Northeast Standings

NORTHEAST	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	GF	GA	PP%	PK%	HOME	AWAY	L10
Montreal	2	2	0	0	4	6	4	20.0	70.0	0-0-0	2-0-0	2-0-0
Boston	2	1	1	0	2	8	6	30.8	78.6	1-1-0	0-0-0	1-1-0
Buffalo	1	0	0	1	1	1	2	14.3	100.0	0-0-1	0-0-0	0-0-1
Toronto	2	0	1	1	1	7	10	33.3	57.1	0-0-1	0-1-0	0-1-1
Ottawa	1	0	1	0	0	2	5	0.0	100.0	0-0-0	0-1-0	0-1-0

Senators Shannon To Miss Next Game

Ottawa Senators forward Ryan Shannon is expected to miss tomorrow's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs with various "bumps and bruises."

Shannon most likely opted out of the game because he did not want to play against Toronto's swiss cheese stifling defense.

Toronto fans, despite the season only being two games old, are calling for Jonas Gustavsson to become the starter in net. On one hand, they should give Vesa Toskala a bit more time. On the other hand, it is Vesa Toskala. I'm sure we'll hear more about this is the coming days.

Montreal Blueline Worse Than Madden Curse

The Montreal Canadiens apparently hate having healthy defensemen.

During last night's game against the Buffalo Sabres, Ryan O'Byrne suffered an ankle injury when he was struck by a puck and is expected to miss six weeks.

Forward Glen Metropolit was also injured when he collided with Buffalo's Patrick Kaleta and is expected to be re-evaluated in Calgary before Tuesday's game.

The Montreal Canadiens have called up defenseman Yannick Weber from the Hamilton Bulldogs to replace O'Byrne of the AHL.

Northeast Fight Club: Bruins Draw First Blood

There were four official fights involving Northeast teams last night (not including Zdeno Chara absolutely molesting one of the Hartford Whalers Hurricanes players who tried to cheap shot him.

The Boston Bruins met the expert cheap shot artists and resident coward Carolina Hurricanes looking for revenge... and much like a porn star the Bruins finished it on Carolina's face.

Our first fight was a second period bout that saw Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins destroy Jay Harrison of the Carolina Hurricanes. Reports have been coming in that Harrison was seen wandering around the streets of Boston after the game asking if anyone knew his name:



In the third period, Shawn Thornton, the classiest fighter in the league, took on ex-Bruin and current Carolina Hurricane Andrew Alberts. Alberts had to get his rectum checked after the fight as Thornton completely violated him:



A little further west, the Ottawa Senators were in New York to face the Rangers and decided to fight to save face... or at least that is the excuse I am using for them.

Ottawa's Matt Carkner took on Donald Brashear, who deserves to have his face punched in. This wasn't much of a fight as Brashear did one of his famous cheap shots on Carkner and then decided to hug him. I'd give the slight edge to Carkner in this hug fest:



In our last bout this evening, Ottawa's Mike Fisher took on the New York Rangers' Aaron Voros. Mike Fisher gave his best effort but in the end Voros edged him out:

Caps Fans Are Dumb, Capitals Still Beat Maple Leafs

Alex Ovechkin cherry picks scored less than two minutes into the game as Capitals fans chanted MVP, not even knowing what it stands for, as the Washington Capitals defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-4. Ovechkin imagined a crowd full of shirtless men and dove into the glass after his goal.

The Capitals had a 6-1 lead going into the third before the Maple Leafs decided to try to play like an NHL team instead of an AHL team.

The only three players Capitals fans can name Backstrom, Semin, and Ovechkin combined to get three goals and five assists while molesting the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Capitals goalie Varlamov was shaky in the third as Alexei Ponikarovsky, Mikhail Grabovski and Niklas Hagman scored in the third. The utterly useless Jeff Finger manged to get an assist.

Washington scored on three of their first seven shots which isn't surprising with Vesa Toskala in net.

"It's unbelievable," said Toskala, replaced in net by Jonas Gustavsson at the start of the second period. "It seems everywhere they go, the puck is following them."

Mike Komisarek again caused more harm to his team as he was in the box when Washington scored their second goal on the power play as Toronto fans begin to realize why Milan Lucic is constantly knocking this idiot's team out. Komisarek was in the box for molesting kittens.

The Maple Leafs will flip a coin and decide which goalie gets the start Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators. Ovechkin will draw names out of a hat to determine which of his teammatess will get to join him in the shower.

Gaborik, Dubinsky Lead Rangers Past Senators

The New York Rangers realize how stupid they were to not sign Dubinsky sooner as Dubinsky scored two goals to lead the Rangers to victory of Drive By Heatley's former team the Ottawa Senators.

Marian Gaborik decided he groin was okay enough to play in two consecutive games and at least this week makes all the doubters pay attention as he scored again.

"I think our lines have a lot of speed and we can handle the puck down low," Gaborik said. "We create a lot of chances."

Michelin Man Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves, or at least his equipment did.

Ottawa had a record of 16-4-1 in their last 21 visits to Madison Square Garden. Daniel Alfredsson and Peter Regin (scoring with 6 seconds left) managed to score for the Senators, making the rape charges they filed against New York a little less substantial.

Pascal Leclaire, in his first start since having ankle surgery in December, made 29 saves and basically looked like... Pascal Leclaire.

In explaining the loss, Ottawa forward Jason Spezza made up words:

"We hurt ourselves by taking a lot of penalties," Spezza said. "They brought a better structure to their home opener. We were kind of scrambly."

Rangers forward Sean Avery missed the game with a sprained MCL in his right knee that he suffered after some rough foreplay with his boyfriend.

Bruins Have Their Way With Carolina, No Rape Charges Filed Yet

Read above...that's all you need to know...


Oh fine, so the Bruins did everything this game that they should have last game in order to lead them to a 7-2 win over the Whalers Hurricanes. Here are some fun facts:

-Bruins got 42 shots on net, half of those came in the 1st period.
-Four of the Bs goals were power play goals.
-The trainer needed to come out for Carolina at least 4 times
-Carolina did not score one goal until the Bruins had five.
-All seven of the Bruins goals came from different players.
-Lucic is a beast.
-So is Thornton, who was just an assist away from a Gordie Howe hat trick

The Bruins opened up the scoring early with Savard, Ryder, and Wheeler all getting their first goals of the season. The second period saw scoring from Sturm, Wideman, and Thornton on the Bruins and Walker on the Whalers Hurricanes. It also saw Lucic destroying Harrison's face and an all out brawl in the closing seconds of the period with both Chara and Kostopoulos getting game misconducts as a results (plus a whole lot of roughing penalties).

Staal score for Carolina and Hunwick for Boston in the 3rd. Thornton also was victorious in his fight against Alberts. Ever the classy fighter, even after the fight was initiated, Thornton waited a good while until Alberts dropped his gloves. Bruins will host Adam Banks Ryan Getzlaf and the Ducks on Thursday.



Unrelated note: The St. Louis Blues are now known as Doggie Style seeing as how they are great at coming from behind.

Recap: Montreal Weathers The Storm and Squeaks a Win Against Buffalo in OT

Despite being outplayed by the Sabres overall, the Canadiens win in OT on a lucky bounce courtesy of Scott Gomez, Gionta received the puck right on his stick and buried it.



Alot of credit for the win goes to Carey Price who managed to stop 34 total shots (Montreal could only put up 17 shots). Please note that one thing you will never see here at ADB is a reference to Price and a certain game show where contestants need to correctly guess the costs of items, that reference is dead and anyone who keeps using it should be shot in the face.

Connolly scored Buffalo their lone goal early in the first period assisted by Rivet and Roy. Montreal didn't answer back until the second period on a shorthanded goal by Moen, who got the puck in from his knees just before the net gets knocked out. Coming up, Buffalo will host Phoenix next Thursday and the Canadiens will be heading to Calgary Tuesday.

Preview: Buffalo Hosts Montreal in Home Opener.

Montreal and Buffalo will faceoff tonight during the Sabres' season opener. Montreal is coming off of an OT win against Toronto last Thursday and Buffalo will be looking to get off to the kind of start they did last season before injuries plagued them.

Last season, Buffalo took four out of their six games against the Canadiens. Three of those games went either into OT or a shootout.

Roy and Vanek can be expected to lead the charge for the Sabres, totaling 134 points last season between the two if them. Based on his performance Thursday, it's likely that Cammalleri can help provide at least some measure of leadership for the Canadiens with his skills and experience. Also there is no doubt that Markov will be sorely missed on Montreal's blue line after his unfortunate injury (way to go Price).

All in all, it looks to be an interesting match up. The Habs have a whole lot of new talent, but haven't had much of a chance to become acclimated with each other's individual style of play. Buffalo on the other hand is mostly unchanged, but don't mistake that for a disadvantage. Buffalo's players are expected to have good chemistry between their quality players and with Miller in net and Pominville, Vanek and Roy attacking the net; Sabres should match up well against Montreal's offense.

Preview: Bruin Faceoff Against Carolina + Old Teammates

Tonight the Boston Bruins will be facing off against some familiar faces in their game against the Carolina Whalers Hurricanes. Former Bruins Stephane Yelle and Aaron Ward will be playing from the other side of the ice in the Boston Garden tonight. Ward's story in particular is interesting given the sucker punch Scott Walker delivered to him last year during their playoff series.

In the regular season, Boston went 4-0-0 against Carolina. The Whalers Hurricanes won their four games when they really counted though, in the second round of the playoffs, effectively knocking the Bruins out of Stanly Cup contention. Carolina went on to lose the next round to the Penguins.

It goes without saying that Boston is going to be looking for a little bit of payback. I would expect to them come out firing, especially after being beating on their opening night by Washington. Its also interesting to note that this will be Carolina's second game in a row after suffering a home opener shutout loss against Philly. Both teams will have something to prove tonight.

Carolina may not be as talented as Washinton, but the Bruins could suffer a fate similar to to their loss on Thursday if they don't play their style of hockey. The Bs are not a pretty team, even if they want to be. The sooner they start scoring ugly goals tonight, the better off they are. If they keep up the style of play they had against Washinton, then the Whalers Hurricanes will most likely have the advantage.

Canadiens Lose Markov For Up To Four Months

After an exciting over time win against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canadiens were dealt a serious blow.

Looks like Montreal fans will have a new reason to hate Carey Price. Andrei Markov suffered a lacerated tendon in his left ankle last night. The injury happened when Carey Price scrambled to get back in position and his skate cut Markov.

This sort of thing is bound to happen when you strap sharp blades to shoes and take to the ice. No doubt someone in the NHL will over-react soon and try to force players to wear roller blades.

Markov and Montreal fans must hate when the Canadiens player in Toronto. Late last season Toronto's Mikhail Grabovski ran Markov into the boards, injuring Markov's knee. Markov would end up missing the rest of the regular season and the playoffs.

Preview: Ottawa Senators Meet The Rangers

Tonight the Senators have their first game of the regular season against the New York Rangers and Gaborik's permanently injured groin.

In their four meetings last season Ottawa had two wins and two losses (getting shutout once and then losing in a shootout).

Ottawa is looking for a strong start after the Heatley debacle this summer. The NHL's resident super talented but lazy club President Alexei Kovalev will have a lot to prove this season, as will fellow newcomer Jonathan Cheechoo. Since winning the Rocker Richard Trophy for scoring the most goals in the league, Cheechoo has dropped off like a Phil Kessel nut.

Kovalev is extremely talented but has been known to only play when he feels like. Perhaps being snubbed from the Montreal Canadiens this off-season will spark Kovalev to take the NHL by storm.

Jason Spezza scored a "disappointing" 73 points last year after scoring 92 the prior season. Spezza responded well the the coaching change late last season and like many on this Senators team, he is looking for redemption.

Overall the Senators have what I believe to be an under-rated team. They may have trouble making up some of Heatley's scoring, but depending on how the team meshes they could be dangerous this season.

Preview: Turtles Faceoff As Leafs Meet Capitals

Tonight the Toronto Maple Leafs face-off against the Washington Capitals in a battle of two of the most cowardly players in the league. Hopefully Komisarek and Ovechkin end each others seasons.

Ovechkin is coming off a 2 goal, 1 assist, 6 wussy move performance against the Boston Bruins. Komisarek is looking to throw more elbows and high sticks, or perhaps toss more people into his own goalie.

The Capitals soundly beat a Boston Bruins team on Thursday that looked like they were still in pre-season mode, while Toronto lost a heart breaker in overtime to the Montreal Canadiens. Should be noted that a terrible, awful, no need for it elbowing penalty by Homosarek gave the Canadiens a late power play chance that they capitalized on.

The Maple Leafs defenders will need to give Ovechkin much less room to operate than the Bruins defenders did. Ovechkin may be in trouble as well, as the entire Toronto team is much less likely to put up with Ovechkin's cheap shots. Although, the NHL does have that Ovechkin rule where you cannot breath on him without getting a penalty.

In their 4 meetings last year each team won two games with two of the games being decided by just one goal, and a third going to a shootout (won by the Maple Leafs).

Northeast Fight Club: Regular Season

Last night the Montreal Canadiens faced off against the Toronto Maple Leafs, with the two teams squaring off in three official fights. Here we go:

The first throwdown of the evening was a bout between heavyweights Georges Laraque and Colton Orr. Laraque gets the take down, but Orr definitely got his shots in:



Travis Moen (Montreal Canadiens) squared off against Jay Rosehill (Toronto Maple Leafs). This was Moen's first fight of the night and Rosehill's 213th in the past month. I believe it is safe to say Moen came out on the losing end of this one as Rosehill manhandled him like Ovechkin manhandles his boyfriend:




The third and final fight of the night was Travis Moen trying to get revenge on one of the biggest turtles in the NHL, Mike Komisarek. As you can see, Homosarek pushes Moen into Toskala then attacks Moen when he was on the ground. Mikey then proceeds to hug him because he loves hugging men and can't fight. Komisarek sucks:

Canadiens Burn Maple Leafs In Overtime

On a night when the greatest hockey player in history, Mario Lemieux, was in attendance the Montreal Canadiens roster was allowed to stay up past their bed times as they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in overtime.

Montreal's favorite whipping girl boy Carey Price had an outstanding game (at least for fantasy hockey purposes), stopping 43 of 46 shots in the win. If you recall, the last time we saw Carey Price in a meaningful game the Montreal crowd were being assholes:





"Carey stood on his head," forward Mike Cammalleri said. "I just talked to him and said, 'We've got to be better for you and we will.' The truth is that we expect him to do that from time to time because that's how good he is.

"He won us the game."

The Canadiens, for the most part, were outplayed and outshot by the Maple Leafs. Each team had two power play goals. Brian Gionta opened the scoring in the first period with a power play goal, with feeds from Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec. Overtime hero Josh Gorges assisted on Glen Metropolit's power play goal in the third to time the game.

Matt Stajan scored both power play goals for the Maple Leafs, one in each of the second and third periods.

However, a former Canadien perhaps had the biggest impact on the game. Famous for being a turtle and world class wuss, Mike HomoKomisarek was in the box for both of Montreal's power play goals. The Maple Leafs were flying when this idiot took an elbowing penalty, his fifth minor of the night to go with his fighting major... which for Komisarek means throwing a punch from behind then covering his head and hitting the ice when the opponent turns around. Montreal beat Toskala on the ensuing powerplay. He also received a double high-sticking penalty in the first period after busting open the overpaid Scott Gomez.

The game also featured three fights and lot of after whistle shananagins (we'll feature each bout later today in Northeast Fight Club).

The two teams continue their rivalry on Halloween.

And on a site note.... Toronto Maple Leafs fans are fast. Check on the guy wearing a Kessel jersey at the end of this video... I bet that guy still has both his balls though.

Bruins Lose 4-1..But Ovechkin Still Likes Little Kids.

.....that's what I heard anyways.

We make no secret of our hatred for Ovechkin here at ADB. He dives, cheap shots, and enjoys posing in very, very questionable photos. That being said however, we will never deny that he is one of the best players in the current NHL. He managed to put up two goals and one assist during the Boston Bruins home opener tonight earning him the #1 star of the game, and (hopefully) a bullseye on his back for their next meeting in February.

The first period started out even enough, with the Bruin putting on most of the pressure early on. But after a power play goal by Laich (assisted by Backstrom and Ovechkin) the Bruins couldn't seem to find any rhythm. The only goal in the 2nd came from Overchkin on assists by Semin and Backstrom. Third period saw Ovechkin and Laich scoring their second goals, creating a 4-0 lead. The Bruins didn't taste the back of the net until Bergeron scored on Theodore in the third to make the score 4-1. That's where the score would remain for the remainder of the game.

There was also a fight between Thornton and Erskine, but it was so disappointing I won't bother posting the video.

Power Play was the weak point for the Bruins tonight with failure to covert on several Washington penalties. Putting bias aside though, the game was one of the more poorly officiated I've seen. Between a questionable Bruins goal in the first that was ruled dead, a bullshit Chara penalty after Ovechkin's cheapshot on Recci, and just a few dirty plays by Ovie overall (as per usual), this game could have easily ended differently. Usually I hate make excuses for losses, but sometimes it really shows that Alexander Ovechkin is the poster boy for the league.

Wind Blows, Ovechkin Goes Down

"Prepare to Unleash the Red!"

Washington Capitals slogan or pamphlet for those young girls becoming women?

Well, a little bit of both. The Washington Capitals have released ads promoting the season telling fans... well, rather, band wagoners, to unleash the red! You know, because of their red jerseys. It is a completely original idea that they certainly didn't rip off from Calgary's "C of Red." No, of course not.

Or perhaps unleash the red is a way for the organization to let fans know that Ovechkin is finally becoming a woman. How many times a game do you hear "Semin passes to Ovechkin" and wonder if they mean the player Semin or man juice? I think the above photo speaks for itself.

Ovechkin is supremely talented yes. I do not deny that. But he is also a bitch. A wussy little girl. NHL fans across the world talk about how Crosby dives and whines... but that is because there is a such a microscope on him. Crosby can do no right, while Ovechkin does the same exact things but apparently can do no wrong. Ovechkin does this just as much, if not more, but for some reason everyone focuses on Crosby. Here's a classic example of Ovechkin giving his best Oscar performance on the ice:





This isn't the first time Ovechkin has done this, and it certainly won't be the last. Although, we can all hope Chara catches him across the middle tonight and maybe give Ovechkin a real reason to hit the ice.

Sure he scores highlight real goals and energizes his team and the girls in the crowd pretending they like hockey (girls like Alex Semin). But he plays zero defense, often watching from the blue line while his team fights the oppositions offense, basically giving the other team a free power play. He is a cheap shot artist (ask Sergei Gonchar) and cannot deliver a decent hit without leaving his skates. And even if he somehow doesn't make the Russian hockey team in the Winter Olympics, you can find him at a local Russian pool practicing, and perfecting, his dives.

Boston Bruins Starting Line-up!

Here is the expected starting line-up for the Boston Bruins for tonight's season opener against the Capitals:

Milan Lucic - Marc Savard - Marco Sturm
Blake Wheeler - David Krejci - Michael Ryder
Mark Recchi - Patrice Bergeron - Chuck Kobasew
Shawn Thornton - Steve Begin - Byron Bitz

Zdeno Chara - Derek Morris
Andrew Ference - Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart - Matt Hunwick

Tim Thomas
Tuuka Rask

Preview: Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs

Divisional battle tonight as the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs face off.

Tonight will be the regular season debut for both teams and a chance for both teams to show off their made over rosters in a non-preason environment.

Canadiens GM Gainey apparently forget there is a salary cap and made it rain like Pacman Jones at a strip club (the Kostitsyns then stepped in with the gunfire... if they show up). Montreal threw money at anything and everything... well, anything under 5' 7".

The Toronto Goons, on the other hand, were made over by tough guy lover Brian Burke. The Maple Leafs expect to rack up a higher number of penalty minutes in their first game than the Phoenix Coyotes will have viewers.... so expect the Maple Leafs to get at least 6 penalty minutes.

I believe the key issue tonight will be whether or not the terribly undersized Canadiens can get past the crush first, crush again, don't ask questions Toronto defense. The Maple Leafs D-men are big and opposing... and dare I say skilled? Vesa Toskala should be facing less shots this year, but who knows if he'll still have a problem stopping them... especially those pesky full ice shots:



While Toronto can pummel teams onto the ice they will have trouble putting pucks into the net. Phil Heatley Kessel is out until November/December and we here at Adams Division are not convinced Blake can put up the numbers he did last season. Stalberg, however, had a great pre-season and could be a wild card in the Toronto offense.

Now, if you look at the games between the Canadiens and the Maple Leafs from last season the scores go against everything I just said. The season series was split 3-3, each game being a complete blow out (the winning team scored 5 or 6 goals each time, while the losing team never scored more than 3). Montreal finished with 25 goals for, while Toronto had 21.

Montreal currently leads the all-time series with 371 wins, 303 losses, 88 ties, 4 overtime losses and 1 shootout loss. The Canadiens have scored 2,349 goals in the series while the Maple Leafs have scored 2,096.

Preview: Boston Bruins vs Washington Ovechkins

The Boston Bruins open the regular season tonight against Alex Ovechkin and everyone's favorite bandwagon team the Washington Capitals.

Last season all four games between the two teams were decided by one goal, with two of the games going to overtime (Bruins technically won both OT games... as Dennis Wideman scored the game winning goal once... for the Capitals). Boston come out on the Canadiens short end, going 1-2-1. Washington outscored Boston 11 to 8.

The only two non bandwagon fans the Capitals have will know that the Boston Bruins are ahead in the all-time series (Boston has 74 wins, 38 losses, 21 ties and 3 overtime losses). The Bruins have outscored the Capitals 467 to 369 all time.

The key match up tonight, as it usually is any time a team faces the Capitals, is Ovechkin vs the Boston D.

Newcomers Derek Morris and Matt Hunwick will have to learn to keep an eye on Ovechkin as he usually hangs out around the blueline in the defensive zone, watching as his team tries to fend off the opposition and hoping for a pass to spring him on a breakaway. They also have to learn quick that you cannot put your stick near Ovechkin's skates, as he will take an Olympic grade dive to the ice and hold his face like he was shot... even though the stick never went anywhere near his face.

If the pre-season is any indication this year's Bruins team will be even less likely to put up with Ovechkin's cheap shots than last year. Ovechkin may be the face of the league, but he really just happens to be a cowardly diver who takes the Kronwallian approach to delivering a hit, but can rack up points like no other. Of course, when you say "screw you" to your team and take 20 shots a night, you're bound to rack up goals.

The game will also be a good test for the "better on the forecheck, faster" Boston Bruins. The speed and skill on the Capitals should put Boston's puck moving capabilities to the test and show whether or not they can make it past the neutral zone (The Carolina Whalers exposed this weakness HUGE last season).

In some potentially good news for the Boston Bruins, center David Krejci is expected to be in the line-up tonight. If Krejci can shake off the rust early and be the magician around the net he was last season, half of of the BangWagon Caps fans should be tuned out by the second period.

The last time the Bruins opened the season against the Capitals was on October 8, 1987 back when the Caps had fans that could name people on the roster past the first line. The Bruins won that game 4-3.

Should be a great game, but really we're just super excited to see the puck drop on another season!