Around the Leafs

The Leafs learned last night that defenceman Jonas Frogren will be out up to six weeks after an MRI revealed two muscle tears in his arm. The injury occurred in the first period of a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.

The injury to Frogren and the trading of Carlo Colaiacovo to the St. Louis Blues earlier yesterday combined with the injury to Mike Van Ryn have depleted the Leafs blueline.

The Leafs had nine defencemen at one point but are down to six, with Ian White returning to the blue line for the foreseeable future after he performed well at forward for nine games.

Fletcher said there are no plans to call up a defenceman from the minors. Staffan Kronwall leads Toronto Marlies defenders with seven points in 10 games.

Colaiacovo and Steen both said they were shocked by the news they had been traded and, at the same time, were excited at the prospect of moving to a new town.

The deal, which is done in principal, should become final by 4 p.m. this afternoon, once the three players involved have undergone physical exams with their new teams. Stempniak was expected to arrive in Toronto last night, and had a doctor's appointment booked for this morning.

It's expected Stempniak, who has three goals and 10 assists in 14 games, will be in uniform against the Atlanta Thrashers tonight at the Air Canada Centre.

Stempniak was born and raised in the Buffalo area and used to come to Toronto to play in minor hockey tournaments.

It is still unknown with whom Stempniak will play.

O'Byrne's goal sinks...Islanders... I mean Habs

Ryan O’Byrne blamed himself for costing the Canadiens a point. He didn’t blame the Montreal fans for booing him.

O’Byrne allowed the tying goal when he put the puck in his own net on a delayed penalty, and Bill Guerin scored the shootout clincher for the New York Islanders in a 4-3 victory over Montreal on Monday night.

Guerin was credited with the goal on O’Byrne’s gaffe, which made it 3-all at 15:13 of the third period.

After the game, a disconsolate O’Byrne said he didn’t realize a penalty was being called on Sean Bergenheim. So when Doug Weight pressured him on the forecheck, O’Byrne figured he would send the puck back to goalie Carey Price.

But Price was off for an extra attacker, so he wasn’t there to stop it and the puck slid slowly into the net. Parts of the Bell Centre sellout crowd of 21,273 booed for a long time after the goal. Before overtime, fans chanted O’Byrne’s name in derision as the Canadiens filed off the bench toward the dressing room.

“I feel bad. I apologized to everyone in the room,” said O’Byrne, who didn’t see the ice for the rest of the game. “The fans are eager for victories and they had a right to react the way they did.”

Richard Park and Trent Hunter also scored for the surging Islanders, who won for the fifth time in six games.

Steve Begin, Josh Gorges and Maxim Lapierre scored rare goals for the Canadiens, who lost their second consecutive shootout but still have points in four of their last five games.

Everyone on the Canadiens was quick to come to O’Byrne’s defense, especially Gorges, who shot a nasty look toward the crowd after the game.

“I know it’s tough because they expect a lot and we expect a lot out of ourselves as well,” Gorges said. “I know how it feels. I’ve put the puck into my net before. It’s never intentional. It’s a bad break, and nobody feels more sick to his stomach about it than Ryan does.

Bergenheim went straight to the penalty box after the goal, but the Canadiens couldn’t covert on that power play, or another one at 18:34 of the third that stretched into overtime.

Montreal’s top-ranked power play from the past two seasons finished the night 1-for-7 and is 3-for-38 in the last eight games.

Gorges got his goal on a rare power-play shift, and Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau said more personnel changes can be expected in an effort to turn it around.

“We’re going to try a lot more experiments because since the beginning of the season we’ve been leaving the same 10 players who are supposed to make the power play work, but it’s not working,” Carbonneau said. “If we have to put the fourth line on the ice to change things up, that’s where we’re at right now.”

In the shootout, Price stopped Hunter but was beaten by Park and Guerin, while on the other end Joey MacDonald denied Andrei Kostitsyn and Alex Tanguay to get the win.

MacDonald stopped 23 shots in regulation and overtime.

Source: AP

Canadiens expected lines for tonight against NYI

Forwards:
Higgins - Koivu - Tanguay
A. Kostitsyn - Plekanec - Kovalev
S. Kostitsyn - Lang - Kostopolos
Begin - Lapierre - Dandenault

Defence:
Markov - Gorges
Hamrlik - O'Byrne
Bouillon - Brisebois

Goaltender:
Price

Healty scratches: Laraque
Injured players: Latendresse and Komisarek

Marc Savard named NHL 1st star of the week

The NHL has named Marc Savard the First Star of the week. Over four games, Savard recorded two goals and six assists to help lead the Bruins to four straight victories.

Savard is now second in the league in assists (19), trailing only Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin (24). He is also the league's 2nd point getter (tied with Alex Semin) with 27 points. Malkin is the league-leader with 31 points.

Savard also has a team-leading +13 rating.

Trade alert!!!

According to Nick Kypreos, the Maple Leafs have traded forward Alex Steen and defenceman Carlo Colaiacovo in exchange for forward Lee Stempniak.

Stempniak, 25, has three goals and 13 points in 14 games this season.

Colaiacovo, whose career has been plagued by various injuries, has played in 10 games this season with the Maple Leafs, recording only one assist. Colaiacovo is currently day-to-day with a foot injury.

Steen, 24, has two goals and four points in 20 games this season. The son of former Winnipeg Jet, Thomas Steen, is having a rough year with the Maple Leafs. He has played on the 4th line most of the season.

The Blues were looking for a puck-moving defenceman due to numerous injuries to their blueine.

Senators send Illya Zubov down

The Senators have sent forward Ilya Zubov to Binghampton (AHL) as they don't play until Thursday.

Zubov managed 5 shots in four games and was quite efficient on a 4th line. He played with youngsters Cody Bass and Nick Foligno.

Bruins unveil third jersey

The team released its third jersey and uniform to the public this morning, showing off a predominantly black look that features the team's alternate logo as the main crest, with the Spoked-B on the shoulders.

The new jersey will go on sale this afternoon at the Bruins Pro Shop.

The Bruins will wear the new sweater for 16 games during the remainder of the year:

• Nov. 28 vs. New York Islanders
• Nov. 29 vs. Detroit
• Dec. 13 vs. Atlanta
• Dec. 20 vs. Carolina
• Jan. 3 vs. Buffalo
• Jan. 10 vs. Carolina
• Jan. 19 vs. St. Louis
• Jan. 21 @ Toronto
• Jan. 29 vs. New Jersey
• Feb. 10 vs. San Jose
• Feb. 24 vs. Florida
• Mar. 5 vs. Phoenix
• Mar. 15 @ Pittsburgh
• Mar. 31 vs. Tampa Bay
• April 2 vs. Ottawa
• April 7 @ Ottawa

The logo is new and the bear now look s bit more fierce than on the previous logo. Check all the Bruins logos here.

Ian White likely back on defense tomorrow

Due to the injury to Jonas Frogren I an White is expected to suit as a defenceman for tomorrow's game against the Thrashers.

Defencemen Carlo Colaiacovo and Jonas Frogren were absent from practice yesterday, which meant Mr. Versatility (Ian White) was moved back to the blue line to fill the void.

After being a healthy scratch for the first part of the season, White was inserted in the line-up as a forward where he put up very decent numbers - 7 points in 9 games and +5 ratio.

The Leafs even gave him double duty during his forward stints – deploying him as a defenceman on power plays – because of his puck-moving skills and ability to get shots on net.

Frogren who is nursing a muscle problem will likely be out for one week. Colaiacovo is still experiencing pain and swelling on his foot; he remains day-to-day. Mike Van Ryn is out for several weeks after he got injured on a check from behind from Montreal Canadiens' Tom Kostopoulos.

White will likely play on defence tomorrow, unless Carlo makes a miraculous recovery.

Maple Leafs retire Clark number 17

Wendel Clark joined some elite company Saturday night as his No. 17 jersey was raised to the rafters of the Air Canada Centre prior to the Toronto Maple Leafs' home game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

A former Toronto captain, Clark becomes the 16th player to be so honoured by the Leafs, joining the likes of Frank Mahovlich, Darryl Sittler, Borje Salming and Tim Horton who have also had their jerseys raised.

Clark, the No. 1 overall pick by Toronto in the 1985 NHL draft, received a standing ovation fromt he sellout crowd as he took the ice after a video montage of his career highlights was shown. Clark, and his wife Denise and their three children, walked to centre ice following the video.

After he dropped the puck on the ice for the pre-game ceremonial face-off.

Clark, a native of Kelvington, Saskatchewan., scored 260 goals and 441 points in 608 games during three different stints with the Leafs, captaining the team from 1991-94. His 34 playoff goals were the most by a Maple Leaf.

Ironically, in june 1994, Clark was traded to the Quebec Nordiques in a multi-player deal which brought a young Mats Sundin to the Leafs. Sundin would later become the face of the franchise until the 2007-2008 season when he became an unrestricted free agent.

Source : CBC sports

Habs retire Roy number 33

Patrick Roy finally returned back home on Saturday as his famous #33 was retired by the Montreal Canadiens after more than a decade of a bitter separation between Roy and the organization.

Roy arrived through the Bell Centre corridors and walked his way through the crowd before reaching the ice.

"Tonight, I am coming home," Roy said to the noisy, sold-out crowd at the Bell Centre, when his number was raised to the rafters before Montreal played Boston.

Roy won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP twice with the Canadiens, in 1986 and 1993 when Montreal captured the Stanley Cup. In 1986, Roy was a 20-year-old rookie and, seven years later, in 1993, Roy won a record 10 games in overtime, a record that is unlikely to be broke.

Roy's parents (Michel Roy and Barbara Miller), brother and sister, and his three children (Frederic and Jonathan play for his Quebec Remparts) were on hand for the ceremony, along with his first three Canadiens coaches, Jean Perron, Pat Burns and Jacques Demers.

Drafted by Montreal in 1984, Roy made a brief appearance during the 1984-85 season before making the team for good the following season. A Nordiques fan growing up in the Quebec City area, Roy was nonetheless proud to start his career with the Canadiens.

Francois Allaire, his longtime goalie coach, was praised for helping him perfect his butterfly style that spawned a generation of Quebec-developed goalies.

Patrick Roy retired after the 2002-2003 season at the age of 37 year-old.

Roy, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006, previously had his No. 33 retired by Colorado. He is the sixth NHL player to receive such an honor from two teams.

He won a Calder Memorial Cup with the Quebec Remparts in 2006.

Source: Associated Press