 13-game goal drought in Chicago's 3-1 win over Columbus on Friday night. The Blackhawks' leading scorer had just five assists in 13 previous contests entering Friday. ... Montreal ended a five-game winning streak and fell to eighth in the Eastern Conference with 86 points after a 5-2 loss to Ottawa.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Florida has won its last five against Washington and 13 of the past 16 after a 3-2 overtime victory on Friday night.
SIDELINED
Forward Ryan Smyth missed the Islanders' game against Buffalo on Friday because of leg injury. New York is already without starting goalie Rick DiPietro, who's out indefinitely after missing his second straight game because of a concussion. ... Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall was helped off the ice and taken to a hospital after injuring his right hip on a check from the Dallas' Joel Lundqvist just 24 seconds into Friday night's game.
COYOTE UGLY
Phoenix lost for the 13th time in 15 games with Friday night's 4-2 defeat at San Jose.
SPEAKING
''Every time you get even to 29 (goals) with 40 games left, to get that 30th goal is tough. Then at 39, too, and 49. So, it seems like every time you reach a nine it's in your head for some reason.'' - Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier after becoming the season's first 50-goal scorer during Friday night's 4-2 win at Carolina.
Red Wings D Kronwall out 6-8 weeks with injury
Sat, Mar 31, 2007
By Associated Press
DETROIT -- Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall is expected to be out of the lineup six to eight weeks after breaking his sacrum Friday night in the Wings' game against the Dallas Stars.
Detroit also said on Saturday that defenseman Niklas Lidstrom has a lower back strain and won't play in the Red Wings' game Sunday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Oddsmakers list the Wings as -191 road faves for the matchup.
Defenseman Brett Lebda is expected to return to the lineup. He has been out since suffering a concussion March 24 against the St. Louis Blues.
Kronwall was helped off the ice and taken to a hospital after being injured on a check into the end boards by the Stars' Joel Lundqvist 24 seconds into the game, which Dallas won 4-3.
Kronwall had a ''non-displaced fracture of his sacrum,'' the team said in a statement. The sacrum is the triangular bone near the lower end of the spine.
Kronwall has already had a broken leg and major knee surgery during his three-season NHL career.
The Red Wings also recalled defenseman Kyle Quincey from their American Hockey League affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
The goalies below have not been confirmed by any sources:
Dominik Hasek, Detroit Red Wings - Hasek is the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Blue Jackets. Chris Osgood is expected to get one more start over the rest of the season and we think it will probably be sometime next week.
Fredrik Norrena, Columbus Blue Jackets - Norrena is the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Red Wings.
Dwayne Roloson, Edmonton Oilers - Roloson is the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Blackhawks. The Oilers want to get a good look at Jussi Markkanen over the season's final few games so they can determine whether to bring him back next season so as a result, Roloson may not be worth owning anymore.
Nikolai Khabibulin, Chicago Blackhawks - Khabibulin is the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Oilers.
Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins - Thomas is the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Devils.
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils - Brodeur is the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Bruins.
Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes - Ward is the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Panthers.
Ed Belfour, Florida Panthers - Belfour is the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Hurricanes.
Mathieu Garon, Los Angeles Kings - Garon is the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Sharks.
Vesa Toskala, San Jose Sharks - Toskala is the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Kings. It looks he's lost out to Evgeni Nabokov as the team's #1 goalie since coach Ron Wilson indicated that Nabokov will start three or four of the final five games of the year.
Andrew Raycroft, Toronto Maple Leafs - Raycroft is the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Rangers.
Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers - Lundqvist is the probable starter for Sunday's game against the Maple Leafs.
Year-to-date: 2231 / 2348 = 95.0%