Just a few things that caught my eye:
- Antoine Roussel has the biggest coconuts I think I've seen in a while. He popped Ryan Getzlaf in the mask not once, but twice. Hard. That move is either going to inspire his team or make the Quackers very, very angry.
- It's Miller time. And by that I mean time for a brain fart. He was great AFTER that stinker he let between his legs in the first period. Then again, I'm not surprised. I've come to expect this kind of mental hiccup from him. Sad, really.
- Matt Cooke had actually kept his nose clean for a couple years ... until tonight. Tyson Barrie is now out four-to-six weeks with an MCL injury and Cooke will be suspended for a deliberate attempt to injure. Brendan Shanahan may not be the league sheriff any more, but that doesn't mean the NHL doesn't have a long, long memory.
- Marc-Andre Fleury (a.k.a. The Sieve) seemed doomed by 3:18 of the first period. But somehow he settled down. Wait -- a sieve is just a porous horsehoe shaped object, right? I still don't trust him.
- Somehow the Pens' D managed to survive another one. Olli Maatta looked every part the scared rookie at times and Kris Letang looked lost at times. I know the docs say he's healthy, but ...
- Valeri Nichushkin is an absolute beast. Just saying. He'll challenge Nathan MacKinnon for supremacy in two or three years ... in a Jonathan Toews vs. Evgeni Malkin kind of way
- Three goals in 2:13. Sergei Bobrovsky will be much better next game. Much better.
- Little wonder the Wild played dirty. I'd be mad too if I had winter nine months a year. And I like winter!
- There's been a lot of buzz about Duncan Keith's trashing of David Backes after "the hit." C'mon folks -- it's hockey. This stuff happens everywhere, including my beer league. We want access to players so we mic them. And then we complain about what they say. Pick one. Stop complaining or stop mic-ing the players.
- Mikael Granlund. Wow. No ... WOW.
- Stephane Robidas. That's the same leg he broke in November. Twice in five months?