Saturday Night Hockey: Milestones, No Helmet Pardy In Winnipeg

Milestone Week

This week saw two milestones happen: Martin St. Louis playing his 1000th game, and Jaromir Jagr tying both Mario Lemieux in goals and Gordie Howe in winning goals.

For St. Louis, this was a surprised. A diminutive player that went undrafted and cut by his first NHL usually don’t get a second chance, but St. Louis was given that chance by Tampa Bay and the rest is history. A Stanley Cup, 2 Art Ross’, a Hart Trophy, a Pearson (Ted Lindsay) Award, and 3 Lady Byngs later, the 37 year old had overcome the odds and reached the 1000^th game mark.

For Jagr, it only took one goal to reach two ??. The first was only a matter of time, “Mario Jr.” finally reached the senior’s in goals (and he still has plenty of time to add to it). For the game-winning goals record, he finally ties Gordie Howe at 121 goals (after being misinterpreted earlier this season).  

The Jets Don't Pardy Hard

After the helmet incident in Chicago, it was almost inevitable Jets fans wouldn't take it lying down. It was planned that Thursday's home game against the Blackhawks, Jets fans would wear helmets to the rink. That was sadly squashed by the fun police (aka Mark Chipman). This is something of a missed opportunity for the Thrashers Jets organization. If you're not going to allow fans to wear their own helmet, then they should have handed out cardboard ones. But now the tables could be turned. How great would it be to see another fanbase wear helmets to a game when the Jets play their team? It would be a pretty big "Hey, look how cool my team's owner is" move. Of course, if a hat trick is scored then there may be problems.

Suspension of the Week

Dennis Seidenberg wasn't suspended for his elbow on Bobby Ryan, so there is no suspensions this week (probably a good thing too, since I screwed up last week by adding Jesse Winchester's elbow in again, that error has been fixed). One thing about that elbow: did that ever looked embellished. Not saying the elbow was bad (it was), but Ryan just flew back after contact. It couldn't have been that powerful.

Lineup Notables

Minnesota Wild vs. Winnipeg Jets

Minnesota: Keith Ballard (upper boy) and Niklas Backstrom (concussion) are out while Torrey Mitchell (lower body) is questionable. Josh Harding might be in net.
Winnipeg: Jim Slater (hernia), Zach Bogosian (groin), Mark Stuart (hip), Jacob Trouba (upper body) and Paul Postma (blood clot) are out. Ondrej Pavelec starts this afternoon.

Washington Capitals vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Washington: John Erskine (upper body) and Jack Hillen (tibia) are out. Braden Holtby gets the start.
Toronto: David Bolland (ankle) is out while Tyler Bozek (hamstring) and Mark Fraser (lower body) are questionable. James Reimer might be in net.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Montreal Canadiens

Pittsburgh: Chuck Kobasew (lower body), Rob Scuderi (ankle) and Tomas Vokoun (blood clot) are out while Beau Bennett is questionable. Marc-Andre Fleury starts.
Montreal: Davis Drewiske (shoulder) is out while Rene Bourque (lower body) and Michal Bournival are questionable. Carey Price is in net.

Ottawa Senators vs. Detroit Red Wings

Ottawa: Ottawa is healthy (still waiting on that Spezza injury). Craig Anderson will start.
Detroit: Daniel Alfredsson (groin), Stephen Weiss (groin) and Danny DeKeyser (shoulder) are out. Jimmy Howard starts.

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Vancouver Canucks

Chicago: Bryan Bickell (lower body), Michal Handzus (upper body), Brad Mills (lower body), Michael Kostka (lower body), and Nikolai Khabibulin (lower body) are out. Corey Crawford will be in net.
Vancouver: Jordan Schroeder (ankle) and Dale Weise (lower body) are out. Roberto Luongo starts tonight.