OTF Classic

One bad period is the touch of death for a hockey team; during poor stretches in February and early March, the Nashville Predators seemed to have continuing problems in the 2nd period. Tonight against Washington, a fellow come-from-behind battler for playoff position, the Preds seemed to sleepwalk through the first, leaving them with a 3-0 deficit that proved too difficult to overcome en route to a 4-2 loss at home. Will they follow this up by beating the NHL-leading Red Wings, as they did last week after losing to the L.A. Kings? I wouldn't count on it; that's a hardly a formula for a successful stretch drive. The Capitals took the 1-0 lead off a nice shot by Alexander Semin just inside the faceoff dot to Ellis' right, but Greg Zanon had gone down (once again) to the ice to block a potential shot far too early, which gave Semin all the room he needed to skate into prime scoring position before firing away. It's the same gaffe that Zanon's been committing for se...

On Monday I took a stab at what Brooks Laich's arbitration hearing with the Washington Capitals might look like, and at the risk of dislocating my shoulder patting myself on the back, it pretty much turned out as expected. I guessed he'd get around $700,000 and he ended up with $725K according to TSN . Considering that his qualifying offer from the Caps was around $660,000, I guess that's a small victory for Laich (you won't catch me frowning at an extra 10% raise), but you have to wonder how his agent feels about this. He just put in the time and effort to file and plead an arbitration case that yielded peanuts for an agent earning a few percentage points of Laich's salary (figure a 5% commision on the increased salary of $65,000 is worth a mighty $3,250) . Did they really think there was any large upside here? I guess since Laich was in no danger of exceeding the $1.2 million mark, beyond which the Caps would have had the right to walk away ...

Quite the flip-flop today over at TSN , where the morning headline indicated that Michael Nylander was signed by the Edmonton Oilers, but just minutes ago, the latest version now indicates that he's signed with the Washington Capitals instead. A couple screen caps for you: This morning's story ... This afternoon's update ! I guess the guys at TSN should do more than just listen to Edmonton sports radio before posting headlines to their site. All in all, that's quite a nice pickup by the Caps (if this is indeed the final word), as Nylander is coming off two huge seasons in New York and should, I expect, provide for a dynamic pairing with Alex Ovechkin. Along with the Tom Podi and Viktor Kozlov signings, that moves Washington well into the class of serious playoff contenders this offseason.

Heading into tonight's Game Five against San Jose, many Nashville Predators fans are already abandoning hope and speculating on the future of the franchise, whether in terms of players or coaches who should or shouldn't return. For a slightly different take on the situation, head over to On Frozen Blog , where they look at a familiar pattern developing between GM David Poile's Washington Capitals teams of the 1980's, and the Predators of today. It ain't a pretty sight, that's for sure...

The Southeast Division is home to the last two Stanley Cup champions (I know it's true, but it still seems wierd to write that), but this season we've seen a new power emerge in the Atlanta Thrashers. While Atlanta chases down their first division title and/or playoff berth, and Carolina has steadily lingered a few points back, the only real movement of late has seen the Tampa Bay Lightning pull ahead of the Washington Capitals for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The other model of consistency has been the Florida Panthers, slinking around the division basement due in part to a league-low five road victories. But underneath their positions in the standings, how have the overall offenses and defenses in the Southeast fared so far this year? Let's break them down team-by-team, focusing on the rolling 10-game averages for Actual (in red) and Expected Goals (in blue), both For and Against. As a guideline, NHL teams on the whole are averaging 2.97 goals...