There were some nerves and maybe even a little jet lag. Also a clear lack of chemistry.

But the four newest members of the Calgary Flames, flown in late Sunday after a seven-player swap with the Toronto Maple Leafs, were just as disappointed with the result as the rest of the team following Monday’s loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

“Lots of nerves, actually,” smiled defenceman Ian White, who is now the owner of the No. 3 jersey after trading places with Dion Phaneuf. “It’s the first time I’ve been in this position and obviously first impressions are lasting.

“There was a lot of nervous energy but I think I managed to channel it into a positive.”

White was caught chasing the puck, maybe trying to be a little too aggressive on his first couple of shifts, but settled in as the game went on. As did forwards Niklas Hagman, Matt Stajan and Jamal Mayers.

Click here to read the full article – By Calgary Herald

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The crush of reporters nearly knocked Steve Bernier over.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. This was supposed to be Bernier’s moment.

He was the one acquired two years ago to be the incendiary winger the Sedins had long lacked. He promised to combine a right-handed shot and a nose for the net with a litre of elbow grease. In theory, it looked like the right chemistry which — if all had gone to plan — would be peaking right about now.

But those are distant, halcyon days for Bernier. He may be sitting beside Burrows off the ice, but on it they couldn’t be further apart.

Burrows is doing things no one imagined. His biggest obstacle right now is trying to keep his head below the clouds. Bernier, meanwhile, is just trying to stay in the lineup.

Click here to read the full article – By Vancouver Province

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Here’s an example of what kind of season the Canadiens have been experiencing: Matt D’Agostini was recalled from a conditioning assignment in Hamilton but, when he reported to the Canadiens on Monday, he was in no condition to practise.

D’Agostini, who was recalled ahead of schedule because of the knee injury to Michael Cammalleri, is expected to play Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks (7:30 p.m., RDS, CJAD Radio-800), but general manager Bob Gainey has the Bulldogs on speed dial in case another player is needed.

The only update on Cammalleri’s condition was a confirmation that he suffered an injury to his right knee when he was checked by Ottawa defenceman Anton Volchenkov Saturday. He has undergone an MRI examination and met with a doctor on Monday.

TSN reported that he has damage to the medial collateral ligament and will be out for six to eight weeks. The most optimistic outlook has him on the sidelines until after the Olympic break. Coach Jacques Martin was hard-pressed to remember a season in his long coaching experience when a team missed so many key players. Cammalleri joins an injured list which includes forward Andrei Kostitsyn and defencemen Paul Mara and Jaroslav Spacek.

“We had a stretch in November when we were missing Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta and Andrei Markov and we did okay because we played well defensively and we played as a team,” said Martin, referring to a 4-1-1 stretch in mid-November.

Click here to read the full article – By of Montreal Gazette

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Michael Peca, a two-time Selke Trophy winner, announced his official NHL retirement Tuesday, ending a 13-season NHL career that was highlighted by an Olympic gold medal in 2002.

Peca, who turns 36 in March, had 465 points (176 goals, 289 assists) and 798 penalty minutes in 864 regular-season games with Vancouver, Buffalo, the New York Islanders, Edmonton, Toronto and Columbus. His feisty, two-way game was underlined by winning the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward in 1997 and 2002.

“The game has given me everything I’ve got,” Peca told ESPN.com Tuesday from his home in Buffalo. “I’ll be forever thankful for the time I spent in the game. I don’t think a day will go by where I won’t spend at least a few moments of the day reminiscing about the time I had.”

Click here to read the full article – By Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com

Jonas Gustavsson throws himself on the puck like a doughboy falling on a grenade: as if the lives of his trench-mates depend on it.

This is the stuff of combat – what the Toronto Maple Leafs had been missing in a backstop, a netminder who literally had their back.

In a fairer world, the team would have more to show for that stop-frame moment, on the overall effort of Monday’s mano-a-mano with the Buffalo Sabres. But here, as it turns out, was evidence of the Leafs’ misfortune in a microcosm.

A spectacular goaltending episode for Gustavsson midway through the second period of Monday night’s game had the young Swede hurling his body at rubber, just one of many heart-thumping scrums around the Leaf crease all evening. But the puck squirted loose, no Toronto skater could control the bouncing bugger, and Gustavsson, though lithe and limber with split-leg lunges at either post, inadvertently knocked the disc into the net in a deflection that went post-skate-twine.”

Click here to read the full article – By Rosie DiManno of Toronto Star

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To the pantheon of great Montreal Canadiens please welcome … Tom D’Agostini, Jay Leach and Tom Pyatt?

Hey, you work with what you have, and the Habs are trying to stay afloat near .500 with a patchwork roster that has leaned on a number of callups for injured starters.

That will put them at something of a disadvantage again tonight when they play the near-healthy Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre.

Names such as Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, Andrei Markov and Andre Kostitsyn have been shelved in recent days.

“We’ve taken a beating lately,” said ex-Leaf defenceman Hal Gill, who himself is trying to make it back from a hairline foot fracture by tonight.

Click here to read the full article – By Montreal Gazette

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Before they joined the Ottawa Senators in the Dany Heatley trade, Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek knew only one National Hockey League team: the San Jose Sharks.

So it was not without a little nervousness that the two of them touched down in California on Sunday, almost three months after the trade. They don’t know what awaits them, how they will be greeted and how they in turn will react. It’s always tough to go home.

Both were drafted by the Sharks — Cheechoo in 1998 (second round, 29th overall), Michalek in 2003 (first round, sixth overall) — and had their most productive seasons, so far, in San Jose. Cheechoo led the league in goals with 56 in 2005-06, while Michalek had a career high 26 goals and 40 assists in 2006-07.

On the personal side, both still own houses in San Jose and plan to keep them (at least until the real-estate market gets considerably better), and Cheechoo’s wife, Ashley, is from San Jose.

Both players are looking forward to Tuesday’s game, even if they know there’s danger in getting too pumped up.

Click here to read the full article – By Ottawa Citizen

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It wasn’t ideal, but Devan Dubnyk will take it.

So as Jeff Deslauriers was getting shelled Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks, Dubnyk was getting ready.

“That’s my job as the back-up,” Dubnyk said. “It’s certainly a tough game to jump into, but I was excited to get in my first one and get a feel for it. It certainly wasn’t a great outcome, but I had fun out there.”

He was the only Oiler that did — apart from possibly Colin McDonald, who scored his first NHL goal in the 7-3 loss to the Canucks.

Dubnyk gave up three goals on 24 shots in his debut.

Click here to read the full article – By Edmonton Sun

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Hockey players don’t often experience the luxury of getting a do-over in the midst of a rigorous season.

The Leafs’ big catch on the free-agent market last summer after he was lured from the arch-rival Montreal Canadiens with a five-year, $22.5-million US contract, Komisarek wants to erase from his memory his first 16 games in a Leafs uniform. His next Toronto chapter will begin tonight, when he is slated to return to the lineup against the Buffalo Sabres after a small quadriceps tear kept him out nearly three weeks.

“It was good to take a step back and re-evaluate,” Komisarek said. “You can’t change what has happened. It’s a fresh start, a clean sheet, and forget about what has happened.

“It doesn’t matter what it was. I don’t know — trying to make an impact, trying to make your presence felt, trying to do too much. I would not say it was one exact thing. I have to simplify my game and, most importantly, try to have some fun.”

Komisarek originally targeted tomorrow’s game in Montreal to come back, but coach Ron Wilson saw no reason that he would not play tonight.

Click here to read the full article – By Toronto Sun

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Almost insulted as the crowd around him grew from a couple of reporters to a handful, Miikka Kiprusoff begged them not to grill him looking for reasons for his spectacular play this season.

“It’s nothing new. All the same,” he said Saturday morning in Columbus as he enjoyed a rare day off while backup Curtis McElhinney prepared for his third start of the season.

But it’s not the same old Miikka tending the twine for the Flames.

He hasn’t had a season this consistent since his Vezina Trophy-winning campaign of 2005-06.

Thankful for a team that is showing a renewed commitment to defence on most nights — Kiprusoff credits the skaters in front of him for the kind of statistics the Finn hasn’t enjoyed since he claimed the title of the NHL’s best goalie four years ago — the 33-year-old gets that same kind of praise from the guys who are tasked with protecting him.

Click here to read the full article – By Calgary Sun