Making Puck: Regression To The Mean

This was a night for streaking teams to stumble, for slow starters to get a little tailwind, and for somebody to be on the receiving end of a really, really bad mood.

Do shutouts count against the Thrashers this season? Buffalo needed to get their swagger back, so they went out and took it from Atlanta and their weak-sauce offense. Ryan Miller only needed 20 saves for the shutout, and six different Sabres scored goals. The most the Thrashers could brag about was Ilya Kovalchuk totally ruining his chances for the Lady Byng.

Carolina cloture vote ends Ottawa fillibuster. I’m using my one permitted team name pun here, only because I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “cloture” in a sentence before. And no, I don’t give a damn if Canadian parliamentary rules have the concept or not. The American team won, so I’m showing you how we do things inside the Beltway.

The final stage of being a hockey player in South Florida is acceptance. Tomas Vokoun has worked through the stages of being a Panther, and hung a bagel on the New Jersey Devils. The rare, but entertaining, “abusive language” minor penalty makes an appearance on the score sheet. You kiss your mother with that mouth, Aaron Asham?

Can’t tell your Coyotes goalies without a scorecard! It was Alex Auld’s turn between the pipes, and he helped deliver Phoenix’s first win of the season over the Predators. I’ll let my old buddy The Forechecker tell you about Colin Campbell’s Headache Of The Night.

Now that’s how you bounce back from a beating. The Leafs shelled Wade Dubielewicz for 8 goals, and Mats Sundin scored his 390th goal and 917th point, breaking the Maple Leafs team records held by Darryl Sittler. There is no truth to the rumor that Sittler had an assist taken away from Sundin in the second period, but the official scorer was heard to mutter something about “naked”, “steamer trunk”, and “Rideau Canal” as he walked to his car after the game.

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