Sam Gagner’s Crazy 8 Point Night

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by Hockey in the News • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

For those of you who didn’t hear (aka Americans who don’t get proper hockey news coverage)… Last night Sam Gagner tallied 8 points for the Oilers in their win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Sam Gagner becomes the 3rd Oiler player to score 8 points in a game (with Gretzky and Coffey– good company huh?)

Even more impressive is that no one in the NHL has been able to make this feat since Mario Lemieux scored 8 points in the late 1980s. So is Gagner really on par with the 8-point superstar club? Is it fair to put him in a grouping with Maurice Richard, Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey, and Bryan Trottier? I mean, he did earn it. Eight points in a eight-goal win is pretty impressive. He scored 4 goals and 4 assists in the game and fans couldn’t get enough. It is reported that after Gagner’s fourth goal, one fan (who had already thrown his hat for the hat-trick) through his shoe on the ice- now if that isn’t excitement and serious commitment I don’t know what is! Gagner’s name also started to trending on Canadian’s twitter accounts yesterday and quickly became the number 1 topic trending worldwide on twitter. To top it all off, Gagner is going to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Can you imagine what he could do for a franchise that has a decent record and is building a strong, young team?

Here are the highlights of Gagner’s 4 goals and 4 assists from last night:

History Will Be Made

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by Hockey Commercials • Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

I know these commercials are old news, but I still absolutely love them. How many other commercials do you look up on youtube to see every one ever made and all the spoofs? They are inspiring and they really get your blood pumping. How could you not get excited for hockey after watching these? Here are some of my favorites.

Miracle on Manchester:

Flying Bobby Orr: 

Super Mario Lemieux: 

Pat Kane and the Blackhawks win the cup: 

Black and Yellow Comebacks 1/31/12

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by Comeback Wins, Hockey in the News • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The other two teams with major 3rd period comeback wins on 1/31/12 were the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The black and yellow really seemed to be rocking the 3rd period last night!

The Bruins had a strong scoring streak near the end of the game to make them victorious against the Ottawa Senators. The Bruins started off strong with the first goal of the game (A power-play goal courtesy of Chara’s monster slapper from the blue line). The end of the 1st and the 2nd didn’t go as well for Boston. They were trailing 3-1 until the last minute of the 2nd when they started to make their comeback. Their last goal was scored with 12:51 left in the 3rd period to make the game 4-3 which ended up being the final.

Highlights from the Bruins game: 

The Penguins game was equally exciting with Pittsburgh coming back from a 4-1 deficit in the 3rd period. The game ended in a tie at 4-4. This tie was made when Center Evgeni Malkin scored the Penguins 4th goal with 0.6 seconds left in regulation. OT went scoreless and Malkin was the only one to score in the shootout to gain the Pittsburgh win. Many Toronto fans were very angry with the outcome of this game because of a re-called goal from the first two minutes of play. Officials said Lupul was penalized for goaltender interference- and I have to say, I did not see what the officials saw.

Check that out here:

Pens/Leafs Highlights, Goaltender Interference Call

Do you think the Pens deserved that win against the Leafs? Is Malkin getting enough credit from the news and the NHL for what he is doing for Pittsburgh? Does anyone see the supposed goaltender interference?

Let me know in the comments!

Spotlight: Come from Behind Wins, 1/31/12

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by Comeback Wins, Hockey in the News • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Tonight there were three come-from-behind wins that deserve some serious recognition (Predators, Penguins, Bruins). There were also some major players that made these wins possible. The first of these comeback wins was for the Nashville Predators who played the Minnesota Wild.

The visiting Predators pulled out a pretty incredible recovery after a slow start to the game. They were actually trailing 4-1 until about 10 minutes into the 3rd period. The best way to understand the breadth of the comeback is to look at the time of the goals scored.

  • Goal 1, Period 1: 8:04, MIN
  • Goal 2, Period 1: 12:36, MIN
  • Goal 3, Period 2: 1:29, MIN
  • Goal 4, Period 2: 9:33, NSH
  • Goal 5, Period 3: 0:16, MIN
  • Goal 6, Period 3: 9:22, NSH
  • Goal 7, Period 3: 16:39, NSH
  • Goal 8, Period 3: 17:00, NSH
  • Goal 9, Period 3: 19:39, NSH

Pretty bad if you happen to be a Minnesota fan. The fans actually booed the Wild off the ice (understandable after Heatley’s awesome performance that got completely over-shadowed by the Preds comeback)

Predators’ alternate Captain, Mike Fisher was the one who scored the final two goals for Nashville. I have to admit, as I am writing this article I do not know much about Mike Fisher. BUT because the internet is my best friend, we had a little collaboration and here is what I found:

1. Mike Fisher  has been with the Predators since mid-season last year when he was traded from Ottawa.

2. He is married to American Idol winner and country singer, Carrie Underwood (yeah, shocked me too).

3. He is currently tied for fourth place in the team’s stats for points.

4. I have no idea what this video really showed me about Mike Fisher (maybe that he has a sense of humor or is charitable), but it is so ridiculous that it had to be posted: