Clearing the notebook now that the World Juniors are out of town and we can return to the NHL schedule:
---The Sabres return to practice today in HSBC Arena in the midst of a 4-0-1 run that has them back to .500 at halfway mark of the season (18-18-5). They're 10th in the East, eight points behind Boston and Montreal.
---The Penguins have one goal in two games without Sidney Crosby. And it's likely he'll be out a few more games as well so they have to figure out where to get some offense. They host the Bruins tonight on Versus.
---Things are no better for the Bruins with David Krejci underperforming, Milan Lucic slumping, and Marc Savard a shade of his former self.
---Have you checked the Western Conference standing lately? Four points separate No. 4 Nashville from No. 12 St. Louis (From 4-12 in the East is an 18-point difference!). The defending champion Blackhawks have climbed from 12th to sixth just by winning the last two games. They beat the Islanders, 5-0, on Sunday and announced before the game that they'll put up statues for ex-Chicago greats Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull outside the United Center. Move over, Michael Jordan.
---Things are really bad in San Jose, where the Sharks were shut out again Sunday by the Ducks and have dropped to 11th place in the West. They've lost four straight games and have been shut out twice in the last three (by Ryan Miller and Jonas Hiller). Worse yet, they have just five goals in their last five games.
---In a last farewell to the World Juniors, the ratings for Wednesday's Canada-Russia final were astonishing north of the border. A record audience of 6.88 million viewers watched on TSN and its French counterpart, RDS. The audience peaked at 9.3 million viewers during the third period. The 6.23 million who watched on TSN marked the highest audience ever for the network, Canada's equivalent of ESPN.
If you missed any of our World Juniors coverage, be sure to check out our special section on this site.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
tagged
Boston Bruins | NHL | Sabres | Stanley Cup | World Junior Championships
