Suffice it to say that this was not the rookie season Sidney Crosby dreamed of when he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins last summer.
Crosby has been every bit as good as advertised. He's on pace to score more than 90 points and has a chance to become only the second 18-year-old in NHL history to reach 100. He's second in goals and points and first in assists among first-year players.
But Crosby's play has been just about the only highlight for the Penguins, who have paid for their inability to get leads with 49 losses (37 in regulation), the most in the NHL.
The Penguins have scored the first goal just 20 times this season, the lowest total in the NHL. They're 12-5-3 in those games, a .600 winning percentage that's as good as the Northwest Division-leading Calgary Flames. But they've allowed the opposition to score first 43 times in 63 games, the highest total in the NHL. The Penguins have won just two of those 43 games, a League low, and have earned just 13 points, one more than St. Louis, which has 12, the lowest total in the NHL. The Pens are just 1-24-6 when trailing after one period and 0-33-9 when trailing after two.
The one good note for Crosby this season is that he won his head-to-head "series" with Washington rookie star Alexander Ovechkin. Despite Wednesday's 6-3 loss in Washington, the Penguins and Crosby beat Ovechkin and the Capitals in three of their four meetings this season.
Under the radar -- He doesn't get the attention that Crosby and Ovechkin do, but Colorado's Marek Svatos has been every bit as important to his team as either of the NHL's two high-profile rookies -- too bad for the Avalanche that he'll miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. That injury likely will keep Svatos from breaking the NHL rookie record for game-winning goals. He has nine, matching the mark set by Chicago's Steve Larmer in 1982-83. Svatos also had 16 of his 32 goals in the third period, tying him for second with San Jose's Jonathan Cheechoo behind Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson (18).
Winning despite the numbers --The Nashville Predators are on the way to the best season in franchise history. But they're doing it the hard way.
No goaltenders on playoff-bound teams work as hard as Tomas Vokoun and his backups do. Through 62 games, the Predators were allowing 32.9 shots against per game, the fifth-highest total in the League -- only Pittsburgh, Columbus, Florida and Washington have allowed more. The Predators are also 26th in shots on goal (27.9 per game), meaning that Nashville has been out-shot by an average of five shots per contest, more than any other team except last-place Pittsburgh and Columbus.
So how are the Predators winning? They are doing some things well. Nashville's 54.0 success rate on faceoffs is second in the NHL, meaning the Preds have the puck a lot. Though they spotted the opposition the first goal in exactly half of their first 62 games, they have a League-leading .613 winning percentage (19-10-2) in those games (the League average is about 36 percent). The 19 wins when allowing opponents to score first is a League high.
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One of the keys to the Predators success this season has been a 54.0 success rate on faceoffs, good for second in the NHL.
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The Predators are also plus-10 on special teams, part of the reason that they're tied for second in the NHL with 21 one-goal wins (21-12) and fifth with a .636 winning percentage in games decided by a goal.
In the end, the biggest reason for the Preds' success boils down to Vokoun. Though he had faced more shots (1,614) than any goaltender in the NHL except Florida's Roberto Luongo, he was fifth in save percentage (.921) , 10th in goals-against average (.2.60), and was one of only two goaltenders (along with New Jersey's Martin Brodeur) to play in 50 or more games and win 30 or more.
First time's not the charm -- The Carolina Hurricanes had an unwanted first in Wednesday night's 3-2 shootout loss in Philadelphia. For the first time in 26 games this season, the ?Canes took a lead into the third period and didn't come away with two points. They came close -- the Flyers sent the game into overtime by scoring with 0.2 seconds left in regulation time, then winning a shootout. It was also just the third time in 33 games this season that the Hurricanes scored the first goal and didn't win the game; they're 30-2-1 when they open the scoring.
Fond farewell -- Mark Parrish was one of the New York Islanders' most popular players. He left them with a goal to remember him by on Tuesday night, less than 24 hours before he was dealt to the Los Angeles Kings. Parrish's third-period goal tied the Isles' game against New Jersey at 1-1, and New York won the game 2-1 in a shootout. It was the first time in 24 games in which they trailed after two periods that the Islanders came back to win the game. That leaves four teams -- Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Anaheim, and Florida -- without a victory when trailing after two periods. The Panthers (0-18-2) have a League-low two points when the opposition leads after 40 minutes.
Blue heaven -- Maybe the Atlanta Thrashers should consider wearing their blue jerseys on a regular basis. The Thrashers are 7-3-2 when they play in their third jerseys, but just 22-24-2 in their standard home and road models. Atlanta is scheduled to wear the blue jerseys four more times, beginning with a March 18 game against Philadelphia.
