Stan Fischler: Bringing you Bluelines Each Friday Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTk1MzAyMjY2ODU5NjkzNzU1/usatsi_19618462.jpg] A SEXTET OF SIMPLY STAMKOS AND FIVE OTHER THOUGHTS: 1. Imagine: Steven Stamkos cleared 500 goals, played on multi-Cup-winners and still gets so little attention compared to the McDavid cartel. 2. If the Lightning can somehow douse the attrition bug, then the Bolts cannot be ruled out of Cup-thinking. Not with their goaltending. 3. Jim Rutherford should have figured out the Vancouver salary cap mess before he took the job. He's acting as if it just sneaked up on him overnight. 4. The Bruins' 3-1 win over the Rangers last night featured Jeremy Swayman in goal, which proves that Boston has two No. 1 goalies. 5. As rebound seasons go, you have to like Tarasenko in St. Louis, DeBrusk in Boston and Scheifele in Winnipeg. 6. My Cup favorite today: Boston, because Don Sweeney has built a team for a tough, long playoff run. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EXCLUSIVE: THE BOLTS' FRENCH CONNECTION'S STILL FULL OF VOLTS A veritable ferret on the trail of a good story, our Glenn Dreyfuss found an electric one in Tampa Bay. Last month, Lightning center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare played his 608th game, a record among the dozen-ever NHLers born in France. Glenn Dreyfuss spoke with him following Tampa's recent victory in Seattle. The rest of the NHL won't like hearing this, but the Lightning are still such a complete team – even their bottom six forwards can lead them to victory. One of Tampa's heroes in snapping Seattle's eight-game winning streak on Monday was unheralded fourth-line center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. "From now on, this is money time," Pierre-Edouard said afterward. "In the season and playoffs, you have to have everybody help the team at times." Only seven currently active NHL players are older than the native of Le Blanc-Mesnil, Fra., who turns 38 in March. He didn't even break into the NHL until the age of 29 with the Flyers. Bellemare, one of Tampa's top penalty-killers, said getting lots of help is the key. "Keeping the shifts short," he said. "That keeps your legs fresh and your confidence up. It's important not just to kill it, but to frustrate the power play, so they force it when they shouldn't. Then you know you have them on the ropes." Although Bellemare alertly broke up a third-period 3-on-2 with Seattle looking for the tie, he insisted it was a high-risk, if necessary, play. "I put my body in the way. Lucky enough, (the puck) went right into my mitt." What if he'd whiffed? "I'd be f'd," he said with a smile. Tampa defenseman Ian Cole knows better. "We have confidence in our guys up and down the lineup. The way we play, it's a five-man team defense. We rely on our forwards to do a lot of work, and they're so good at it." Cole further noted, "The fourth line can really drive play in the offensive zone. 'Belley' works his tail off." Added Lightning coach Jon Cooper: "Depth helps you win games. When 'Kootch' or 'Stammer' aren't getting points, you need somebody like 'Belley' to get it for you." For his part, Bellemare remains modest to a fault. When I asked about his technique on a high-skill, deft deflection for Tampa's first goal against Seattle, he made another deflection. "I'm not that good at doing that," he said. As our interview ended, I kidded Bellemare that if he ever "got good," to go along with his supposed luck, he'd become an outstanding player. "I know, right?" he answered. "But I might be 50 years old by then!" Lightning opponents only wish that were true. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE GLASS IS HALF-FULL AND HALF-EMPTY – GUESS WHO? Our most superior analyst Gus Vic takes a good, hard look at a few perplexing teams with arresting results. Read on: In the spirit of avoiding overreacting, we have a half-season of sample size, so I don't believe we're jumping the gun here. Let's start with the glass half-empty. GLASS HALF-EMPTY DEPARTMENT: Colorado Avalanche: I still believe the defending champs will find their way. They have had to deal with a disproportionate amount of injuries. However, they are dropping an increasing number of games to opponents that are clearly beatable. While Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen remain brilliant, I'm noticing Nathan MacKinnon's fire is rekindled. I also cannot overstate the loss of Nazem Kadri to Calgary – a move that isn't exactly working out for the Flames or the Avalanche. Florida Panthers: As suggested a couple of weeks back, this team is toast. It couldn't hold a lead in Vegas and lost again on Tuesday. Their Russian roulette multi-goal comebacks last season should have been red flags. After all these games, I'm still trying to figure out exactly what system Paul Maurice is implementing. It looks like a "Where's Waldo?" search. The cold truth is this: It will take approximately 97 points to make the Eastern line. The Panthers would need 48 points – .686 hockey in their final 35 games – to reach that number. Given the teams they need to pass, it won't happen for the Cats. And how about that albatross of a $10-million AAV for Sergei Bobrovsky for three more seasons beyond this one? Vancouver Canucks: Jim Rutherford stirred the pot with his steaming – "I Take The Blame" press conference the other day. But he still leaves us waiting for him to drop the chute on Bruce Boudreau. Coach Boudreau looked like a savior last season, and the new year had all sorts of promise with J.T. Miller armed with a newly minted deal. Instead, the Canucks have become the poster children of coughing up multi-goal leads. Their sniper captain needs to be traded, and the club appears to have zero direction. GLASS HALF-FULL DEPARTMENT: Seattle Kraken: The expectations a season ago were unrealistic for the Kraken, given they were expected to ride the inaugural season success of the Golden Knights. This time, Dave Hakstol has taken Ron Francis' personnel and created a lunch pail work ethic with some offensive pop further bolstered by goaltending they didn't have a season ago. As long as Hakstol continues to receive buy-in to stay the course, he will be a finalist for the Jack Adams. Philadelphia Flyers: Thanks to John Tortorella, this club has overcome an 0-7-3 stretch with injuries and still managed to become remarkably competitive. Torts' messaging and commitment to the process have been impressive and could wind up being his finest body of work, Stanley Cup 2004 notwithstanding. There's been growth, some impressive victories and, with that, a belief in what's being preached. Honorable mention: It's impossible to ignore New Jersey's fresh elite status. If one could peel back the curtain from a season ago, you could see their potential, which was clearly being compromised by minor-league goaltending. Jack Hughes went from promising to immense, and the puck-stopping has been more than adequate. This is one heckuva good story. NOT SOLD ON THEM DEPARTMENT: Carolina Hurricanes: This is a sexy team which recently fired 67 shots at Nashville. To be frank, these numbers appeared to be grossly inflated the way the official scorers in Boston Garden used to magically hand out assists as if it was Monopoly money. Still, the Hurricanes attack and attack hard, but I'm not sold on either their back end or goaltending, regardless of whether Freddie Andersen is around or not. It's fun to say Pyotr Kochetkov, but I'm not buying him, Antti Raanta or Andersen. I've never had the confidence that 'Andy' has what it takes to win a playoff round. I'm not pushing my chips to the center of the Raleigh table here, either. Vegas Golden Knights: Vegas appeared more dangerous out of the gate than now at the midway point. Bruce Cassidy is clearly the right man for the job, but I'm not certain how well this team would hold up against an Eastern Conference schedule. The personnel is above the league average but oversold. Goaltending is unproven, and it always appears the Golden Knights are battling through injury, starting with captain Mark Stone. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'M JUST SAYIN' * Remembering Adam Larsson as a disappointing Devil and a not-too-hotsy-totsy Oiler, his starring role on the Kraken blue line is gratifying because he hung tough. * Here's a scout's fascinating Kraken comment: "Seattle has a Tampa Bay look." * I hope Tom Fitzgerald doesn't trade one of the Devils' prospects for a rental. Jersey's future is bright, but the Devils are still a year or two from the Cup Final. * Another high-risk contract for a young and unproven player is Minnesota's Matthew Boldy. * It worked well for Buffalo with Tage Thompson and the Devils with Jack Hughes. Will it work with Boldy? I'm betting on Bill Guerin's smarts. * One of the best ballet shows on ice features Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon spinning in their opponent's offensive zone. * Don't eulogize the Avs so fast when they have those two in their lineup. I see them knocking off one of the teams in the west currently in a playoff spot. * The league should schedule more afternoon games as they did on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It will grow the game outside of North America. Fans in Europe and the Far East could watch games during what for them would be "normal" hours. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JIM RUTHERFORD: BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE IN VANCOUVER Our man in the south, Alan Greenberg, heads west to discuss the deteriorating situation in Vancouver. Can things possibly go more wrong for the Vancouver Canucks this season? This is a team with star power, but the immediate future looks bleak. The team racked up some horrible losing streaks, including a recent seven losses in eight games. Their star players have been subject to trade rumors, and the coach is walking close to the end of the plank. That's the very same Bruce Boudreau who came in a little over a year ago to bring a new voice where others failed. As if losing isn't enough, the Bo Horvat situation has become a major distraction. He is having a career year, and the team cannot meet his salary demands for a contract extension under its cap constraints without crippling the team. In a recent media session, president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, openly admitted, "Until we (control the cap), we're not going to be able to make the changes that we needed to make." He said they were "stuck" with bad and immovable contracts with no immediate solution. His terminology went from "retool" to "major surgery," hinting at a multi-year time frame. An example of what Rutherford is dealing with would be 31-year-old Oliver Ekman-Larsson, under contract through 2026-27 at $7 million per season. Ekman-Larsson was a recent healthy scratch. As for Horvat, unless Rutherford can pull off a "sign and trade" deal, such as the one that sent Matthew Tkachuk from Calgary to Florida, the Canucks will get little value in return. The team shopped J.T. Miller before signing him to a seven-year $56 million extension, which kicks in next year. Like most long-term deals involving players over 30, it will likely not age well. On ice, the goaltending has been less than stellar. Thatcher Demko struggled before he went down with a lower-body injury on Dec. 1. Neither Spencer Martin nor Collin Delia has proven themselves as NHL goalies. The team has the league's worst penalty kill and is ahead of only Anaheim in goals-against average. After the loss in Florida last week, the fourth straight and seventh in 10, J.T. Miller, rarely at a loss for words, summed up the team's feeling. "It's not just Bruce (Boudreau). We all have a job to do," he said. "We want to win for each other because when you play for each other, you win more games. It becomes contagious as we did last year. It just sucks right now." The road ahead looks tough for the Vancouver faithful. The good news is they are heading toward being a player in the Connor Bedard sweepstakes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE UPSET TO END ALL UPSETS, 116TH ANNIVERSARY Everybody loves an upset, as the Montreal Canadiens discovered two years ago. But for those interested in the Mother of All Upsets, you have to turn the calendar back to pre-NHL days and nights when the Kenora Thistles became the talk of Canada. This was pure fantasy becoming Cup reality. And, by the way, you can read all about them in a super-duper book called Engraved In History authored by esteemed historian and the pride of Owen Sound, Ont. – Eric Zweig. The subtitle sums it up: "The Story of the Stanley Cup Champion Kenora Thistles." Saturday marks the 116th anniversary of this most amazing of all upsets. Unlike Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, Kenora was a relatively small city of about 6,000, give or take a dozen. (it's not that much bigger today.) Yet it produced a team – the Thistles – which defeated the strong Montreal Wanderers on Jan. 21, 1907, for Lord Stanley's mug. Zweig exquisitely details how it happened and who the hometown-developed heroes were at the time. And for those interested in the pre-NHL era, Eric explains how the Stanley Cup was contested among the champions of Canada's amateur hockey leagues. Some Hollywood producer should read Zweig's volume. There's got to be a movie in Kenora, the smallest community to win the Cup. But don't wait for that to happen – grab a copy of "Engraved In History" before it sells out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS MONDAY: Jake Oettinger became a serious Vezina candidate with his 20th win for the Stars, a brilliant shutout against Vegas. TUESDAY: The Wild put their last start behind them with a 4-2 win over the Capitals. Captain Jared Spurgeon led the way with two goals. WEDNESDAY: Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle are worth watching any night. The Penguins watched them lead Ottawa to an OT win in Sens-land. THURSDAY: Austin Matthews scored two goals in the Leafs' 4-1 win versus the Jets, and he's heating up at the right moment for them, scoring in four straight contests. FRIDAY GAME TO WATCH: Ottawa at Pittsburgh. This will be a good opportunity for the Pens to really get back on track. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REVISING RANGERS' REVISIONIST HISTORY Arguably the best hockey story of all-time dates back to the 1928 Cup final between the Rangers and Montreal Maroons. The tale unfolded when New York's coach-GM Lester Patrick's goalie, Lorne Chabot, was badly injured. With no substitute available, the 44-year-old Lester donned the goalie pads and won the overtime game against Montreal. The feat was a huge catalyst for the Blueshirts, who went on to win their first Stanley Cup. That the long-retired Patrick valiantly beat the Maroons was all the more amazing because, as a player, Lester was a defenseman – not a goalie. Egad! But now we have a somewhat altered version of Patrick's legendary feat. Thanks to my buddy, and fellow historian, George Grimm, the glorious Patrick tale wasn't such a remarkable effort after all. According to Grimm, former Rangers GM Neil Smith told George of a chat he once had with Original Ranger Murray 'Iron Man' Murdoch, one of Lester's aces. As it happened, Murdoch played in that fateful game and explained to Smith that Patrick was not a totally inexperienced goalie. Grimm put it this way: "Murray told Smith that when Lester went into goal for Chabot, it wasn't such a big deal because Lester used to play goal in practice all the time so that the (only one goalie) Rangers could have a second goalie for a scrimmage." P.S. The other eminent Rangers historian, Sean McCaffrey, points out that New York Hall of Famers Bill Cook and Frank Boucher also confirmed Murdoch's story regarding Lester's goaltending experience. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BIG QUESTION: Could the Devils win the Stanley Cup? BIG ANSWER: (From New Jersey radio analyst Chico Resch) "They have the foundation of a team that one day could challenge for the cup." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTkzMTg4NTI3Njk1OTk2NTc1/image-1.jpg] YAYS AND BOOS: YAY TO JIM RUTHERFORD in Vancouver for admitting that, as boss, "I'm disappointed in the job that I've done." BOO TO JIM RUTHERFORD. (See above.) And for the poor treatment he's given his embattled coach, Bruce Boudreau. YAY TO STEVEN STAMKOS for scoring the 500th goal of his career Wednesday night and being an ideal role model and leader of a classy team. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHO SAID IT? "The doctor told me, if I see two pucks, take the one on the left." (SEE ANSWER BELOW) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JERRY HACK'S FAVORITE GOALIES (PART 2) By actual count, author-humorist Jerry Hack played goal for more than 50 teams. With that in mind, I asked him to pick his all-time favorite – but not necessarily the best – goalkeepers. The following are his top three-and-a-half: 3. Tim Thomas. It pains me to put Thomas on this list because of my disdain for the Bruins. During the 2011 playoffs, my Canucks were odds-on-favorites to win the Stanley Cup for the first time. During that run, they made it to the final, and it scared me how emotionally invested I was in the team's success. Meanwhile, the Bruins – led by Thomas – made their own memorable run. As a pro, Thomas originally was an afterthought who became a human highlight reel. His acrobatic style and competitive nature led him to make saves that defied the laws of physics. In Game 7 of the final in Vancouver, I noticed Thomas lined up at the blueline for the anthems. He had this confident grin that annoyed me no end. We all know what happened next. He caused my Canucks to lose the Cup. Therefore, I can't help but admire Thomas. 2. Maron Turxtall. I couldn't decide between Marty Turco and Ron Hextall, so I made them into one goalie, Maron Turxtall. Hextall revolutionized the position because his puck-handling skills were unrivalled. His "This is War" style of playing made fans love to hate him, and his unshakeable confidence endeared him to those who struggle with such things. You could hate him, but you had to admire him. Marty Turco took Hextall's puck-handling prowess to the next level. Turco was a playmaker and the ultimate "thinking man's goalie." My favourite Turco story took place in Montreal against the Canadiens. While Turco was on the bench in the backup role, a fan made him a $5 bet, which Turco won. The $5 bill the fan gave Turco had "Canadiens rule" written on it. The two decided to double down, and Turco lost. When he returned the bill, he had changed it to read, "Turco Rules!" If I had to choose a goalie in a must-win situation and these two were my only options, there would be no wrong choice. 1. Andy Brown. I never saw him play, yet the reason why he tops my list is that Brown represents the end of an era. He was the last goalie in the NHL to play without a mask. I played street hockey without a mask as a kid, but we played with a tennis ball. No matter how hard a 10-year-old shoots a tennis ball, it will not kill you. A vulcanized rubber puck, on the other hand... well, you know the rest. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANSWER TO WHO SAID IT: Kings high-scorer Charlie Simmer said it after returning from an eye injury.
