NHL Weekend Preview

Good Ole Drinking Game

The Battle of Alberta has long invited ingenuity from the legions of Flames and OIlers fans…The boys over at Battle of Alberta have devised what appears to be a drinking game based on the rivalry.

Gaborik Out

Minnesota right wing Marian Gaborik missed the Wild’s game Thursday night against Florida because of what the team called a lower-body injury. A “lower-body injury”…is it playoff time already???

Savard Fired

Canes Country has some thoughts on the first firing of the season:

And there’s the first firing of the season. A very curious move by the Blackhawks, though Joel Quenneville is a very, very good coach — and his moustache will go over well with these guys.

St. Louis Is Winning!

Keith Tkachuk and Brad Boyes each scored for the fourth straight game, and the St. Louis Blues had their best offensive output since January in beating the Dallas Stars 6-1 Thursday night.

Pittsburgh Blows It!

Boyd Gordon scored a delayed goal in the third period to complete Washington’s four-goal comeback and the Capitals shook off three Pittsburgh power play goals and another big night against them by Evgeni Malkin to rally for a 4-3 victory on Thursday night.

Stamkos Benched

James Mirtle notes that the Calder trophy race is far from over as the man with the mullet, Barry Melrose, put Stamkos on the bench for most of the game versus the Islanders.

Calling Out Boogaard!

Shane Giroux Sounds Off!

Usually I don’t do “provocative” pieces. I like to watch the game, cheer my team on, get disgusted when the other team acts like a bunch of schoolgirls and keep a sense of fairness and calmness in my commentary.

But after reading a few articles from Minnesota media this morning, I couldn’t help but get a bit agitated.

That entire team is crying like a bunch of little babies who had their soothers taken away from them.

In a StarTribune article, Derek Boogaard accused Cody McLeod of not playing with respect. Well, granted McLeod had issues earlier this year – and all the Avs bloggers condemned it – but he’s been nothing more than a pest this series. And an effective pest apparently.

Said Boogaard:

“I’m going to laugh when the instigator [penalty] is out this summer because I’m pretty sure [McLeod's] … going to be a lot more quiet next year,” Boogaard said. “[The way he plays] is not hockey. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be played. It’s supposed to be played with respect. He doesn’t show respect.”

First, the instigator penalty is going nowhere. Second, what did he do last night that could be considered disrespectful? I’ll admit I was concerned that McLeod would do something stupid but he did nothing of the sort. Unless you consider getting mugged by Veilleux and Belanger as disrespectful.

Boogaard also commented on the lack of people willing to step up and fight the giant baby:

“They have guys on their team whose job is to open their mouths and try to get us to take penalties on them, and I mean, it’s just not going to happen,”

Did he seriously say “It’s not going to happen” after he alone took 24 minutes in penalties? Yeah, sure didn’t work out in the Avs favor you big buffoon.

And when accused of being goons, the Wild’s choir boy Chris Simon said:

“I think we’re playing hard, we’re playing fair and so is the other team,” said bruiser Chris Simon.

Maybe you played fair because Colin Campbell has you under house arrest and if you so much as look at someone the wrong way, you’ll be gone for good. As for the rest of your team, they did not play fair. They did not play hard. And they did not show any respect.

Look, the end result is that you guys got your asses handed to you and it likely won’t happen again.

So there’s no point getting your panties in such a twist.