Interdivision play ends this weekend, and the San Jose Sharks will be sorry to see it end.
The Sharks are playing catch-up in the race for a playoff berth in the Western Conference, but without their 10 games against Eastern Conference teams, they'd be out of the race. San Jose stomped its Eastern opponents, going 9-1-0. The Sharks missed a clean sweep by losing their last game, a 6-2 decision in Montreal on Jan. 14.
With the Sharks and Vancouver Canucks (8-1 entering Saturday's home game against Montreal) leading the way, the Western Conference is assured of coming out ahead in interconference play. After 146 of the 150 East-West games, Western teams were 76-51-19, compared with 70-59-17 for Eastern clubs.
One thing that's been noticeable is the number of interconference games that weren't settled in regulation time. In all, 36 of the 146 games (24.7 percent) had to be settled in overtime or via a shootout. Of the other 549 games played so far, 109 (19.9 percent) had to go to extra time.
The Sharks and Carolina Hurricanes are the only team to sweep their five home games against the other conference (though the Canucks and Calgary Flames can join them with wins on Saturday). The Sharks went 5-for-5 in San Jose against the Southeast Division, while the Hurricanes swept five games in Raleigh against the Central Division on the way to a 7-2-1 mark against the West, the best by an Eastern Conference team.
The worst team in interconference play? The Pittsburgh Penguins, who went 1-9-0 against the West, with only a home victory over Colorado on Dec.10 enabling them to avoid a sweep. One of the Pens' losses was a 3-0 defeat in St. Louis on Dec. 13, the Blues' only victory against the East. St. Louis was 1-8 plus an overtime loss.
John Kreiser, who has covered the NHL since 1975, is NHL.com's man behind the numbers. His column appears each weekend on NHL.com.
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Goodbye Ziggy -- Ziggy Palffy never came close to winning a Stanley Cup - his teams made the playoffs only three times in his 12 NHL seasons, and he got as far as the second round just once. But Palffy, who announced his retirement on Wednesday, knew where the net was. The Slovak sniper, who broke into the NHL with the New York Islanders in 1993-94 and also played for Los Angeles before signing with Pittsburgh last summer, is a rarity -- he's one of only five active players who started in the NHL in 1993-94 or later to average at least a point a game while playing his whole career in what has been (until this season) the most defensive-oriented era in the NHL since the 1950s.
Palffy leaves the NHL with 713 points in 684 games. Only Peter Forsberg (621 GP/801 points), Paul Kariya (703 GP/748 points) and 2001-02 newcomers Dany Heatley (235 GP/242 points) and Ilya Kovalchuk (271 GP/272 points) began their careers with or after Palffy and matched his point-a-game pace.
Home at Last -- The Philadelphia Flyers officially own the most productive road trip in NHL history. The Flyers' ended their three-week, 11-game marathon with an 8-2-0-1 record, despite losing two of the last three games. No team in NHL history has come home from a road trip with 17 points.
What the Flyers need now is to find their winning touch at the Wachovia Center. They dropped their first three home games after the trip, losing in overtime to Colorado, in a shootout to Carolina, and in regulation time to Boston.
Philadelphia's 11-game swing also matched the longest trip in modern NHL history. The Calgary Flames played 11 consecutive games away from the Saddledome in February 1988 when the Winter Olympics came to town. They didn't fare as well, going 5-5 with one tie.
A Perfect Four --The Minnesota Wild is having a feast-or-famine season. Wednesday night's 5-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs gave Minnesota a 17-0-0 mark when it scores four or more goals. The Wild has racked up 78 goals in those games (including one for winning a shootout). Minnesota's problems come on the nights when it doesn't hit four: The Wild is 4-21-4 when scoring less than four goals and notched just 51 tallies in those 29 games.
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How's this for a wild stat? Brian Rolston and Minnesota are 17-0-0 when scoring four or more goals.
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Discipline Pays Off -- Want one reason for the New Jersey Devils' resurgence? How about their ability to stay out of the penalty box? The Devils entered the weekend having won all eight of their games in 2006, in large part because they aren't giving the opposition many power-play chances. In the eight games, the Devils have allowed their opponents only 17 power plays (2.1 per game). No team has come close to allowing so few man advantages over a similar stretch.
Wrong Place, Wrong Time -- The New York Rangers have been pleased with the play of defenseman Michal Rozsival, a free-agent pickup before the start of the season. Rozsival is plus-21 and scored the winning goal in Thursday night's 4-2 victory in Pittsburgh. But although the Rangers are in the top third in the penalty-killing rankings, they're not nearly as efficient when Rozsival is in the box. The defenseman has taken 27 minor penalties this season and has been in the box for 11 opposition power-play goals (including three 5-on-3 goals).
Too Many Shots? -- Florida's 52-shot barrage against Columbus on Jan. 14 marked only the third time this season that a team has broken the 50-shot mark. Maybe they should shoot a little less. All three teams that exceeded 50 shots in a game lost: The Panthers lost 5-4 to Columbus in a shootout. On Dec. 13, Florida survived a 55-shot onslaught by Washington in a 3-2 win, and Boston lost 5-4 in a shootout to Toronto on October 24 despite taking 53 shots.
Shooting Star -- Dallas rookie Jussi Jokinen entered the weekend with 10 goals -- not bad for a 22-year-old who was picked 192nd overall in the 2001 Entry Draft. But get him into a shootout and Jokinen is the most dangerous player in hockey. Jokinen is a perfect 5-for-5 on shootout attempts, the best mark in the league. Among players who've taken more than one shot in shootouts, the only other player who hasn't been stopped is Columbus' Jaroslav Balastik-he's 3-for-3.
