HockeyVOX

Sources tell TSN Swedish prospect Fabian Brunnstrom was in Texas and attended Game 3 of the Dallas Stars-San Jose Sharks Conference Semifinals. TSN.ca reports the Stars showing great interest in signing him.

Brunnstrom is on a mini-North American tour, checking out the cities he is considering as potential sites to begin his NHL career. He is expected to be in Denver on Thursday for Game 4 between the Avalanche and Red Wings.

The 23-year forward is also expected to visit Montreal, and Detroit, teams he has identified as "depth" teams, clubs who have great interest in bringing him on board, but may not be able to offer the same immediate playing opportunity as Toronto and a number of the other franchises still in the mix. Brunnstrom is expected to make his decision once all options have been considered.

Read Original Post Here

The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association are working together to examine the size and configuration of goalie equipment. The league and the union have formed a group to look at the issue and will meet June 11 in Toronto.

The NHL representatives include Doug Risebrough of Minnesota, Garth Snow of the New York Islanders, Jim Rutherford of Carolina and Brett Hull of Dallas. Three goalies and two skaters will represent the players — Martin Brodeur of New Jersey, Rick DiPietro of the New York Islanders, Ryan Miller of Buffalo, Dany Heatley of Ottawa and Mike Cammalleri of Los Angeles.

There is a belief among some in the hockey world that reducing the size of goalie equipment would increase offense in the game. The idea to have a group examine the issue came about at the GM’s meetings in Naples, Fla., in February, where there was unanimous consent to do something about the size of goalie equipment. If the group decides changes to the rules governing goaltender equipment are warranted, and will not jeopardize the safety of the goalies, their recommendations will be forwarded to the NHL’s competition committee for consideration.

Read Original Post Here

Carey Price may have been all smiles at practice Tuesday but there was no guarantee the 20-year-old rookie would be back in net for the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.

"I haven’t decided yet," head coach Guy Carbonneau told reporters after the team’s skate. "You will see tomorrow night at 7 p.m. who the goalie is."

Price had a tough outing Monday night as the Canadiens fell 3-2 to the Flyers in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series. The rookie netminder was pulled after 40 minutes, having given up three goals on 12 shots. A loss Wednesday would mean the Habs go back home to Montreal down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

So with the stakes that high, what does Carbonneau decide? He has seen his prized netminder give up seven goals on 35 shots in the last two games, not to mention lose four of his last six starts dating back to the Boston first-round series. On the flip side, backup Jaroslav Halak hasn’t started a game since March 29 at Toronto — a month ago.

Read Original Post Here

Oh, we get it now. The San Jose-Dallas series is a tape loop, played over and over and over to the Sharks’ continued detriment. For the third time in a row, the San Jose Sharks played two strong periods in a row. For the third time in a row, they played a bad third period, and for the second time in three games, they croaked after a brief overtime wrote San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ray Ratto.

And now, with tee times and duck blinds in the front windshield, the Sharks try to save themselves from a ship that already looks pretty well sunk. And yes, the Sharks did have a disallowed goal by Joe Thornton four minutes into the game. And yes, they had opportunities early to beat Dallas goalie Marty Turco. And yes, Nabokov stoned Niklas Hagman on a third-period penalty shot. And yes, they approached what head coach Ron Wilson called "for two periods … a perfect road game."

In response, though, the rest of the hockey world says, "Yeah, so? Play a third period, then get back to us." And so far in this series, the Sharks haven’t. Assuming they cannot extricate themselves from their current bear trap, it is something they can ponder at their extended leisure while the Stars go blithely to the Western Conference finals, and perhaps beyond.

Read Original Post Here

And if a defenseman bouncing the puck off of a San Jose Shark to get past Evgeni Nabokov sounds a little lucky, well … that’s Stanley Cup playoff overtime hockey wrote Dallas Morning News columnist Tim Cowlishaw. The thing that was not surprising was that it was set up by a pass — even if intended for someone else - from center Mike Ribeiro, who leads the Stars in playoff scoring with 13 points (including 10 assists) in nine games.

Ribeiro had retrieved the puck along the right-side boards and spun away from a Sharks defender when he tried to send a pass to Brenden Morrow near the crease.

"It got deflected right to Matty so it was lucky, but that’s usually how you end up scoring in overtime," Ribeiro said.

Ribeiro also assisted on Sergei Zubov’s game-tying goal early in the third period. The Sharks are at a loss as to how to stop the Dallas Stars‘ top three lines. They try to focus much of their attention on Ribeiro, Morrow and Jere Lehtinen while still keeping Brad Richards‘ and Mike Modano’s lines under wraps. In most games, they have come close to doing so at least for long stretches. But ultimately, each game, they fail.

Read Original Post Here

Among the lesser-known incongruities rattling around the National Hockey League’s exhaustive arithmetic, at least as the puck got dropped for Game 3 of these Eastern Conference semifinals, was Evgeni Malkin’s total career goals at Madison Square Garden. Zero. Seven career games, two assists, no goals. That couldn’t last. For just too many obvious reasons.

"The thing about Evgeni’s game is that he’s so loose when he’s controlling the puck," said Marian Hossa in a routinely pleased Penguins locker room late last night. "He’s so comfortable with the puck. Not many players have his kind of patience with the puck, especially in big games."

So Geno comfortably scored the third Penguins goal, the one that established a 3-1 lead in the first period, and comfortably scored their fourth goal, which negated the five oceans of perspiration the Rangers used to tie the score in the second. What it all means is a very, very comfortable 3-0 Penguins lead in this series, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Malkin ended it tomorrow night with a typically rousing Broadway encore according to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Gene Collier.

Read Original Post Here

Jaromir Jagr may well be counting down the hours to the end of his career with the New York Rangers. But the New York captain, who showed some spark against the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday night, continues to say the right thing.

"Too bad it’s 3-0, but I’m not going to tell you I’m dead," the Rangers’ 36-year-old captain said. "I think a lot of guys in here believe that, too.

"I have a very funny feeling about this series. It’s not over. It’s just my feeling. I don’t know how many believe me, but we’ll see."

Pardon many Garden fans if they don’t agree after watching a game in which the Penguins repeatedly trumped minutes of Rangers dominance with single thrusts that ended in goals. The Rangers outshot the Penguins by an overwhelming 39-17.

Read Original Post Here

The usually tight and testy Colorado-Detroit matchup has never been this one-sided, on the scoreboard or in the trainer’s room. Pavel Datsyuk scored twice and Johan Franzen picked up his sixth goal of the series, putting the Red Wings on the cusp of the Western Conference finals with a 4-3 victory Tuesday night over the ailing Avalanche, who lost another star skater when leading scorer Paul…

Read Original Post Here

Mattias Norstrom was the most unlikely scorer on the ice for the Dallas Stars. Still, he took a whack at the puck. And it went in the net. Norstrom’s goal 4:37 into overtime Tuesday night gave the Stars a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks and a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series. “I tried to get it on net, it went off a stick.

Read Original Post Here

Evgeni Malkin looked every bit like an MVP at MSG and pushed the Pittsburgh Penguins to the brink of the Eastern Conference finals. Only hours after Malkin was announced as a Hart Trophy finalist, the second-year forward showed why. He scored two power-play goals and added an assist in the Penguins’ 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night that gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead in the…

Read Original Post Here