Welcome To The Darcy Kuemper Show

Welcome to the Darcy Kuemper Show/photo John Royal

There were many superb things about tonight's 3-0 game one playoff win over the visiting Grand Rapids Griffins. The Aeros played the best game as a team that I've seen in a long time. Marco Scandella was superb. Justin Fontaine did what Justin Fontaine does.

But nothing compares to the playoff debut of one Darcy Kuemper. Kuemper stopped all 36 shots he faced. Some of the stops were easy, but some of those stops were those that just drop your jaw, shake your head, and wonder did you just see what you just saw. He faced one barrage late in the second period when the Aeros were up only 1-0 and the Griffins were on a 4x3 power play. Kuemper just dealt with the barrage like he was sitting on his porch swatting away some lazy flies just hovering over his head, never breaking a sweat.

Head coach John Torchetti referred to Kuemper's calmness out on the ice and how that just made things easier for the team. And there was a calmness to Kuemper, a stillness. Like a concrete bunker anchored during a hurricane with the action swirling around him. 

"He keeps things calm for us," Torchetti said. "He didn’t give a lot of rebounds, which is a big plus for us and makes our job a little bit easier."
 
Kuemper just kind of shrugged off all of the attention after the game, acting as if it was just another game in the juniors instead of a professional playoff game.

"I played quite a few playoffs games in juniors, a lot of games in juniors," Kuemper said. "I just always try to touch back on those experiences, recall those memories, what went well, what didn’t, and use those to just play my game out there."

Darcy Kuemper, just one of the guys /photo John Royal

Kuemper had some help from the team playing it's best all-around game in months. Marco Scandella put the Aeros up 1-0 with a power play goal at 11:55 of the second from up over the circle. Justin Fontaine got a breakaway at 16:52 which pretty much put the game away. Then Fontaine finished the scoring with a nearly impossible angled empty netter at 18:14 of the third.

Fontaine said he got lucky on his breakaway. But despite his statements, he looked to be in control on the entire play.

"Just kind of flying up the middle, a good look," Fontaine said. "The puck wouldn’t settle down for me, kind of made a move and missed the puck, but it ended up going in. I’ll take that for sure."

Justin Fontaine gets lucky/photo John Royal

But with the way Kuemper was playing, nothing else really seemed to matter. There was this calmness to his play, a quietness to his actions, no wasted motion. He was there at all times, just where his team needed him to be, when they needed him to be there. He said he was lucky at times, but like Fontaine on his breakaway, if there was any luck involved in any of his stops, it just wasn't evident to onlookers.

"I just want to do my part, especially when I saw the guys going early there, the way they were playing, I just wanted to do my part and not let them down," Kuemper said. "Everyone had each other’s backs, and we came away with game one."

It was fun game to watch. Tense. Lots of hitting. It was playoff hockey at its finest. Here's to a few more of these before the team's run in Houston comes to its unfortunate end. And meanwhile, welcome to a new edition of the Darcy Kuemper Show, it's a wonderful, fantastic thing to witness.

The Aeros are up 1-0 in the series, and host game two on Sunday afternoon at 5:05 before heading back to Grand Rapids for the rest of the series. 

Paul Mara with a first period hit/photo John Royal

Aeros Lose 5-2 To Griffins

Sorry, I figured someone else was handling Sunday's game. My bad.

But really, what is there to say?  The Aeros lost 5-2 to the Grand Rapids Griffins one day after they'd dominated them.  Head coach John Torchetti was happy with the effort, and liked what he got on his power play.

But I figure this is about what we're going to see the rest of the season.  The team will look good one game, then bad the next.  Matt Hackett's not coming back anytime soon.  Darcy Kuemper won't be back this season.  So prepare for the ECHL goalies.  That means the defense has to step up, and the offense.  And Sunday, neither stepped up too much.

Some of the lines are beginning to get some form and chemistry that come from playing several games together, particularly the DiSalvatore/Taffe/Rau line.  Jared Palmer's back and he had a few slick moves on the ice.  McMillan, Almond and Fontaine seem to be turning into a decent line.

But who knows how long they'll be around.  DiSalvatore said after the game he's never experienced anything like what has happened to the Wild this season.  It's almost like the Wild's arena was built on top of a Native American graveyard and there's been some kind of curse placed on the team -- you could also call it the curse of Marian Gaborik who seems to have willed all of his injuries onto the entire Wild roster for now and forever.

The Aeros lost ground this weekend, slipping into 10th place in the conference playoff standings.  The good news is they're only two points out of sixth place, and they have two games with the Abbotsford Heat this week, and since the Heat are just up there in front of them, there's a chance the Aeros could gain some ground.

Of course, by the time this week is over, the entire roster could be up in Minnesota.

I'll have a post in the mothership sometime later today.  Go give it a read.

UPDATE: Here's the Press story. Like I said, click it and go vent.

Aeros Take Over For 3-1 Win

A few thoughts and comments on tonight's 3-1 Aeros win over the Grand Rapids Griffins.

1. This was the first game I've seen this year, so I spent most of it figuring out who the new guys were and trying to figure out which returning vets were wearing which new numbers. Still, on the third night of a three-in-three, I thought the team looked good, especially in the second and third periods.

2. The revelation of the game, for me, was Dennis Endras. He kept the Aeros in the game during a first period where it appeared that the Aeros were still playing in Charlotte. I know that Ms. Conduct was impressed as I heard her little cute goalie nice save giggle an awful lot. Coach John Torchetti gave credit for the win to Endras, saying that he thought he was the reason the Aeros were able to get the win.

3. How about those kids? Justin Fontaine gave the Aeros the lead, putting them up 1-0 about midway in the second period. And Kris Foucalt's first pro goal was a beauty in the third, putting the Aeros back up 2-1. And veteran Jed Ortmeyer helped make the goal possible with a fantastic centering pass. David McIntyre finished up the scoring.

4. Torchetti was not happy with the team's start to the game. And it sounds as if he wasn't too happy with some of the starts he's been seeing. He does like the team's attitude, and he noted the great conditioning the guys get into that allow them to control and dominate third periods.

5. He's still working on getting everybody to pick up the system, especially the kids. What he's trying to make them understand is that, the sooner they learn their roles, the sooner they make the NHL.

6. Talked to Endras a bit after the game. He was happy to get the win, and he admitted that playing three games in three nights is something he never had to do while playing in Germany.

7. The Aeros are now 4-1-0-2 (10 points) on the season. And they were able to get five out of a possible six points this weekend. The play wasn't perfect, but sometimes, especially this early in the season, it's not about perfection, but is more about getting the points.

8. This is my fifth season covering the team, and I've learned from coaches Constantine, Yeo, and now Torchetti, is that it takes 25 game to get a real read on a team. That lets the roster gel while hopefully, during that time, the guys come to understand the system. It was at about that time last year that Ortmeyer and Patrick O'Sullivan joined the team and the Aeros took off. Also at that time, remember, it looked like the San Antonio Rampage were easily the class of the AHL West, and we all remember what happened to them. Still, it is nice to see the team getting the wins.

1/16/11 -- Aeros v. Griffins -- So Much For The Shootout

The Aeros lost 3-2 in the shootout to the Grand Rapids Griffins tonight. The good news is, that out of a possible eight points they could get playing four games in five nights, they got seven.

The bad news is that they led 2-0 in the second period, and were up 2-1 with half of the third period left. The ugly news, they were up 2-0 in the shootout with only two shooters left, then proceeded to give up three goals.

The important news is that the Aeros are now alone in third place with a record of 24-18-1-3, and they're only two points behind first place Milwaukee. Still, the loss tonight was disappointing, and Mike Yeo was very disappointed in the team's play the last half of the game.

This is it for me tonight. Maybe Andrew or Heather will provide some quotes. Make sure to check the mothership tomorrow as I've got a story on Max Noreau lined up. And of course, here are some photos from Robbie Earl's first period goal.

That's it. Later.

1/15/11 -- Aeros v. Griffins -- The Barry Brust Who Edition?

How about those Houston Aeros? As Andrew mentioned, Mike Yeo didn't think this was his team's best game, but even not playing their best game, they pulled off the 2-1 win over Grand Rapids to move into tie, points wise for third place, while sitting in sole possession of fourth place. Who would have thought that possible during December?

I'll get into more stuff further below, but first, a little photo essay, if you don't mind. After the first period, I moved back up to the press box, and took my seat next to Heather. About midway through the period there was this play which I captured in these three photos. And I swear, Heather hasn't reacted like this about anything a goalie has done since Barry Brust was at the top of his game. She was just blown away by Josh Tordjman's play right here.

In that same period, Grand Rapids goalie Jordan Pearce made the save below on a Casey Wellman shot. With this save, Heather was rather "meh" and felt it was nothing special.

Now on to my bullet points and discussion of the game, with, I hope, some choice quotes and stats.

1. The game's first goal came off of the stick of Patrick O'Sullivan, playing his first game since his demotion to the AHL. As you can tell from my earlier post of photos of the goal, it was a thing of beauty.

After the game, Andrew asked if there was anybody on the team happier about the O'Sullivan than Jon DiSalvatore as playing on a line with O'Sullivan gives him a high-skills player to compliment his skills and draw defenders.I think the photo right below gives a good idea of just how excited DiSalvatore was to have O'Sullivan around. (This is just after the O'Sullivan goal.)

2. Yeo thinks O'Sullivan will be good for DiSalvatore:

"When you have a guy like that to compliment a guy like Jon DiSalvatore – now [DiSalvatore] becomes more of a threat," Yeo said. "Not only is he going to get the puck to Johnny in better spots and key situations, it takes the focus away from Johnny as well. It’s easier to get lost for a goal scorer like Johnny when all of the focus all of the sudden they’re sending two guys on Patrick down in the corner, and that means that someone’s going to be open in the high slot, like Johnny was a couple of times tonight."

3. One such time was on the DiSalvatore's power play goal -- the game-winner -- in the second period, which found DiSalvatore up in that slot and ready for the shot.

4. A quick note about that second goal. The score sheet still says the goal was scored by Cody Almond on a tip-in of DiSalvatore's shot. This was after the original ruling was that DiSalvatore got the goal. After more consideration and review, the goal is being given to DiSalvatore with teh ruling that the puck hit off of a Grand Rapids player and not Almond. But with the way things go, this could still change about 20 more times.

5. We asked DiSalvatore what a guy like O'Sullivan means to his game:

"It’s great….I played against him when he was here his rookie year. A very dynamic player. A very smart player. Just to even talk to him on the bench. His vision is great. His idea and approach to the game is great. I really enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to the future with him."

6. We talked to Yeo and DiSalvatore, and I talked to Max Noreau, about the team's play the past month or so, especially after the Christmas break. DiSalvatore spoke about the team really buying into Yeo's system:

"Coach Yeo is stressing the importance of what it means to be a winner," he said. "The whole system, and every learning experience that we’ve had, has been geared towards that. It was a huge commitment for the guys to make this big push as this point in the season right now. We knew that either we have to make this push right now in this chunk of the season or we’re going to be the odd man out. With the way our division is, we can’t afford to give up any points on any given night. So I think it’s just a top to bottom team commitment that’s really pushed us."

And Noreau spoke of how the team bonded together when they were going through that stretch on the road in December:

"I think one of the big parts was we were on the road a lot. It was easy for us to make excuses on why we were losing or winning, but we put our heads down and went to work, and now we’re at home. It’s a lot easier to play. There’s no excuses anymore.

"It built character on the road when we were flying in on the day of the game, or busing in the night before, and we were getting those wins anyway. We were saying, when we’re rested, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be winning those games."

7. I spoke a bit to Noreau after the game about being named to the All Star team again, and what he's been doing to improve his game this year. You'll have to read about this over in the mothership on Monday. But let's just say that Darryl Sydor has really grabbed his attention.

8. The three stars for the game were 1) Jon DiSalvatore, 2) Josh Tordjman, and 3) Patrick O'Sullivan. I argued for O'Sullivan as the number one, and lost, because my comrades thought DiSalvatore had the better game and was everywhere on the ice.

9. But I based my opinion on this. I spent the first period down in the corner with the back-up goalie for Grand Rapids. And I saw what O'Sullivan's presence did to him, and I can't help but think the same thoughts were going through the head of Pearce.

Essentially, right after that goal, I heard about how unfair it was that they had to face O'Sullivan because he was too good to be in the AHL. There was just a kind of awe in his voice that they were facing someone this good. (For what it's worth, he was amazed that Ortmeyer was also on the Aeros).

10. The win was the fourth in the row for the team. That's the first time they've pulled that off since winning four in a row from October 30 to November 6. They've also won five of their last six, six of the last seven, and seven of their last 10 for what is, undoubtedly, their best streak of hockey this season.

11. The team's record is now 24-18-1-2 (51 points) and they sit alone in fourth place. That's the first time the Aeros have been in fourth place since November 26 when they were tied, points wise, with Milwaukee, but were in fifth place by percentage points.

As of now, however, they're tied, points wise, with San Antonio, for third place while sitting alone, percentage wise, in fourth. And, knowing where they were in December, the team is only three points after first place and could, conceivably, be in a tie for second place after Sunday's game with Grand Rapids.

12. For those who keep track of such things, the Aeros are now 20-6-0-2 when they score first. They lead the AHL in that category, having scored first now in 28 games.

Welcome Back Mr. O'Sullivan

Sometimes, you just happen to be in the right place, at the right time. Tonight, I just happened to be in the right place, at the right time, with the camera to get Patrick O'Sullivan's goal in the first period of tonight's 2-1 win over Grand Rapids.

There's not much to say. Pictures, I think, really do tell the story. I'll have more later after I transcribe, etc. So enjoy.

Griffins chew up, spit out Aeros 5-2

By all accounts, the Aeros just weren't feeling it last night in Grand Rapids. A whopping 19 shots on goal and a 5-2 loss are just the numbers that speak to it.

What's worse is that Anton Khudobin was given the hook for the second time in as many games after 2 goals on 3 shots in 8 minutes. Andrew suggested to me it was an attempt at a momentum shift that just didn't work and after watching the first 8 minutes, I think that could be part of it, but Anton wasn't sharp either.

I'm concerned about him right now. Before these last two DNFs, he was on a nice win streak, but he's consistently letting in soft, untimely goals at least once a game most nights.

And for me, he hasn't reached the same level of consistency and focus he had back last November, when he played so well in the opening months of the season, he earned a trip to the AHL All-Star Game. He was AMAZING in his NHL call-ups later in the season, so you know he CAN stop with the best of them. Is it a motivation thing? Is he bored? Is Hackett not enough to push him?

I wouldn't bother getting after him if I didn't believe he was a tremendous goalie with the ability to dominate and frustrate when his game is on.  He's acrobatic, quick, resilient, confident, unpredictable. So I have to think the key is somewhere between his ears.

I just hope he gets it under control, because Hackett is still too green and shouldn't be expected to carry the load at this point in his career. Some rookie goalies can pull that off, but he's just not going to be one of them.  He's talented but still finding his way in terms of pro confidence.

Anyway, Anton let in the first two, Hackett let in a couple himself to get the L by his name, and the fifth was an empty net goal. Though I don't know why they even bothered to pull the goalie given the lack of offense the team was showing.

Even with the extra man, there's no way they were getting two more goals in just a minute or two. Then again, maybe it's a good thing. Yeo showing faith in their ability to fight back until the final buzzer.

Sometimes I feel like we should have a "Cynicism Meter" over on the side of the page. I'm on the line between Yellow and Orange today. Sorry about that. Not getting much inner beauty sleep lately...

I guess if anything good can be said:

• Gillies scored (guess he didn't like my defenseman-conversion-if-he's-not-gonna-bring-any-offense suggestion)
• Joe indicated both the fights (Bagnall and Kassian) were decisions for the good guys
• No bus accidents in all these miles

On to Manitoba Friday and Saturday, where the Meese just dropped behind the Griffins in the North division standings. I guarantee at least one goal for former Aero Marco Rosa (who I still really miss watching play). He recently busted out of a scoring drought and, recalling his streaky nature, combined with the joy of lighting the lamp on your former team, I imagine the Aeros goalies will see plenty of him. 

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A couple of something extras for ya:

Somebody put together the top 50 hockey names and our boy Cal Clutterbuck was numero uno. Here's the Puck Daddy piece with a link to the original article.

Also, if you don't read my blog, you might not know that Binghamton has discovered our boy Barry Brust is the best thing since indoor plumbing.

Here's a big feature that was in the paper yesterday, and a PDF of the article since they gave it pretty big/neat treatment in the print version. And here's some video of him doing his stuff up there and some interviews and whatnot:

Aeros maul Griffins 5-0

After Wednesday miscalculation, I'm afraid to say this was a good game. Is 5-0 good enough? :) Just teasing, Coach.

Honestly, AHL Live was jacked up so I saw about 4 minutes of the game total and that was in 15 second bursts. So let's do something different and look at this game by the numbers:

• 6 - Career shutouts for Anton Khudobin
• 91 - Penalty minutes in this game
• 1st - Aeros penalty kill ranking across the league
• 24th - Aeros power play ranking across the league
• 11 - Fighting majors + Roughing penalties tonight
• 1 - Emergency back-up goalie, Michael Ouzas (Matt Hackett has been called away on family matters)
• 2 - Potential concussions. Spurgeon was hit nastily from behind at the end of the second period by Derek Meech. He returned to the game was is okay as far as we know, but Meech got 5 minutes and a game misconduct for checking from behind. Then Joel Broda got a  boarding penalty. Not actually sure if there was a brain-collision there but they don't usually give boarding penalties for shoulder ouchies.
• 3 - Points for Noreau (2 g, 1 a) as well as for DiSalvatore (1 g, 2 a)
• 3 - Games in Aeros current win streak
• 4 - Number of teams in the West Division tied at 21 points (including the Aeros, who are at the bottom with a 0.583 win percentage)
• 4 - Number of goals Spurgeon was on the ice for, even though he only got one point. Shame 3 of them were PP goals or he'd have a whopping +4.
• #19 - Palmer leads the team in scoring and +/- with 11 points and a +7. He also ranks 15th in the league in rookie scoring.
• 6 - Number of points Noreau has in the last 3 games. 
• 1 - Assists for Brusty vs. Hershey tonight. Just saying.

Back at it tomorrow night against Chicago. We'll keep you posted on the goalie situation as we know more. Khudobin CAN play 3 days in a row but it's certainly not ideal.

Bend but don't break: Aeros 1, Grand Rapids 0

It was Texas Lottery night at the Aeros game. I missed the intermissions so I have no idea if someone won a million bucks or whatever, but I do know that 55 seconds into the extra session tonight, the nearly 7000 fans in attendance tonight saw 20 guys who looked like they'd just won a million bucks.

Kevin Constantine called it playoff style hockey and said the team has to be able to play these tight games. Well, play they did. It looked like another team out there compared to the night before with odd man rush after odd man rush beating both goalies down mentally and physically in the 7-2 loss to the very same Grand Rapids Griffins.

Mainly the defensive play was the big improvement. Fewer turnovers, incredible, crisp work around the net, getting sticks in the right places, clearing rebounds, etc. But improved goaltending was the other side of the coin.

Constantine said the decision to play Brust again after being "average" last night was a tough one. But he said he went that route because he deserved the chance to redeem himself, and great athletes will do that.... after a lousy, er, "average" appearance, they have that bounce-back-ability.

He made 22 saves en route to his first shut out of the season, and showed yet again why he's one of the better "back against the wall" goalies in the league. He was seeing the puck well, great lateral movement and positioning, challenged shooters. Just great stuff.

I found this on the floor outside the visitors' locker room tonight:

But like I mentioned in my post on Ms.C this morning, as much as it undermines your confidence as a goalie to see your team floundering from the get-go, it instills that much more confidence when you see them clicking well from the start. And it goes full circle. A confident goalie means the team doesn't feel like they need to overcompensate for them, so they just do their jobs.

It wasn't a perfect game for sure, but the penalty kill was very good, which it needed to be due to a few lapses in discipline. The power play, on the other hand, was pretty weak. The Griffins are excellent at shutting down advances into their end, clogging up the neutral zone, and just making life difficult, and that applied to the power play and pretty much the rest of the game.

By my estimation (and keep in mind, I was at the other end of the rink the whole time), seems like probably half the shots on goal for the Aeros were just gritty work around the net trying to jam a rebound in, not from necessarily spending a whole lot of TIME in the Griffin's end.

And that's exactly how Daoust's OT game winner went in. Just one of those go-stand-in-the-dirty-area-and-pray kinda goals, off a shot from Noreau that scrambled around a bit and finally punched in. That was Daoust's 17th goal of the season, third game winner, and Noreau's 41st point of the season.

That also makes Noreau the #2 scorer on the team, one point ahead of DiSalvatore. Pretty impressive for a d-man. You have to start wondering when he gets a sniff up in Minnesota, right?

Anyway, the Weebles wobbled but they didn't fall down, and in an 80 game season, that's just kinda how it has to be sometimes. Great story of redemption tonight.

John's off having a well-deserved bender, so I'll be your DJ tonight. How about a little Zombie action:

2/12/10: Aeros vs. Griffins: Well, That Sucked Edition

Sorry, I've got no comforting words after this one. The final score might have been 7-2, but trust me, it wasn't that close. Barry Brust didn't appear to have his best game tonight, but then again, his defense didn't appear to have its best game either as both he and Wade Dubielewicz, who played the last part of the third period, were both hit repeatedly by odd-man rushes and breakaways.

Kevin Constantine wasn't in the best of moods afterwards. He was disappointed by his team's non-thinking on the ice. He was very displeased about how the team played a chance at a potential 5-3 power play into being on the penalty kill. The defense wasn't good. The offense didn't take advantage of their chances. There's just nothing good to say.

Peter Zingoni left the game in the first with a lower body injury. Constantine played only three centers in the second period, then he moved Brandon Rogers up front in the third.

The Aeros needed this win tonight -- they just about need a win every time they play. And they looked awful. Not sure of what else there is to say. So I'm out going to wrap it up. Let's hope tomorrow night leaves us with a better result.

Apologies, again, for the short post. I've got to get up at 5:00 a.m. for the temp job -- I'm should get about 65 hours this week and I have decided that sleep is overrated. Hopefully Heather or Andrew can add some more words of wisdom than I'm capable of at the moment.

Weekend wrap-up and Photos

The boys in the bomber sweaters survived (barely) another rough patch in the schedule and head home for a few days of recovery before getting hit with 2 weeks in a row of weekend 3-in-3s. Luckily the first one is at home. The next one, however, is another swing through the midwest.

Frankly, I'm getting a little tired of the midwestern teams. Can we get Abbotsford back? :)

After Wednesday's game, many of the guys were pretty well beat up. A few were missing, such as Colton Gillies, who got a 2 game suspension from the league for his hit on Peoria's Lampman Wednesday, and Max Noreau, who's home resting up that banged up arm.

Against a tough Milwaukee team Friday, it was just too heavy a burden. Sliced and Diced Brusty was on the bench in favor of Ryan Nie, the call-up from ECHL Kalamazoo, who was out of his league, allowing 5 goals on 19 shots. I'd say more about the game but honestly, I didn't watch most of it. But the ASS guys were there, obviously, so you can read their report.

And of course, being in Milwaukee, Chris "Tell It Like It Is" Jerina has some fantastic photos for us. If you pretend real hard, you can't tell how bad the game was.

Let's just get the ugly out of the way: Here's Nie getting scored on. Also, honestly, it's time to get the red paint out, Milwaukee. Save the dinged up nets for rec leaguers and practices. Have some nice ones for game time. Ya look like a slob.


Petr Kalus scheming on some mischief


Mmmmm, garlic bread sticks! And Ryan "Son of a" Gunderson!



Kassian puts a hurting on Guite
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Now, on to last night's game in Grand Rapids... GR is, quite simply, beatable. Sometimes you can have a less than stellar goalie, but make up for it to some degree with great defensive play. But really, GR has neither and the even-more-tired Aeros were able to take advantage of that and come back from a 2 goal deficit for the win.

Brusty was back in net and still looking a little gingerly with that sliced leg in the first. He seemed to settle in as the game went on, and the guys in front of him battled despite the fatigue and kept the load fairly light at 22 shots.

It was just a good solid team win last night, and a great chance to get a feel for GR, as they are in Houston Friday and Saturday for the rematch.

I'd love to go into the whole "what does the outcome of this latest batch of games mean for the playoffs" but to be honest, that's just not my bailiwick. I'll give it a shot, but don't expect it to be Ferraro or Royal quality.

I can tell you the Aeros are a measly 6 points out of first place and a sweep of Grand Rapids could be a real boon, but more important are the 2 games against Chicago, and then one each with Peoria and Milwaukee coming right after that.

I don't see Texas falling much from the top of the division, especially when they get Brent Krahn back later this month (he was out with a sports hernia, had surgery, and is back skating now).

Rockford is good and sitting at #2, but they've played 55 games meaning Texas has 4 games in hand on them at the moment. But below them is where the battle for the last two playoff spots will happen. Milwaukee, Chicago, Houston, Peoria.

San Antonio could surge, and they do have only 50 games played so far, which means games in hand with which to surge.

But clearly we're down the the final 25-30 games where all that first half of the season spent building chemistry, finding an identity, learning The Constantine Way, etc. have to start coming together consistently. They've won 7 of their last 10, so that bodes pretty well.

Hey, you know who's an amazing "crunch time/back against the wall" goalie? Some guy named Barry Brust. How about it, Jim? What else does he have to do?

Okay, just saying my peace there...




Oh and before I close this out, Khudobin had his first NHL start last night and was spectacular, stopping 38 of 39 shots in the win over the Philly Flyers. He was #1 star of the game and landed in some pretty elite company in the 3 stars of the night for the whole NHL. The spunky little Russian is hot hot hot!