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PHILADELHPIA (AP & Staff) — Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger left Philadelphia’s game against Toronto after taking a high stick to the face. Pronger and Toronto’s Mikhail Grabovski sprinted for a loose puck in the circle after a rebound off Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky on Monday night. Grabovski slapped at the puck, but his stick connected with Pronger’s stick and the blade shot straight up into the defenseman’s face. Pronger screamed in agony and instantly clutched his face. Hunched over, he skated straight to the bench, his hands over his eyes, and went to the dressing room with 8:02 left in the first period. The Flyers had no other update except that Pronger wouldn’t return.
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PITTSBURGH (AP & Staff) — Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals still own the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the regular season, at least. Dennis Wideman’s power-play goal 2:48 into overtime lifted the Capitals to a 3-2 victory Thursday night, extending their regular-season mastery over a postseason nemesis. Washington is 12-1-2 in its last 15 regular-season meetings with Pittsburgh, including eight straight wins on the road. “We got a little lucky, I think,” said Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom, who fed Wideman for the game-winner. “That’s hockey sometimes. It’s not always fair.” The Penguins drew some blood, though. Penguins forward Arron Asham took down Washington’s Jay Beagle in a fight, then apologized for rubbing it in afterward. He dropped Beagle with two punches in the third period, then spread his arms out like a boxing referee stopping a fight, as he skated to the penalty box with Beagle in a heap on the ice. Asham followed it up by placing his hands on the side of his head to imitate someone sleeping. Beagle’s face was bloodied and he had to be helped off the ice. Pittsburgh has knocked Washington out of the Stanley Cup playoffs seven times in eight chances, though the Capitals have dominated the regular-season meetings over the last three years. Ovechkin scored his first goal of the season and goalie Tomas Vokoun bounced back from a shaky debut with the Capitals to finish with 39 saves as Washington remained unbeaten (3-0-0). “It’s a real tough building here, and (Vokoun) was the difference for us,” Mike Knuble said. “Even the first period, we finished down 1-0; it could have been three or four after the first. And then he made some big saves in the third, too, when they started to really gain some momentum and push back against us. He was a big factor tonight.” James Neal scored twice and Evgeni Malkin had two assists for the Penguins, who took their first non-shootout loss of the season. Pittsburgh again played without star Sidney Crosby, though the 2007 NHL MVP was cleared for contact earlier Thursday as he continues his comeback from concussion-like symptoms. Crosby’s return remains uncertain, though the Penguins have been just fine without their superstar during the season’s first week, getting off to the franchise’s best start in 17 years. They received a boost on Thursday from Malkin, who sat out the previous two games while dealing with soreness [...]
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STOCKHOLM (AP & Staff) — Henrik Lundqvist made a jaw-dropping save on a second period shot by Bobby Ryan. The Anaheim Ducks left winger got his revenge in the shootout. Ryan scored the only goal in the shootout, lifting the Anaheim Ducks to a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers in the teams’ matchup in Europe on Saturday. Shooting fourth, Ryan who glided toward the net and poked an ugly shot to the lower right side of the net. “It wasn’t the way it was drawn up, but I’ll take it. I’m gonna label it a fortunate miss,” Ryan said. “I had one (scoring chance) in the second period that I’d really liked to have back, so I think Henrik and I will trade even today.” The Rangers appeared headed for a loss late in the third period, but Brad Richards scored with 2 minutes, 15 seconds left in regulation, his first goal for New York since joining the team from Dallas. Richards’ goal came after the Ducks had trouble clearing the puck. Ryan McDonagh took control and passed to Richards. He skated up to Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller and put the puck over his shoulder, making it 1-all. It was Richards’ second point in his first two games with the Rangers, and showed precisely why the team lured him from Dallas with a nine-year, $60 million contract — one of the league’s biggest free agent deal this summer. Lundqvist, a hockey star in Sweden, kept the Rangers close and rewarded the sellout crowd with an outstanding game in the net. He stopped 27 shots. The most memorable save came in the second period when Ryan, standing alone to the side of Lundqvist, took a pass from Corey Perry. The crowd applauded wildly and began chanting “Henke! Henke!” — Lundqvist’s Swedish name. Both teams will head back to North America with two points in two games. The Ducks lost 4-1 to the Buffalo Sabres in Helsinki on Friday, while the Rangers fell to the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in overtime. Ducks center Andrew Cogliano scored for the Ducks midway through the first period thanks to the forchecking of rookie Devante Smith-Pelly, who got an assist on the play. The game was marked by sloppy play typical of early season action. There were 19 penalties — two against the Ducks for having too many men on the ice. “It wasn’t [...]
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STOCKHOLM (AP & Staff) — Anze Kopitar felt right at home, even though the sellout crowd was rooting for the opposing goalie. Kopitar scored on Henrik Lundqvist in the first period and assisted on the winning overtime goal, leading the Los Angeles Kings to a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers in their season opener Friday in Europe. Jack Johnson scored a power-play goal at 4:08 in overtime, tapping in a pass from recently acquired center Mike Richards. The crowd was solidly behind the Rangers and goaltender Lundqvist, a star in hockey-loving Sweden. But the performance by Kopitar — who moved to Sweden when he was 16 years old to train — also was appreciated by the local fans. “I did play in Sweden for three years, so I feel good here,” the Slovenian-born Kopitar said. “It was good to get that first (goal), to get it out of the way — for me and for the team.” Richards also scored with 4:59 left in regulation, tying it at 2 after Marian Gaborik gave the Rangers the lead midway through the third period. Richards was acquired from Philadelphia in June in one of the biggest trades of the offseason. “Mike Richards’ line — I thought they played well,” Kings coach Terry Murray said. “They were energized, and they did a good job overall in their checking responsibilities.” Lundqvist, who was born in Are, did manage to put on a show for his appreciative fans. He had a superb glove save on a blistering shot by Dustin Brown late in the first period, and blocked a wraparound attempt by Justin Williams halfway through the second. The Rangers were spotty on defense in the first period, making several clearing mistakes that turned into scoring chances for the Kings — one of which led to a goal. Ruslan Fedotenko and Artem Anisimov botched a clearing attempt in the Rangers’ zone in the first period. That allowed Williams to steal the puck and feed Kopitar, who beat Lundqvist with a wrist shot. The Rangers quickly regrouped. Anisimov passed to captain Ryan Callahan, who beat Jonathan Quick from a tough angle to tie it at 1 at 15:22 in the first. The Kings failed to capitalize on four power plays in regulation, but converted in overtime after Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh was sent off for holding. “Two minutes left — they shouldn’t get a [...]
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HELSINKI (AP & Staff) — Thomas Vanek scored two power-play goals, leading the Buffalo Sabres past the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 in their NHL opener Friday in Helsinki. Vanek, the top goal scorer for Buffalo the last five seasons, set the tone with his first goal at 4:02 in the first period. Newcomer Ville Leino then made it 2-0. Nate Guenin replied for Anaheim in the second period, but Vanek helped restore the Sabres’ two-goal lead by setting up Jason Pominville. Vanek then scored his second of the night in the same period. Pominville also finished with two assists, as did Luke Adam.
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PITTSBURGH (AP & Staff) — Look at your right hand. Close your eyes. Do you know where it is? Are you certain? For months, Sidney Crosby was not. While the rest of his Pittsburgh Penguins teammates spent the summer resting, working on their golf game and trying to get over a seven-game loss to Tampa Bay in the opening round of the playoffs, the game’s greatest player spent it searching for a way back to normalcy. Two head shots within a week of each other last January ended the former MVP’s season, put his career in jeopardy and may have started a culture change in a sport where toughness, grit and “playing through it” are among the most prized commodities. Crosby didn’t set out to be the most public case study on the mysterious and sometimes mysteriously lingering effects of concussions. He simply wanted to feel better and get back to doing what he loved. The road back has been more arduous than he ever possibly imagined when he was scratched out of the lineup following a game against Tampa Bay on Jan. 5 after experiencing what he’s since described as “fogginess.” Months of rest, of tests, of travel, of quietly — and not so quietly — refuting what his camp has deemed as misinformation about his condition, his health, his future have followed. The organization did its best to give Crosby space. Coach Dan Bylsma and general manager Ray Shero checked in occasionally. Teammates, both old and new, would text or call to talk about anything and everything but the state of Crosby’s head. Penguins forward Jordan Staal says they texted about fishing. The words “vestibular system” — which focuses on a person’s ability to balance and work within a given space, the system most affected by Crosby’s concussions — never came up. “I figured he was getting enough of it from everywhere else,” Staal said. “All that matters to us really is that he’s healthy. All that stuff you thought you heard, I didn’t pay any attention to it.” Private by nature, the combination of Crosby’s injury and his urge to get away from things back home in Canada during the offseason only seemed to feed the frenzy. He was retiring. He wasn’t retiring. He suffered a setback. He was skating at full speed. Each week seemed to bring a new rumor or theory. Crosby remains polite but [...]
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MONTREAL (AP & Staff) — The most visible man during the NHL preseason has been Brendan Shanahan and not Sidney Crosby, a revealing fact about what holds the hockey world’s attention going into the 2011-12 season: hits to the head. While Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins star and arguably the league’s top player, works on his recovery from a concussion caused by a pair of hits last season, Shanahan has been doling out startling suspensions for blows to the head since the preseason opened Sept. 19. And Shanahan, a former player who served five suspensions during a 21-year career, has a novel way of announcing the bans — appearing on videos in which he explains in detail, with replays of the hit, why it deserved extra punishment. During this preseason, hardly a day went by without a new video. Most players applauded the crackdown but others worried it may turn NHL hockey into no-hit shinny. Nine players have been slapped with 31 regular season games worth of suspensions for incidents in exhibition games. Together, they will forfeit more than $701,000 in salary. “Change is always hard, but what we want is for the number of head injuries to come down,” said Shanahan, who was named by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to a new position as senior vice president of player safety. Shanahan took over as the league’s disciplinarian from the much-maligned Colin Campbell. The only significant offseason rule change was the broadening of Rule 48 on head blows. Previously, calls were made only for blindside or lateral hits to the head. This season, they cover all hits in which “the head is the principal point of contact.” The league’s general managers recommended the change amid a clamorous debate over head shots — like the shoulder to the jaw Washington’s Dave Steckel unleashed that ended Crosby’s season during the Winter Classic outdoor game in January. Crosby looks to be recovering, but won’t be ready for the Penguins’ regular-season opener. Other players, including Boston center Marc Savard, have suffered more serious concussions from head shots. “I think he’s sending a clear message that hits to the head and illegal blows aren’t going to be tolerated,” said Montreal defenseman Josh Gorges. “If guys haven’t realized that by now it’s their own fault. “It’s something we as players have to recognize. It’s a good move and hopefully it will save some guys from serious injuries.” [...]
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