Chirping, Hobey, Stanley Cup schedule: Friday morning mini link roundup

by Hooks Orpik on Apr 3, 2009 8:00 AM EDT in News Comment 3 comments

NBC is putting their Stanley Cup Finals games on Friday and Saturday (for Game 1 and 2) then Versus gets games 3 and 4 and NBC will air Games 5 and 6 on Saturday and Sunday nights, with the possible Game 7 stretched ouf all the way until Tuesday June 16. Gross. [Puck the Media]

Is Matt Cooke fit to play a top six role? (ed. note: no) [PG Q&A]

Dainius Zubrus lost his mind on Brooks Orpik because Zubie thought the Candyman hit him late and was going for his knees. Note to Zubrus: if Orpik, a top line defensemen, probably isn't that interested in taking out a lower line forward with 14 goals. [Fire and Ice]

Farm watch: goalie John Curry is an impressive 5-0 in AHL shootouts this season. [Citizens Voice]

Faceoff Factor thinks the Penguins should start Mathieu Garon on Saturday against the Hurricanes and then go with Marc-Andre Fleury for Sunday's contest against Florida. I would say Fleury/Fleury. He's only played six games in the three weeks, and is going to be playing intense playoff games every other night soon anyways. Fleury's had a heavy workload, but look at his numbers recently; he's shouldering it wonderfully, just like last spring. [Faceoff Factor]

If you like reading stories from hockey players, check out this acount from minor leaguer Justin Bourne about his growing appreciation for team chemistry. [The Hockey News]

Sidney Crosby the Penguins next MVP (as in next season) [The Hockey News]

Caps defenseman Brian Pothier had no comeback when former Penguin Matthew Barnaby once called him ugly while chirping on the ice. [Capitals Insider]

All three Hobey Baker Finalists play in Boston, two are from Boston University, the heavily favored team to win the national championship. One of the finalists, senior BU defensemen and captain Matt Gilroy, is a free agent and the Penguins (like almost every other team) are interested in talking to him. Adding Gilroy would be a huge feather in any team's cap. [Hobey Baker.com]

Offensive dynamo Rob Scuderi is on the longest point streak of his career. One more game and the streak will be equal to the number on his jersey. [Trib]

More impressive for a defenseman to score 30 goals or a forward to net 60? I think any fan would probably take any of the above. [Japers Rink]

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Dainius Zubrus technically is not a ‘lower level’ forward. He’s actually spent the majority of this season on one of the Devils top two lines, centering wingers Brian Gionta and Patrik Elias, though Brian Rolston played up on Zubrus’ on Wednesday night because Elias sat out with an injury. You’re right when you say that he is not a particularly prolific scorer (something like six of his fourteen goals were scored in just two games, a four goal game against the Lightnight and a two goal game against the Senators, so he when he does score it’s extremely streaky), but that’s because his job is to dish the puck to his more offensively gifted linemates, play physical along the boards and win battles for loose pucks.

The hit on Zubrus by Orpik was late and a little low so I can see why Zubrus would be angry about it but Orpik is one of the few defenseman in the league who actually know how to hit cleanly so I don’t think he was purposely trying to hurt Zubrus. Stuff like that just happens sometimes. Scuderi’s check on Zubrus later in the game was a thing of beauty, however. You don’t see hits like those too often in the ‘new’ NHL.

by kellyn on Apr 3, 2009 2:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Zubrus had a rough outing that game, no doubt about it. Earlier in the year I remember reading a lot of Devils blogs and even newspaper articles that seemed to gear toward letting up on Zubrus a lot. I guess a lot of people expected him to come over from Washington and score 20-30 goals a year. He looked like he was well on his way with two straight 20+ goal performances in Washington/half a season in Buffalo. But it’s a different system in NJ and one that compliments his size a bit more, IMHO, and his impact likely won’t show up on a score sheet.

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by FrankD on Apr 3, 2009 3:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs