Barn Burner

Granted I cheer widly inside every time the Wings lose but non-biased aside, last night's 7-6 OT win for the Penguins over the Wings was some fun hockey to watch.

Of course if your the coaches of either squad your waking up this morning saying to yourself how in the h-e-doublehockeysticks did we give up 6+ goals? That kind of goals against total will drive any coach crazy. Let alone if your a Wings fan who watched their team blow a 5-2 lead in the 3rd.

Speaking of the Wings, they've given up a whopping 47 goals against through 14 games - yikes - some chinks in the armor?

..but for fans, or casual fans, tuning in with no skin in the game that was just "fun" to watch.

Nice read on Steve Mason from Sportsnet.ca:

"Coming into the year, I knew I could play if I was given the opportunity," said the reserved Mason, who will start against Phoenix on Wednesday. "I put a lot of hard work into it."

"I talk to my friends back home every day and I ask them what's up," he said. "They're writing essays for school and I'm just getting back from practice."

Nash on his play:

"It's his first couple games in the NHL and he's playing like a 10-year veteran," said Jackets captain Rick Nash. "He reminds me a lot of (Roberto) Luongo. He's positional, he doesn't get himself out of the play.

"He's playing solid."

Here is a really good read on the hockey Buckeye's sweep over the weekend:

Carlson, who was displeased with his previous outing against Michigan, used the weekend’s sweep of Michigan State as a platform to announce his arrival as a credible force in net for the Buckeyes.

“I felt like last weekend was pretty rough,” Carlson said regarding OSU’s 4-3 loss to Michigan. “I played solid, but I could have stolen that game for us and I just wasn’t able to. Coming out this weekend, I knew the job wasn’t solidified and I needed to prove myself.”

Aided by a strong defensive effort that yielded few serious scoring opportunities for the Spartans, Carlson stopped all 21 shots sent his way in Friday’s contest.

“I only felt I had to come up with two key saves in the game, otherwise everything was outside, right in to me,” Carlson said.

“Guys are starting to feel right out there,” Boyd said. “Look at Zac Dalpe, he’s accepting the big challenges and we’re getting our older guys like Picard and [Corey] Elkins that are really leading by example.”

Lindsay Kramer (I love his blog) has an updated injury report in terms of the Crunch. To recap: Steve Kelly out 4-6 weeks with broken ribs (ouch), Adam Pineault hopes to get back this weekend - he's been fighting a groin injury, Sestito is out 4-6 weeks with a separated shoulders and I love this update about Derick Dorsett:

Syracuse forward Derek Dorsett's temporarily injured leg is fine. Houston defenseman John Scott rolled up on it Sunday, and Dorsett had to be helped off the ice. He returned, but after the game said it was still sore. Tuesday, he said it was OK.

Course, with Dorsett, you could fire a nail gun into his kneecap and he'd say the same thing.

Intersting stat. Former Jackets and 2001 3rd round pick Aaron Johnson is off to a nice start with the Blackhawks this season. He has 3g, 3a in 11gp.

So if all the d-men on the roster are healthy enough to go tonight who sits? You know the top 4 won't so it will come down to Backman, Tollefsen and Methot. Easy decision for me... Backman takes a seat in the press box.

Fire away - who would you sit?

-LTL

Labelle tries the Islanders

A little Syracuse Crunch news for you today:

Former Crunch forward Olivier Labelle will be going to camp on a tryout contract with the Islanders.

Labelle had been offered the same deal from the Blue Jackets this preseason, but apparently decided he'd rather give it a shot with New York.

http://blog.syracuse.com/crunch/

Labelle had a solid role with the Crunch last year as a 3rd liner on most nights. His first year pro out of the QMJHL's Acadie-Bathurst Titan he put up 11g, 20a for 31 points. He also provided some sandpaper to the lineup piling up 153 PIMS and getting into 9 fights. He'll now be joining former Columbus draft pick Aaron Johnson in the Islanders system assuming he earns a contract.

It will be interesting to watch how the Crunch fill out the remaining pieces of their roster. A lot will depend on who makes the Jackets and who doesn't so we won't know until we get into camp.

-LTL