NHL Capsules: Stars activate Benn in time for All-Star game
DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Stars have activated forward Jamie Benn from injured reserve in time for him to participate in the All-Star game.
Benn missed five games while recovering from an emergency appendectomy. He's expected to play in Sunday's All-Star game in Ottawa and be back in the lineup when the Stars return from the break Tuesday at Anaheim.
The 22-year-old Benn has 13 goals and 29 assists. The Stars also sent Tomas Vincour, Philip Larsen and Matt Fraser to the Texas Stars of the AHL.
NHL Capsule
Canadiens' 7-2 win ends Red Wings' win streak at seven
MONTREAL (AP) — David Desharnais had two goals and an assist, and the Montreal Canadiens ended Detroit's seven-game winning streak with a 7-2 victory over the Red Wings on Wednesday night.
Alexei Emelin scored his first NHL goal, and Montreal scored four times in the opening period against Jimmy Howard, who will make his first NHL All-Star game appearance on Sunday in Ottawa. The Canadiens put their first two shots of the second period past backup goalie Ty Conklin, who took over for Howard to begin the middle period.
Rene Bourque, Max Pacioretty and Erik Cole each had a goal and an assist, and Tomas Plekanec also scored. Tomas Kaberle had two assists. Carey Price stopped 25 shots for Montreal, which moved into 11th place in the Eastern Conference with 47 points, one ahead of Tampa Bay.
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NHL's All-Star game missing top All-Stars
When the NHL hatched the plan for an All-Star game draft, it seemed like a can't-miss way to generate buzz for the weekend. Who would you pick first if starting a team from scratch?
Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby? Washington's Alex Ovechkin? Chicago's Jonathan Toews? Maybe Edmonton rookie sensation Ryan Nugent-Hopkins? Surely, they'd go 1-2-3 in some order.
The suspense was guessing where the MVPs and Stanley Cup champs would go. Time to dig deeper in the roster for that No. 1 pick.
The draft has turned into pure fantasy for this weekend's game in Ottawa. With none of those four players available, the All-Star game has turned into the Missing Stars game, extracting some of the fun out of the showcase weekend. Injuries are the main culprit for the All-Star withdrawals, though Ovechkin pulled out this week because the game fell during his league-issued three-game suspension.
The league banked on Crosby and Ovechkin years ago to lead them into great popularity and higher TV ratings well into this decade. For this season, at least, All-Star weekend goes on without them.
And without them, the league is hoping the lure of the draft is enough to attract some eyeballs to the product on a weekend without the NFL playoffs.
Crosby and Ovechkin are the type of players fans pay to watch. Home or away, regular season or playoffs, they've attracted the attention of the casual fans and helped revitalize the NHL after losing the 2004-05 season because of labor issues.
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin and Detroit Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk might be the best players in the NHL. Yet, when they're picked Thursday night, the casual fan watching at a sports bar or reading the AP recap on a website would be more apt to ask, "Who?" instead of saying, "Wow."
Red Wings All-Star goalie Jimmy Howard knows who he would select.
"Pav. He's the best player in the world, that's why," he said. "There's no reason why he shouldn't be first."
Datsyuk has 14 goals and 53 points, and keyed Detroit's run to the top of the Western Conference. Those numbers might not be enough to make him the No. 1 pick — and statistics aren't the reason. This is the second straight season the All-Stars are divided in two teams not based on conference or nationality.
Team Alfredsson, led by Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson and his assistant, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, takes on Team Chara, featuring Boston captain Zdeno Chara and his assistant, forward Joffrey Lupul of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
A coin toss will decide the first pick, with Alfredsson and Chara, joined by their assistants, alternately drafting the 38 remaining All-Stars through 19 rounds. Each team has three goaltenders, six defensemen and 12 forwards. Each team's three goalies must be picked by the end of Round 10 and each team's six defensemen must be picked through Round 15.
Alfredsson has stated he would pick his teammate, 21-year-old defenseman Erik Karlsson, to kick off his selections. The Senators are well represented with five All-Stars.
"My kids would be disappointed if I didn't pick Erik, and he's a pretty good player," Alfredsson told reporters after he was named captain.
Chara hasn't tipped his hand, but has Bruins teammates Tyler Seguin and Tim Thomas to choose from, though neither are a likely first pick. Chara's in an interesting spot. He's played for Ottawa and could endear himself to his former fans by picking — and dividing — the Senators. Or he could follow Alfredsson's lead and draft one of his Stanley Cup-champion teammates, like Thomas.
Thomas is expected to show up days after causing a stir by skipping Boston's trip to the White House for President Barack Obama's salute to the champs. He skipped out of protest because he believes the federal government "has grown out of control" and threatens rights and liberties.
Ovechkin also created some minor controversy when he decided this week to pass on the All-Star game because he didn't want to serve as a distraction for playing while serving a suspension.
"My heart is not there. I got suspended, so why (do) I have to go there?" the two-time league MVP said Tuesday. "I love the (All-Star) game. It's a great event. I love to be there."
So would his fellow missing stars.
Crosby has missed most of this season because of concussion-like symptoms that have limited him to eight games over the last 12 months. Toews, who has 27 goals and 23 assists in 49 games, is out with a wrist injury. Nugent-Hopkins, the rookie star center for the Oilers, is out with a left shoulder injury.
The best part of draft night is the guilty pleasure that comes with seeing who's picked last and earns the NFL equivalent of the "Mr. Irrelevant" title.
One year ago, Toronto forward Phil Kessel could only watch while every other player was picked ahead of him. Then, as he sat alone, Ovechkin pulled out a cell phone and snapped a photo of Kessel. His dubious honor wasn't a total loss. Kessel received a car and a donation was made in his name to a charity of his choice.
Eric Staal, who captained a team last season, said some players had told him they didn't want to go last. The prize was enough to make some players feel last pick isn't the worst pick.
"It doesn't matter. You're there and at the game," Sabres forward Jason Pominville said. "But I think you get a car out of it. It gets a lot of attention and stuff."
He's right, of course, it doesn't matter where he's picked as long as he's there.
For Crosby and Toews and the rest of the injured stars, they'll have to wait 'til next year.
-- Dan Gelston
Penguins streaking into All-Star break on a high
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Dan Byslma isn't a doctor, even though the Pittsburgh Penguins coach sometimes sounds like one while running down his team's lengthy injured list.
So forgive Bylsma if he can't exactly say whether star center Evgeni Malkin is fully recovered from the torn ACL in his right knee that prematurely ended Malkin's 2010-11 season.
Malkin's entertainingly broken English doesn't lend itself to adjectives, anyway. Ask Malkin how he's feeling and the Russian just smiles and gives some version of the word "good."
All Bylsma knows is what he sees. And at the moment he sees the 25-year-old All-Star playing arguably the best hockey of his career, heady territory considering Malkin won the Conn Smythe Trophy while helping the Penguins to the 2009 Stanley Cup.
"I don't know if he's going to have another couple levels to get to 100 percent," Bylsma said. "(If so) in six more months it's going to be really scary."
It already is.
Two weeks after Pittsburgh's season seemed on the brink of unraveling in the midst of a six-game slide, the Penguins have turned things around in the blink of one of Malkin's slapshots.
Pittsburgh enters the All-Star break riding a seven-game winning streak, the franchise's longest since ripping off 12 straight in November-December 2010.
Yet that run came with the team nearly at full strength, before Sidney Crosby's odyssey to recover from concussion-like symptoms began following a pair of hits last January, before Malkin's season ended abruptly with knee issues.
This run has come with Crosby out indefinitely — again — as the symptoms returned in early December. It's also come without forward Jordan Staal, likely out another month with a knee injury.
It has come mostly on the strength of the top line of Malkin, James Neal and Chris Kunitz, who have become nearly unstoppable over the last two weeks.
The trio has scored 16 of Pittsburgh's 24 goals during the run, with Malkin's nine over the span propelling him into the NHL's points lead.
He's scoring in a variety of ways. If he's not rifling slapshots from his favorite spot in the right circle, then he's weaving his way through traffic or posting up in front of the net to slam in loose rebound after loose rebound.
"He's controlling the game so well right now," Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin said of his fellow countryman. "He knows that without Crosby (their) team is good, but not that good. He's handling it well."
So well Malkin's barely batting an eye at the massive amount of ice time Bylsma is throwing his way. Malkin has played more than 20 minutes in each game during the streak, including topping 25 minutes twice, a remarkably heavy workload for a forward.
Part of it is out of necessity — he's easily the team's best player with Crosby sidelined — and part of it is out of luxury.
"There are times when he's probably gotten a lot of ice and he's still ready to handle more," Bylsma said. "He's demanding the ice time by his play."
For proof, Bylsma pointed to a pair of hustle plays by Malkin last week that helped preserve the winning streak.
In a 5-4 shootout victory over Montreal last Friday, Malkin went to the ice to block a shot, a rarity for him during a regular season game. He preserved the tie, then won it by scoring the only goal in the shootout.
He was just as fresh in the third period against Washington on Sunday, picking himself up after getting checked, then chasing the puck down and fending off three Capitals before feeding Neal for the game-tying goal. The Penguins would eventually win in a shootout.
"The way he's playing right now, it doesn't look too much like he's getting overtaxed," Bylsma said. "There's not a cheat in the effort in those 25 minutes, and that's what you see in his game on both ends of the rink."
It's the kind of on-ice leadership the Penguins needed following a miserable stretch at the beginning of the month in which a team considered a Stanley Cup contender two months ago looked like a veritable pushover.
Six mostly lifeless losses dropped Pittsburgh to the fringe of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, with goals becoming scarce and whispers about Crosby's silence leading to questions about his commitment.
Crosby joined the team for a three-game swing through Washington and Florida, even donning his skates for the first time in over a month during a couple of light practices.
While his teammates point to the captain's presence as encouraging, they also know they couldn't wait around for No. 87 to swoop in and save the day.
Defenseman Brooks Orpik says a well-timed team meeting just before playing at Washington on Jan. 11 served as a turning point.
"I hate using the word soft, but at times we'd become easy to play against," he said.
With Crosby out of the lineup, the Penguins were so focused on trying to manufacture goals, they forgot about the other parts of the game, namely checking.
"We may not go out and fight every night but teams are going to feel like we forecheck and bounce pretty well," forward Matt Cooke said. "I think we got away from that."
Though the Capitals won 1-0 the next night, Orpik noticed a change.
"If you ask (Washington), I think they'd tell you it was one of the harder games they'd played all season," Orpik said. "When you're missing (defenseman Kris) Letang, Crosby, Staal, there's not going to be a lot of goals scored. You've got to find other ways to be hard to play against and get better in certain areas."
Lopsided wins in Florida and Tampa Bay followed, and the Penguins haven't looked back. Letang is in All-Star form since returning last week, and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has been exceptional.
The optimism inside the dressing room has returned, led by the hottest player on the planet.
"I have great confidence now, you know?" Malkin said. "I just am enjoying the game, you know? And having fun."
-- Will Graves
Liles signs four-year extension with Leafs
TORONTO (AP) — Defenseman John-Michael Liles signed a $15.5 million, four-year extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
Liles has four goals and 21 points in 34 games this season and is OK with the notion he might've passed up a more lucrative deal as a free agent.
"Some guys choose to go the unrestricted route, but it's a pretty special feeling when Burkie (Leafs GM Brian Burke) went out and traded for me and knowing that he wants me there for years to come," Liles said.
"As far as money goes, you could say that you leave some on the table. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't ... but I'm looking at it as I was negotiating a contract to stay in a place I wanted to be and play on a team I wanted to play on and live in a city I wanted to live in.
"It feels great. It's a place that's grown very dear to my heart, a place I was excited about getting traded to this summer."
The 31-year-old is in the final year of a contract that carries a cap hit of $4.2 million.
Liles has been sidelined since Dec. 22 with a concussion and is expected to return to the lineup after the All-Star break. In 557 games with the Avalanche and Leafs, he has 72 goals and 296 points.
Flu ends Wings D Lidstrom's games played streak
MONTREAL (AP) — Nicklas Lidstrom's consecutive-games streak ended at 213 on Wednesday night when the Detroit Red Wings captain sat out against the Montreal Canadiens because of the flu.
The 41-year-old defenseman practiced with his teammates earlier Wednesday, but was unable to play in the NHL's last game before the All-Star break.
Lidstrom, an 11-time participant in the All-Star game, wasn't picked for this year's festivities in Ottawa by request. He and veteran Anaheim Ducks forward Teemu Selanne asked to passed over so they can spend this weekend with their families.
Mike Commodore went into the lineup against the Canadiens in place of Lidstrom, who had the Red Wings' longest current streak. Alex Delvecchio holds the club record of 548 consecutive games.
Penguins' Neal replaces Ovechkin for all-star game
NEW YORK (AP) — Pittsburgh Penguins forward James Neal will replace Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin in the NHL All-Star game on Sunday. Ovechkin backed out of the game after he was issued a three-game suspension from the league for a hit on an opponent.
Neal leads the Penguins with 27 goals and is second on the team with 47 points. Neal leads the NHL with 210 shots and is tied for the league lead with 13 power-play goals. The Penguins have won nine consecutive games and are 17-3-2 overall when Neal scores a goal.
The All-Star fantasy draft will be held on Thursday in Ottawa. It will divide the All-Stars into two teams: Team Alfredsson, led by Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson and Team Chara, featuring Boston captain Zdeno Chara.
CBJ send LW Byers to AHL team
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Blue Jackets have assigned left wing Dane Byers to their American Hockey League affiliate in Springfield, Mass.
The 25-year-old Byers is scoreless with 24 penalty minutes and has an even plus/minus rating in five games with Columbus this season.
He has eight goals and 13 assists with 71 penalty minutes in 31 games with Springfield this season. He ranks second on the Falcons in power play goals (five) and penalty minutes. He has appeared in 11 career NHL games, including six with the New York Rangers, and has one goal and 55 penalty minutes.
Coyotes assign Summers, Goncharov, Pouliot to AHL
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Heading into the NHL All-Star break, the Phoenix Coyotes have assigned defensemen Chris Summers and Maxim Goncharov and forward Marc-Antoine Pouliot to their AHL affiliate in Portland, Maine. The moves were announced Wednesday by Coyotes general manager Don Maloney.
Summers has played in nine games with Phoenix this season and has three assists. He was a first-round pick of the Coyotes in the 2006 draft. Goncharov has been called up twice by the Coyotes this season, but has yet to register a point. Pouliot has played in nine games with Phoenix and has two assists.
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Russia wants game to mark 1972 Canadian matchup
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia wants to hold an exhibition hockey game in Moscow's Red Square to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Summit Series between the Soviet Union and Canada. The 1972 series, which Canada won 4-3-1, was the first time Soviet and Canadian NHL players faced each other.
The state news agency RIA Novosti quoted sports minister Vitaly Mutko as saying Wednesday that invitations have been issued to players for a Feb. 26 match.
The report said Paul Henderson, who scored the winning goals in three of the matches, has already accepted. Team captain Phil Esposito and Wayne Gretzky have been invited.
Also Wednesday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he is inviting NHL officials to Moscow to push for adjusting the league's schedule to allow players to participate in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
