Hockey All Night

1200AM Central: YES! Luongo is out and the Preds are in! Strong work, Oil, strong work.

1:18 left: Penalty VAN! YES! Come on Oil... finish this...

1:42 left EDM-VAN: Luongo's complaining about Roloson. Dwayne looks like he's ready to charge and beat the shit out of Roberto.

Wow, two posts in one night. I've been watching hockey since 630 central. Started with the Wings coming back strong against the BJs. Speaking of BJs, it was a good night for names. A couple gems my brother texted me:

Regarding the dominant play of Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen:
"dude, henhan zetterzen is the shit"
"zettertron for president"

Regarding a nickname for Justin Abdelkader:
"#8 - The Abductor"

I suggested "Abs" during my liveblog but I like the Abductor. Sparty is another possibility, one which highlights my own alma mater. Strong work MSU.

Then it was on to STL-NSH, where I caught the last period of Nashville's victory. Everyone and their mother wants Nashville to win the 8th spot, for travel and goaltending reasons. Nice to see that win but it felt dirty rooting for Preds. I tried to instead root against the Blues but I couldn't shake the nasty feeling of happiness when good things happened for Bubba.

When that one wrapped up I moved on to Oil-Canucks, where Edmonton is doing a marvelous job of knocking the 'Nucks out. A few more minutes.... ahhh, another Oil penalty. They sure are trying their darndest to blow this. Fuck! Canucks score! Review this, ref. Please.

Back to the Wings. They lost some serious sandpaper with Malts and Kopecky going down. Maltby will miss the first series according to Ken and Mick, Kopecky looks like a knee and sadly the end of his season. That's a guess by me, and a pessimistic one, but the way he was limping off the ice did not look good.

The Abductor should help repair some of that loss. Darren McCarty perhaps? Him getting the bench in favor of Derek Meech is not a good sign. But I like the idea of putting Meech in for his PP abilities. Better than Sammy or Stuart, both coming off of injuries. No need to actually play Meech on the 4th line. In the playoffs, it's time to start double-shifting your super stars. How's a fourth line of McCarty, Datsyuk, and Drake sound? I like it.

And how about Hudler? Dude can't buy a break. Do you sit him because of that, or keep on him in hopes his shots start going in? I don't know. Maybe for home games, and then put McCarty in on the road when you can't control matchups.

Whew, Vancouver is coming hard with 5 minutes left in their season. Roloson's pissed with the refs. He's about to take one out with his paddle. Take it easy Dwayne - finish your job knocking the Nucks out, then start hacking.

At this point, I'm rambling. It's late and I've been watching hockey for six hours. Did anyone see Ovechkin's goals tonight? After each one, dude flipped out and had a party on the ice. People go nuts for Crosby but no one is more charismatic and exciting than Ovechkin. A lot of people think Europeans can't be stars in America, but we all know that's bullshit. Americans love Europe. It's sexy. Those bitches at ESPN need to start pimping Ovechkin.

Last two minutes in Edmonton. Eeeeeee....