Did you know Thursday is the second busiest day of the week during the NHL season? Well, I'm not absolutely certain about that little nugget of information, but it's what the league's scheduling guru, Steve Hatze Petros, once told me. And if anyone knows, it would be Steve.
Anyway, there were a bunch of games Thursday night. It was a Mark Messier night; 11 games in all. Sitting in front of the television, I caught pieces of most of them. Here are three things that stood out to me:
Bobby Ryan goes crazy!
The second overall pick in the Sidney Crosby draft (2005), Ryan netted a natural hat trick during a 2:21 span in the second and third periods of the Ducks' 4-3 loss to the Kings. The final goal of Ryan's run is destined to be a YouTube classic. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and check it out. Ryan, a right-handed shot, moved down the left-wing side and went spin-o-rama on Kings defenseman Peter Harrold before finishing the play with a sweet move around goalie Jonathan Quick. Sick!
It was the first hat trick of Ryan's young career and the first by any Ducks rookie in franchise history. The 21-year-old New Jersey native, who started the season in the minors, is red-hot, scoring seven goals in his last 10 games. Ryan has
11 goals and 25 points in 24 games.
On draft day, then-Ducks GM Brian Burke went against the grain and picked Ryan over defenseman Jack Johnson, who was selected third by the Hurricanes and subsequently traded to the Kings. At the time, Burke said he was really impressed by Ryan during the interview process. Right now, that pick is starting to look pretty smart.
If you want to learn more about Ryan and his very unusual road to the NHL, check out Gare Joyce's ESPN The Magazine profile. Believe me, it'll be worth your time.
Too pushy
Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski almost certainly earned himself a league suspension for pushing linesman Scott Cherrey in the aftermath of an altercation with Canadiens forward Sergei Kostitsyn. The incident occurred in the final minutes of the Habs' decisive 6-2 win at the Bell Centre.
The Original Six rivals are going in different directions. The Canadiens are 8-1-1 in their past 10 games, while the Leafs have dropped six of their past eight.
One more thing: Montreal rookie Max Pacioretty netted his second goal since being recalled from the club's AHL affiliate. The Connecticut kid, selected 22nd overall in the 2007 draft, is a keeper. He had a great training camp and just might be ready for a full-time spot in Montreal. If he doesn't stick this time, it won't be much longer.
Backward March of the Penguins
When Maxime Talbot broke a personal 24-game goal-scoring drought to give the visiting Penguins a 3-0 lead over the Predators at the 3:50 mark of the second period, Pittsburgh fans must have figured the rout was on. After all, Nashville is among the lowest-scoring teams on the circuit.
Well, not so fast.
By the end of the middle period, the Preds had tied the score at 3. In the third period, they completed the comeback, adding a pair of tallies to win 5-3. Defenseman Ryan Suter's power-play goal at the 9:04 mark of the third proved to be the winner.
The slumping Penguins have dropped six of their past seven games and currently stand 10th in the East. Afterward, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was straightforward with the media, saying "We didn't deserve to win the hockey game."
Now, there's a lot of hockey left to play, but I'm starting to wonder what the heck is going on with the Penguins. I know they're missing some key pieces from their Eastern Conference championship team. They're not the same without injured defensive stud Sergei Gonchar and departed free-agent wingers Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone.
Still, it seems to be more than that.
Maybe it's just as simple as the curse of the Cup loser. For whatever reason, teams that fall in the Stanley Cup finals seem to struggle during the following season. It has been a quarter of a century since a team lost in the finals only to bounce back to win the Cup the following season. That team was the 1983-84 Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers.
I still figure the Pens will right their ship and earn a playoff spot. But with each mounting loss, that challenge gets a little tougher and I have a little more doubt.
Fortunately, the Penguins are in the East, where the Leafs, Thrashers, Senators, Lightning and Islanders don't figure to push them from the bottom of the standings.
The Pens visit the Avs on Saturday, which, by the way, is the busiest day of the week for NHL teams. Hatze Petros passed along that factoid, too. But you and I probably could have figured that one out on our own.
E.J. Hradek
