The Philadelphia Flyers defensive line up will be slightly weaker for Game 3 of the NHL Eastern Conference finals against Pittsburgh Penguins due to a swollen left eye injury caused to defenseman Braydon Coburn. He said that he is otherwise fine and will take a decision on what to do next once his swollen eye fully opens up. It is by God’s grace that Coburn has come out of his eye injury without breaking any bones or causing serious damage to the eye. The injury happened when puck hit by Penguins defenseman Sergei spooned of the hockey stick of Malkin and hit Coburn plush on the face. 

The Dallas Stars are currently on top of their game and this was clearly evident from the blitzkrieg of goals that they scored against the San Jose Sharks at the HP Pavilion last Sunday night. Brad Richards made a mockery of the San Jose Sharks defense as the offensive player had three assists and a goal in the NHL Western Conference semifinal, which they lead the Sharks by 2-0.

Star’s Modano said that his team played some brilliant hockey and stuck to their game plan right from the start of the match. He said that the team took advantage of whatever chances that came their way and was happy to see his team win the first two road games against the Sharks. The other goal scorers for the Stars were Michalek and Joe Pavelski and it would be cruel if the efforts of Marty Turco, who made 29 saves, are not mentioned.

The NHL is expected to make changes to the ice hockey rule book in order to protect goaltenders. This move was also set to be counter action to avoid incidences such as Sean Avery’s comical but annoying interference of Martin Brodeur.

During Sunday’s playoff game against the New Jersey Devils, Avery, who was a New York forward player, stood and waved his arms in front of New Jersey goaltender Brodeur with the intention to distract him.

The NHL announced today that it would amend the rule book and label attempts such as these as goaltender inference and they would suitably award “an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to the offending player”.

In the end, the Devils won with the score of 4-3, gaining an overtime victory to deny the Rangers’ victory in the Eastern Conference first round series to two games to one. Game Four of the series is expected to be held this Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

The Dallas Stars came up with a tremendous fire power and vengeance to beat the Los Angeles Kings with a big margin of 7-2 and are now on course to play well in their final four games of the National Hockey League season. Loui Eriksson showed his class as he scored two times in the space of less than four minutes in a goal filled second period and this was when the game totally slipped from the hands of the Kings. The Stars avenged their earlier defeat to the Kings 4-2 in Dallas and in the course of the game came up with their 2nd win in ten games.

Marty Turco, the goalie of the Stars, was appreciative of his team mates fighting skills when the chips were down and wanted the players to perform similarly in the last four games as well. He said that the team was very happy to end the losing streak and will look to win the final four games that are lying ahead of them.

Nigel Dawes, a 5 foot 9 inch player of the New York Rangers, has silenced his critics, who has criticized him for his small stature, by scoring ten goals and as many as 21 points in his 45 games for the Rangers this season. He acknowledges the fact that there will be critics who will keep on questioning him throughout his entire career and he says that he would not like to reply for those unwarranted comments and feels that his play will do the talking. He feels that he will have to change people’s opinion on him by showing his skills on the playing arena.

The rookie player has gained a certain respect in the New York Rangers team and has adapted well as the left winger of the side. The veteran Rangers right wing Shanahan feels that Nigel pretty knows well how to score a goal and is always thinking of ways on how to beat a goalie with his shot. The Rangers are pretty happy about the offensive lift that Dawes has provided their team and Dawes is playing in the defense as well this season. Dawes says that the game is not totally about scoring goals and raking up points, but it is important for a player to play at both ends of the ice with reasonable consistency.

The Anaheim Ducks players, management and the fans are really excited by the return of Teemu Selanne into the team for this season. Selanne was one of the top scores of the last season as he scored about 48 goals. The Stanley Cup championship also witnessed the heroics of Selanne on the hockey field. Selanne has signed a one year contract with the Anaheim Ducks and the signing price has not been disclosed. Though Selanne was contemplating on retirement at the end of the last season to spend some time with his kids, the offer by Burke and Samuels of Ducks might have been tempting enough for Selanne to sign the one year contract.

Selanne, in his recent press conference, said that he was pretty excited to be back playing for the Ducks and is looking forward to having a good time with his new teammates. Selanne said that the first practice session along with the Ducks was exciting as well as hard. He enjoyed the few sessions of practice he had with his new friends and said that it would be great to play with the Ducks as well as travel along with them. An exciting season is ahead for the Duck fans with a star goal scorer in their ranks.

If the Washington Capitals win tonight at the Toronto’s Air Canada Centre it will be their first 5 game streak of wins in seven years.
With Monday’s 6-5 win over Pittsburgh the Capitals took their season-high streak of wins to four games . The Capitas Alexander Semin came up with the game-winning goal in the final round  for Washington.  Semin skated toward the net and finished with an impressive backhand past goalie Ty Conklin to clench the victory. Alexander Ovechkin scored two goals, and Viktor Kozlov has his second two goal game in a row. The last time this time won five games in a row was March, 2001.
Moreover Ovechkin has scored six goals and four assists in the last five games. The Russian player is leading the league with 38 goals.  Ovechkin has scored at least one goal in every one of his last five games while Kozlov has four goals in his last two contests. It would appears as though Washington is going to cause a ruckus in the Southeast Division. Washington has won five of their last seven games against the Maple Leafs and three of the last four in Toronto.

The losses are becoming overwhelming for the Ottawa Senators. Early in the third Marc-Andre Bergeron got his second power-play goal of the game. Senators center Jason Spezza ended his playing time shortly after the first period of  game after he was abruptly layed out by an open-ice check courtesy of Freddy Meyer. The Senators also lost right wing Dany Heatley for a period of up to 6 weeks after he dislocated his shoulder . Another standout, Rick DiPietro, ended the night with over 30 saves for New York to pull off the win. Islanders forward Ruslan Fedotenko went to the dressing room for the night after getting a mouth full of ice after being struck by Senators center Mike Fisher’s arm. 

Forwards of the New Jersey Devils Noah Clarke and Barry Tallackson have been recalled from Lowell under emergency conditions, it has been announced. Tallackson has collected 12 goals and nine assists for 21 points in 30 games this season with Lowell. Last season Tallackson was recalled by the Devils for three games.

John Madden scored two goals and Martin Brodeur made 29 saves to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. The game started to the Devils’ favor and thus it ended up. In the second period, Brodeur stopped Briere’s penalty with a stick save. Even though the Flyers managed to score two goals, they lost the matchup.