HockeyMonday musings on the NHL

Beginning of Story Content

Perry for Hart?

Anaheim Ducks sniper Corey Perry raced into the lead for the Rocket Richard Trophy with another dazzling third-period rescue of his team's fortunes on Saturday and the sixth-year NHLer's incredible roll has him ensconced in talk for the Hart Trophy, too.

The 25-year-old right wing from Peterborough, Ont., has 19 goals in 23 games since the all-star break and now leads the NHL with 44 goals - one up on Tampa Bay's slumping Steven Stamkos and four ahead of Vancouver's dependable and Hart-favourite Daniel Sedin.

Twenty-one of Perry's goals have been scored in the third period or overtime to lead that category and he is tied with Sedin and Washington superstar Alex Ovechkin with 10 game-winning goals. The Anaheim sniper also is tied for second among forwards with ice time at 22 minutes, three seconds with Carolina's Eric Staal. New Jersey's Ilya Kovalchuk leads the way at 22:30.

A couple other nifty tidbits about Perry, who has 13 goals in his past nine games, is that the former London Knights junior has increased his point totals in each of his first six seasons at 25, 44, 54, 72, 76 and now 85, respectively, and he is one only three NHLers since 2000-01 to score more than 40 goals and register more than 100 penalty minutes in a season. The others were Todd Bertuzzi in 2002-03 (46, 144) and Jeff O'Neill in 2000-01 (41, 106). The only other NHLer to improve his point total over his first six years since 2000-01 was Vancouver's Henrik Sedin.

Back-to-back games

The Vancouver Canucks reached the 50-win mark for the first time in franchise history with their win in Columbus on Sunday. Outside all the injuries they have incurred, not much has gone wrong in the club's 40th anniversary season, including their ability to win that dreaded second game in back-to-back situations.

The Canucks lead the way with an impressive 8-1-2 mark in this department. We should expect the capable teams to have the best records, but upon further examination the fact that the Canucks only have 11 back-to-back situations exhibits they have done their homework in terms of their schedule.

The Canucks aren't the only team that pay close attention to their schedule. For years, Detroit has tried to limit its number of games at home to Joe Louis Arena after playing the previous evening on the road. They have only two such situations this season, and one of those circumstances was when they played in nearby Columbus and returned home to play the Blue Jackets the next evening.

Teams can't travel more than two times zones for the back end of games on successive nights. The Canucks are one of several teams in the NHL that are the primary tenant of its building and because each game is a sell out they can offer the NHL whatever dates it wants at Rogers Arena in the hopes there will be a benefit in terms of rest and recovery.

This is not always the case for teams that avoid the competition of NFL Sundays or local college football or basketball teams or are co-tenants of NBA teams.

Finally, don't feel bad for the Sabres because they play a league-high 22 back-to-back situations. Four of those circumstances were back-to-back games at home.

Here are the records of teams in the second game of back-to-backs and, in parentheses, the total number of back-to-back situations in the season:

Vancouver (11) 8-1-2 .818

Chicago (18) 11-3-2 .750

Pittsburgh (17) 12-3-2 .765

Boston (14) 9-3-1 .731

St. Louis (18) 11-4-1 .719

NY Rangers (18) 11-5-0 .688

Detroit (14) 8-4-1 .654

San Jose (14) 7-3-3 .654

Philadelphia (16) 8-4-2 .643

Columbus (18) 9-6-1 .594

Nashville (15) 6-5-1 .542

Los Angeles (13) 6-5-1 .542

Toronto (14) 6-5-2 .538

Washington (15) 7-6-1 .536

Phoenix (16) 7-6-2 .533

Tampa Bay (17 ) 7-6-2 .533

Montreal (16) 6-6-3 .500

Buffalo (22) 8-8-3 .500

Anaheim (15) 5-6-2 .462

NY Islanders (20) 6-8-4 .444

Ottawa (16) 7-8-1 .469

New Jersey (20) 6-9-2 .412

Dallas (12) 4-6-0 .400

Calgary (13) 4-7-2 .385

Minnesota (19) 5-9-3 .382

Atlanta (15) 4-7-3 .367

Carolina (21) 6-11-1 .361

Edmonton (11) 3-6-1 .350

Florida (15) 4-9-1 .321

Colorado (15) 3-10-0 .231

Some coaches and players believe the third game in four nights is the most difficult outing for a team to have compete in. Here are the team's best records in that third game in 72 hours, with the number of three games in four night situations in parentheses:

Vancouver (14) 10-2-2 .786

Pittsburgh (19) 13-3-3 .763

Montreal (10) 6-2-2 .700

Boston (16) 8-3-4 .667

Chicago (16) 8-4-1 .654

Colorado (13) 6-3-1 .650

Nashville (12) 6-3-3 .625

San Jose (18) 10-6-1 .618

Philadelphia (21) 10-6-2 .611

Phoenix (16) 8-5-2 .600

NY Rangers (19) 11-8-0 .579

Florida (17) 8-6-1 .567

Dallas (15) 6-5-0 .545

Columbus (16) 7-6-1 .536

Atlanta (17) 6-5-4 .533

Calgary (19) 8-7-3 .528

Los Angeles (17) 8-8-0 .500

New Jersey (18) 8-8-1 .500

Washington (13) 6-6-1 .500

Anaheim (15) 6-6-2 .500

Detroit (14) 6-7-1 .464

St. Louis (20) 8-10-0 .444

NY Islanders (18) 6-8-2 .438

Carolina (16) 6-8-1 .433

Edmonton (15) 5-7-2 .429

Tampa Bay (16) 5-7-2 .429

Buffalo (19) 7-10-1 .417

Minnesota (20) 7-10-1 .417

Ottawa (17) 6-9-2 .412

Toronto (11) 3-6-2 .364

Odds and ends

Canucks defencemen Dan Hamhuis suffered his second concussion of the season and fourth of his career in a collision with teammate Kevin Bieksa and Columbus forward Rick Nash on Sunday. This head injury was less than two months after he was knocked into the end boards by Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf on Feb. 9 ... The problem with Los Angeles losing Anze Kopitar for at least six weeks with a broken right ankle and Justin Williams for three-to-four weeks with a dislocated shoulder is who does Kings general manager Dean Lombardi replace these key players with? Brayden Schenn is unavailable until his junior season has been completed, but his Saskatoon Blades are up 2-0 in their first-round series against the Prince Albert Raiders. Kings prospect Andrei Loktionov is out after season-ending shoulder surgery ... The MRI on the left shoulder of Detroit's Jimmy Howard on Sunday revealed the goalie will likely return to action on the weekend, possibly as soon as Wednesday against St. Louis. In the meantime, the Red Wings will recall Thomas McCollum to backup Joey MacDonald ... Anaheim's Ray Emery now has four wins in four starts after missing 13 ½ months because of hip surgery ... Montreal has been blanked in three straight games and, in total, nine times this season. Only Toronto (11) and Washington (10) have been shutout more times and only Minnesota (188), Florida (185), Edmonton (180), Ottawa (175) and New Jersey (155) have scored fewer goals than the Canadiens' 200 ... Former Habs forward Ben Maxwell, dealt to Atlanta in the Brent Sopel trade, scored his first NHL goal in his 25th game. The 22-year-old forward from North Vancouver played junior for the Kootenay Ice ... The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds won their third Canadian title in five years with a 4-0 win over McGill on Sunday. One of the key performers was 24-year-old fourth-year defenceman Luke Gallant of Bedford, N.S. The former St. John's Fog Devils junior, who scored 23 goals in 68 games for the 2005-06 Fog Devils, scored once and set up teammate Daine Todd's two goals in the championship game. Gallant is one of 13 Varsity Reds who played on the 2009 championship team, but he missed the Atlantic conference final against St. Francis-Xavier with an undisclosed lower-body injury. He returned in time to enjoy his second University Cup title.

Games I won't miss this week

1. Chicago at Detroit, Monday. The Blackhawks are not out of the woods yet in terms of snatching a playoff spot as they play the latest instalment of their rivalry with the Red Wings.

2. Philadelphia at Pittsburgh, Tuesday. All of a sudden, thanks to four consecutive shootout wins without Sidney Crosby the Penguins have a chance to catch the conference-leading Flyers.

3. Anaheim at Calgary, Wednesday. The Flames have yet to beat the Ducks this season, dropping the three previous games in extra time. Calgary would be in a much better place had those decisions gone the other way.

(Photo of Corey Perry courtesy Harry How/Getty Images)  

End of Story Content

Back to accessibility links