Jedi

He just took the faceoff, so it must have been something minor like an equipment issue.

Ah, deflected and in. Hockey 101 boys & girls. Put the puck on net, and good things can happen.

I'm waiting for Carman's inevitable defense of Crosby to appear...

Nice job, Caps!

Right. First whistle after the 10 minute mark of the third is when they switched.

I think it was last year with the Flyers/Bruins that they didn't need to switch. I'm positive that they did switch in '09.

They did it in '09 with the Wings/Hawks game too. It's not like it's unprecedented.

Are you saying this preemptively because that means you won't be here in the GDT for the game? Please let it be so. The lack of negativity in the thread would be so refreshing...

He did have one shift after the goal. 41 seconds in length, at the 13:05 mark. http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20102011/TH020560.HTM Slashed sticks all over the place, and Z's the one to get the penalty.

Absolutely nothing. It's great to see a kid get that excited to get his first career goal.

60 minutes isn't enough. To OT we go. I was at one of those "last two games" against the Islanders. That was embarrassing, to say the least...

Oh, Bertuzzi had the GWG ready to go in, but he just got his stick held up. So close...

Jimmy flashing the leather.

The Sauce!!!

Yeah, so, how about the game that's going on right now? *hint, hint*

Yeesh. Another broken-stick-at-the-worst-possible-time. I'll take the penalty though.

Another last minute goal... Oh, wait!

Ugh... Deflected.

Fantastic chance there at the end of the PP. Great give and go.

PP Upcoming.

But look at which network(s) the NHL were on at that time. NBC and VS., which are two direct competitors to the ESPN/ABC networks. It's not surprising that ESPN would dedicate more coverage (even in SportsCenter and all of ESPN's other original programming) to sports that they carry, as opposed to hyping up the NHL. They're not going to give much coverage to a sport that people have to watch on a competing network. The current TV contract with VS. & NBC is up this year. ESPN's management has indicated that they would like to have the NHL back on the ESPN/ABC networks, as well as VS./NBC wanting to keep them. The NHL is in a good position to try and leverage better TV revenues, and more games shown, from either network. I just hope the League sees the same opportunity that I do, rather than just blindly going with whatever NBC and VS. offers.

I don't think removing fighting would do anything to increase the popularity of the sport. If anything, I believe it would have the exact opposite effect. I think the best thing the NHL could do to increase popularity of the sport in the States is to get onto itself onto as many TV screens as it cans. While VS. has increased it's market share since they first picked up the NHL, there are still more American homes that have ESPN than VS. Getting the sport on a network that can show the games in more households is one of the most effective ways to increase the popularity of the game. Getting a little consistency with the refs and disciplinary matters wouldn't hurt either. Say for instance, give Toronto the ability to overrule the "intent to blow the whistle" rule? And Pierre McToolGuire? Maybe he believes that if players buckled up their chinstraps, then the NHL would be more popular...

What a game! Tonight breaks a bit of a curse on me, as this is the first road game I've ever seen the Wings win. Every other time they either tied, or lost, dating back to 2001-2002. Very glad to have that particular monkey off my back. The walk back to the truck was alot more fun too. Usually all the Stars fans are complete a-holes if they win against the Wings. Tonight, they were much more subdued. And damn, this is a beautiful sight!