Misunderstood Kirill Kabanov is maturing and focusing on hockey
(Wed, 23 May 2012 08:05:27 PDT)
The Shawinigan Cataractes forward no longer cares about how he's perceived by those who don't know him.

Will Roller Hockey Ever Make a Comeback in New York? Fan's View (Yahoo! Contributor Network)
(Tue, 22 May 2012 23:08:00 PDT)
With the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils currently battling it out for a spot in the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, hockey is the talk of the town in the Big Apple for the first time since 1994.

Islanders goalie Al Montoya, the most popular hockey player on Wikipedia? (Puck Daddy)
(Tue, 22 May 2012 09:29:23 PDT)
Over on Puck Drunk Love, David Rogers found a list from the WikiProject Ice Hockey group that ranks the most popular hockey-centric pages . The top five, in views per day: 5. Mike Comrie (3,389) 4. Wayne Gretzky (3,481) 3. Mario Lemieux (3,600) 2. National Hockey League (3,670) And at No. 1 … 1. Al Montoya (8,110) What the what? Seeing New York Islanders Al Montoya top a list of the most popular hockey pages on Wikipedia is seeing a Bobcat Goldthwaite comedy win the box office. It begs for investigation into what find of nefarious "Vote For Rory"-esque campaign may have influenced these tallies. Writes Rogers: Unfortunately, Montoya's popularity on Wikipedia likely has nothing to do with his skills on the ice. In reality, Montoya's popularity might be due to confusion with the character from "The Princess Bride", Inigo Montoya. Searchers hunting for the infamous Inigo Montoya quote ("Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.") likely stumbled on the goaltender for the Islanders by mistake. Well, that's one theory.

Kings-Coyotes Preview (The Associated Press)
(Tue, 22 May 2012 08:38:11 PDT)
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) The Phoenix Coyotes had every reason to concede the Western Conference finals to the Los Angeles Kings.

Coyotes still on brink of elimination (The Associated Press)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 15:34:09 PDT)
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) The Phoenix Coyotes had every reason to concede the Western Conference finals to the Los Angeles Kings.

Josefson replaces Sykora in Devils' lineup Monday (The Associated Press)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 10:55:27 PDT)
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) The New Jersey Devils are making a lineup change for Game 4 of their Eastern Conference finals against the New York Rangers.

What We Learned: Embarrassing LA sports media moments while covering Kings playoff run (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 06:58:22 PDT)
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. It's possibly the greatest bit of investigative journalism conducted since Woodward and Bernstein brought down Richard Nixon. This exemplary, collective effort of sleuth work is currently ongoing in Los Angeles, Calif., where an entire media market has unearthed the NHL's shocking secret: The city has a professional hockey team. Over the past week or so here at Puck Daddy, we've tried to document every startling discovery made by the intrepid Los Angeles media, like how to properly pronounce Anze Kopitar's name (it's hard because he's from Bosnia or something), the real name of this Drew Doughty character ( it's actually Brad !) and that hockey is in fact not played with a ball, but rather a little piece of rubber known as a "puck." That last one makes me pretty uncomfortable because of the word it rhymes with. ("Duck" — sorry, I just don't trust 'em; they have weird beaks). Just how villainous is this team, operating as a sort of sporting sleeper cell? They got all the way to the Western Conference Finals without one local noticing. That takes real criminal talent. And not only that, but, the NHL had the diabolical idea to hide it right under the Los Angelinos' noses, by having their home games played at the Staples Center. You know, where the Lakers play. Further, they named the team the Kings to intentionally confuse even the savviest media organization into thinking they are the NBA's Sacramento Kings. Astonishingly devious stuff. More twists and turns than the Da Vinci Code, which I've read three times just to make sure I understood it all. The best bit of this journalism on this pressing issue comes, of course, from the city's paper of record, the Los Angeles Times, winner of 44 Pulitzer Prizes since 1942, including three in 2012. It was for that towering beacon of journalistic excellence that columnist Chris Erskine successfully scruted several of the team and sport's most inscrutable mysteries . For instance, that thing I said earlier about the puck (again, yuck… oh and that's another gross word it rhymes with), I learned it from Erskine. Apparently they even freeze the thing. And that's a huge point of concern, because, "The hardest shots can reach 110 mph and tear flesh, crush bone, even kill you if you're not careful." Yikes, you guys! ( Coming Up: Rick Nash to Boston?; Tororella defends Prust; Ryan Suter faces his future; Evegni Malkin is having a pretty good season; why Lundqvist is King; why the Capitals can't win with Ovechkin; the Islanders know how to party; Canucks might keep Luongo; Ryan Miller on the CBA; Flames and Oilers coaching news; and are the Kings in trouble?)

Trending Topics: The Phoenix Coyotes and the making of a villain (Puck Daddy)
(Fri, 18 May 2012 15:49:51 PDT)
Trending Topics is a column that looks at the week in hockey, occasionally according to Twitter. If you're only going to comment to say how stupid Twitter is, why not just go have a good cry for the slow, sad death of your dear internet instead? There are a lot of teams in the NHL that are easy to hate, for a lot of reasons. The Bruins are a dirty team. The Canucks dive everywhere. The Leafs are force-fed to everyone in the League, and same for the Penguins. The Rangers are ruining hockey by blocking a million shots. The Ducks have Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. The Canadiens and Red Wings have tied for "World's Most Insufferable Fans." The Capitals have a heavy bandwagon following. The Islanders are owned by the hockey equivalent of Joffrey Baratheon. The Kings' Twitter guys said mean stuff about your favorite team. The Jets pretend they weren't the Thrashers less than a year ago. And so forth. On the other hand, there are also a few teams no one has any hard-and-fast opinions about one way or another. One such is — or at least used to be — the Phoenix Coyotes.

Oilers torched for Renney firing; Milan Hejduk back; Alex Radulov fallout (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)
(Fri, 18 May 2012 13:26:44 PDT)
Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media. • Look, JGL: "Inception" was the bomb. You were Han Solo in "500 Days of Summer." You probably become Batman when Bane breaks Bruce Wayne's back (/speculation). But please do not wear the Lakers gear to the Kings game. That said, feel free to wear the Kings gear to the Lakers game, if there are still going to be Lakers games this spring. • The Ryan Suter watch begins next week. Hold on to your butts. [ Malik ] • Shea Weber on Alex Radulov's quasi-suspension in Round 2 for the Nashville Predators: "You feel a little bit betrayed, but I am sure he feels bad about it now and he looks back on it and wishes it didn't happen. Those are the things you can't take back and we've got to move forward." [ Examiner ] • Pekka Rinne on Radulov and the curfew issue: "It didn't affect as much as media made it seem like. The way I see it, Radulov joining the team mid-season affected the atmosphere more than the incident that happened in the playoffs." [ On The Forecheck ] • Milan Hejduk is back with the Colorado Avalanche for one year and $2 million. Says Dater: "Yeah, I'm a little concerned about where/what Hejduk's role might be. I mean, it's a little worrisome to think he'll be relied upon perhaps as a top-six forward. And yet, would he really be effective on a third or fourth line? Those are questions Joe Sacco will have to grapple with next season." [ All Things Avs ] • Great work here by Nick Cotsonika on burgeoning New York Rangers star and rookie sensation Chris Kreider. [ Y! Sports ] • Ryan Callahan says his left hand isn't injured, despite blocking a shot with it back in the Ottawa series. [ NYDN ] • Darryl Sutter, on the growth of Los Angeles Kings forward Dwight King: "Growth?" Sutter said. "He's still 232 (pounds). After games, he's 228." [ LA Kings Insider ] • Kerry Fraser on embellishing players in the postseason: "The Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs is not the time for the referees to strap on the six guns in an effort to clean up embellishment in Dodge. The refs must however, ramp up their radar and if any doubt is created in their mind as to the legitimacy of a foul, then I would suggest they keep their arm down and play on. I also hope they will seize every opportunity to enforce obvious embellishment by calling a penalty (whether as a 'stand alone' penalty or a coincidental minor when embellishment occurs as the aftermath to a legitimate foul)." [ TSN ] • John MacKinnon torches the Edmonton Oilers for firing Tom Renney. "This move — anticipated as it was — was a long, slow slap in the face to a coach who deserved better. If you're the incoming man, it would be wise to at least ponder the fashion in which the Oilers will ultimately dump you. That might help you decide whether you want to accept the job in the first place." [ Journal ] • David Staples does much the same: "My bottom line on Renney? He  earned a new deal. He made a few big miscalculations, but much more was going right than wrong under his direction." [ Cult of Hockey ] • From Black Dog: "The Oilers are like the opposite of that and maybe this should be their master plan. Howson has already destroyed Columbus. Maybe Messier can take over the Rangers and Prendergast can move to Chicago. Let Tambo move back to Vancouver and Buchberger coach the Avs. Let them go forth and multiply and take their special brand of incompetence to the rest of the league, like the Black Plague, destroying franchises as they alight from their private jets, just as flea ridden rats destroyed cities as they swarmed ashore from ships manned by infected doomed sailors." [ BDHS ] • Ellen Etchingham on the Los Angeles Kings: "These Kings, they just look so brilliant. So clearly and completely and definitively ass-whoopingly eye-catchingly heart-liftingly brilliant. They play the way I'd always hoped a Cup-winning team would play. They play like they are actually so much better than everyone else that they ( *gasp* ) deserve to win. There's still a part of me that can't wholly believe they're for real. There's a part of me that's still tensed for the inevitable fall. But, nevertheless, I hope. I would like to see a team take the Cup this decisively, in less than twenty games. I want to see a juggernaut victory." [ Backhand Shelf ] • Alex Ovechkin was named the 11th most marketable athlete internationally in 2012. [ Alex Ovetjkin ] "A finalized lease agreement with a potential Phoenix Coyotes buyer has yet to emerge publicly but a Glendale City Council majority appears poised to approve a $17 million fee to operate the city-owned arena." [ AZ Central ] • Hopefully, when Daniel Alfredsson says he may have played his last competitive game, he means all 82 games next season for the Ottawa Senators (plus playoffs) are blowouts. [ Senators Extra ] • Finally, the New York Mets all wore hockey jerseys on their road trip to Canada. Expected to see more Islanders sweaters, given that both franchises have been living off the glory of the 1980s for decades… ( Kukla )

King leads Kings to super-meta Game 3 victory over the Coyotes (Puck Daddy)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 21:44:42 PDT)
Make it eight. No, not Canadian teams -- consecutive wins for the Los Angeles Kings, who took a 3-0 series lead over the Phoenix Coyotes in the Western Conference Finals with a 2-1 Game 3 victory. While the result was the same, Thursday night's script was slightly different, at least for the first 21 minutes. The Coyotes came out stronger in Los Angeles, outshooting the Kings 11-8 in the first period and showing that they wouldn't go easily. A minute into the second period, they finally beat Jonathan Quick, as Daymond Langkow slipped a shot through the LA netminder's pads on a partial breakaway to give the Coyotes their first lead of the series. But only 127 seconds later, the Kings answered. Dustin Brown found Anze Kopitar streaking in behind the Phoenix defence, and Kopitar made two elite plays to tie the score: first, he deftly accepted the pass by kicking it from his skate to his stick, and second, he opened up Mike Smith up with a first-class deke, slipping the puck through the five-hole. And then the Kings kept answering.

Finland beats US 3-2 at hockey worlds (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 11:52:28 PDT)
HELSINKI (AP) Finnish forward Jesse Joensuu's winning goal with nine seconds left lifted Finland past the United States 3-2 Thursday for a place in the semifinals of the hockey world championships in Helsinki.

Kings top Coyotes 4-0 to go up 2-0 in series (The Associated Press)
(Wed, 16 May 2012 00:36:05 PDT)
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) The Los Angeles Kings took the hard hits, some of them questionable, and kept rolling.

Devils-Rangers Preview (The Associated Press)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 15:18:17 PDT)
NEW YORK (AP) For the third straight series, the New York Rangers are basking in the glow of a 1-0 lead earned in the confines of ''The World's Most Famous Arena.''

Rangers to try for 2-0 series lead (The Associated Press)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 15:16:26 PDT)
NEW YORK (AP) For the third straight series, the New York Rangers are basking in the glow of a 1-0 lead earned in the confines of ''The World's Most Famous Arena.''

Third-period barrage lifts Rangers past Devils in series opener (The SportsXchange)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 21:10:17 PDT)
NEW YORK -- As the New York Rangers prepared to host the New Jersey Devils on Monday night at Madison Square Garden, the home team made a special effort to remind the Devils -- and the fans -- what happened the last time the bitter rivals battled for a trip to the Stanley Cup finals in 1994.

Rangers 3, Devils 0 (The SportsXchange)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 19:50:13 PDT)
NEW YORK -- As the New York Rangers prepared to host the New Jersey Devils on Monday night at Madison Square Garden, the team made a special effort to remind the Devils -- and the fans -- what happened the last time the two teams battled for a trip to the Stanley Cup finals in 1994.

Kings prepare for Coyotes to clamp down on leading line (The SportsXchange)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 08:00:16 PDT)
The Kings' first line of center Anze Kopitar and wingers Dustin Brown and Justin Williams put on a show in Game 1. That trio is old and wise enough to know that life probably won't be as easy in Game 2.

What We Learned: What to make of this Washington Capitals season? (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 05:28:10 PDT)
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. There's been a lot of talk about what this season has meant for the Washington Capitals in the hours leading up to, and then immediately following, their final game of the remarkably eventful 2011-12 season. Wysh had a pretty good recap of the reasons the Capitals felt this little run to a pair of one-goal Game 7s against the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the Eastern Conference — both having been heavy favorites — vindicated the Dale Hunter system of everyone playing defense and collapsing to within three inches of the crease, and it's perfectly reasonable for people to feel that way. Certainly, no one expected these Capitals to do much damage in the postseason given that they frittered away a division they were picked to dominate. But the thing that everyone seems to forget is that, again, they were picked to dominate the Southeast, be a superpower in the East and the League at large. If the team tuned out Bruce Boudreau, and it appears they did, then wasn't his replacement, whoever it happened to be, more or less expected to get this far? Therefore, it becomes a question about what changed, and really, what didn't. Let's not forget, Boudreau came in originally and let guys like Alex Semin, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green have their run of the rink. Two-minute shifts? Sure! Goals aplenty? You bet. But in the end, what did it get them? Bounce-outs, and if you believe the talk, disappointing ones at that. So Boudreau changed the style, focusing more on defense, tethering Ovechkin and Co. to an extent, and … getting the same amount of success. Under each of the two clearly definable Boudreau regimes, the team lost in the conference quarter- and semi-finals. Which is of course notable because the latter is exactly how far Hunter got in his first chance at the tiller, despite doing everything in his power not to: like limiting Ovechkin to fewer than 20 minutes a night in every game in this series save for Saturday's Game 7 and the three-overtime Game 3, in which he played 35:14 — or, if you prefer 17:37 per three periods of play. This therefore vindicates Hunter only as far as it vindicated Boudreau; which, with a roster like this, and given the "choker" label being hung liberally on the former Caps coach this time last year. The philosophy changed radically under Hunter, and worked only as far as it did for Boudreau. Why? ( Coming Up: Team USA, international ass-kickers; getting stupid about Patrick Kane's drinking; Parise's future; Could Brad Stuart return to the Sharks?; Kevin Lowe says Ryan Murray is the top player in this year's draft class; Suter/Weber questions; Pancakes Penner's revenge; Bruins pumped for Dougie Hamilton; Alfredsson retirement watch; Leafs/Penguins trade?; Lundqvist is King; Alex Burrows runs and hugs a goalie; and Winnipeg Jets fans are burning Coyotes jerseys.)

Canada come back to upset hockey hosts Finland
(Fri, 11 May 2012 14:36:48 PDT)
Olympic champions Canada battled back from two goals down to clinch their group lead with a 5-3 win over reigning champions, and co-hosts of the world ice hockey championship, Finland here Friday.

US beats Kazakhstan 3-2 at hockey worlds (The Associated Press)
(Fri, 11 May 2012 13:25:18 PDT)
HELSINKI (AP) Justin Faulk of the Carolina Hurricanes scored four minutes into overtime for his second goal of the game Friday, sending the United States to a 3-2 victory over Kazakhstan at hockey's world championships.

Final eight players announced in EA Sports NHL 13 cover vote campaign (Puck Daddy)
(Fri, 11 May 2012 06:57:50 PDT)
EA Sports' NHL 13 cover vote has now completed two rounds and the final eight players have been revealed as we make our way towards the announcement of the winner during the NHL Awards show in Las Vegas on June 20. Over the next week and a half there will be two voting periods involving two separate matchups. After over 16 millions votes, here are your final eight: In Bracket A will be Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers vs. Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings, along with Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Scott Hartnell of the Philadelphia Flyers. Voting for this bracket begins today and will run through May 17th. Bracket B will feature John Tavares of the New York Islanders against Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers vs. Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators. Voting for Bracket B starts on May 18th and will end on May 23th. The final four players will be announced on May 24th. Some teams with players in the running have created their own campaigns to garner votes from fans. The Kings and Kopitar released a video last month, while the Islanders have pumped up Tavares' campaign by going old school with some promotional materials,  referencing the great NBA Jam . Boom Shaka Laka! Voting will take place at  NHL.com/CoverVote and fans can do so an unlimited number of times. A Twitter hashtag,  #NHL13Cover , will also track the cover athlete tournament discussion. Updates and other content will also show up on the  EA SPORTS NHL Facebook page . Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

NHL Roundup: Stars bring back Gainey as consultant (The SportsXchange)
(Thu, 10 May 2012 16:00:27 PDT)
Former Dallas Stars general manager Bob Gainey has rejoined the organization as a consultant, the team announced Thursday.

Getzlaf lifts Canada past Switzerland, 3-2 (The Associated Press)
(Wed, 09 May 2012 17:02:21 PDT)
HELSINKI (AP) Anaheim star Ryan Getzlaf broke a tie midway through the third period to help Canada beat Switzerland 3-2 on Wednesday night in the world hockey championships.

Canada edge Swiss to regain top spot
(Wed, 09 May 2012 13:54:49 PDT)
Olympic champions Canada regained top spot in the Helsinki group of the world ice hockey championship here on Wednesday following a tight 3-2 win over Switzrland.