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The netminder was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure after his heart started racing.  Apparently, the feeling he got was similar to the problems he experienced during training camp.  He underwent a procedure to correct the issue but it is possible that it didn’t work.  I’ve had that same procedure done (ablation) and I had to do it three times before it was truly better.

At least head coach Ron Wilson wasn’t taking any chances and he sent the goalie to the hospital and had Joey MacDonald replace him.  “I’m not going to be responsible for someone keeling over during a game,” said Wilson. “A game is not that important.”

I completely agree.

So, we’re supposed to have some sort of update tomorrow so I am hoping all will be well and he’ll be cleared to play – safely.

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Before you jump all over me, let me just say that I don’t particularly like the Red Wings so I’m not trying to defend their honor or anything.  They did, however, put the puck in the net twice, only to have both goals not count.

First, Dan Cleary scored during a power-play at the end of the first but then the ref ruled that he was in the crease.  Unfortunately, Cleary was denied a second time when he put the puck behind Kipper just as the ref whistled the play dead.

Weirdness… Again, it’s almost like the rumors about a conspiracy against Detroit are actually true.

Still, I don’t want to take the moment from Kiprusoff who made 32 saves in the first two periods alone.  He was really tested and he came up huge for the team.  Let’s hope he keeps this going.

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“It’s one of those injuries that we have to allow him to get better,” coach Claude Julien said. “Yet it could be something that could be cured on a day-to-day basis.”

Fortunately, they’ve got promising rookie, Tuukka Rask, to defend the team between the pipes just in case Thomas is out for a bit.  Rask started for the fifth straight game against the Minnesota Wild last night.  He stopped 28 shots in the 2-1 victory and I’m sure it’s no coincidence that the Bruins have won four in a row.  I gotta say that Boston is pretty lucky to have two good goalies to choose from which should take some pressure off of the team if Thomas is sidelined.

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He’ll be out of the lineup for about four weeks.  No team wants to lose their starting goalie for a month so I’m sure they have high hopes for Brian Elliot who will be replacing him.  Mike Brodeur has been brought up from the AHL to serve as a backup.

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The Washington Capitals did not elaborate on what is going on with Theodore but, considering how much he’s been through over the years, it really could be anything.   Let’s review:

• His dad and brothers pleaded guilty a few years ago on loansharking charges, among other things.
• His father-in-law, a well-known Quebec music producer, was convicted on serious child molestation charges
• Theo tested positive for the banned substance Propecia (but claimed he was taking it for hair loss…)
• He was accused of having an affair with Paris Hilton while his girlfriend took care of their sick baby
• He’s been sucky as a goaltender and it looks like Varlamov could easily replace him as #1
• His two-month baby died suddenly this year

Hopefully, this is something relatively minor and he’ll be back with the team.  It’s terrible since I can remember feeling like he had so much potential back when he was with the Montreal Canadiens and now it just seems like one bad thing after another for this guy.

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When they announced that Brent Sutter would be coming over from the New Jersey Devils, I was mostly happy but I was particularly relieved for Kiprusoff.  He responded very well to Daryl Sutter’s coaching style and Brent has a somewhat similar philosophy and I also figured he’d work well with older brother, Daryl, who is now the team’s GM.  So far, Kip seems to be slowly returning to his former self and I’m growing confident about his record this season.

I grew up in Montreal so I have a real allegiance to both teams and I really love when they play against each other, particularly since it happens so rarely.  When the Montreal Canadiens hosted the Flames last night, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  They battled here in Calgary back on October 6, 2009 and the Flames handed the Habs a 4-3 loss with Jaroslav Halak between the pipes.

Halak was backstopping the Habs again and, although he made 30 saves, he was the losing goaltender while Kiprusoff got to enjoy his first shutout this season.  It was a low-scoring game, 1-0, and I know that some people complain about those but I found it very exciting.

Calgary captain, Jarome Iginla, scored the lone goal and has scored in the last four games.  The Flames have also won the last four consecutive contests.  If Iggy and Kipper can find a rhythm, who knows how this season will end?

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“I’d rather retire than be a backup goalie,” Giguere said. “Something needs to happen. You get a guy like (Hiller) that’s going to be a free agent at the end of the year and myself, making the money I’m making, either I’m leaving or he’s leaving.  I want to play, that’s when I have fun. Right now, this is not fun.”

In case you’re not familiar with his deal, Giguere will make $13 million over the next two seasons with the Anaheim Ducks.  Hiller, on the other hand, is set to earn $1.3 million in the final year of his deal.

I don’t know about you but that sort of smack talk just screams immaturity to me.  It’s great to see someone who wants to be on top of his game but for crap’s sake, we’re talking about six games WHILE HE WAS INJURED.  Is someone feeling a little insecure?  How about focusing on making sure he’s better than Hiller and actually earning that ridiculous contract that the Ducks gave him?

Honestly, if he’s going to act like this, I saw trade him.  He’s obviously got his own best interests at heart instead of the team’s and a player like that is dangerous.  If he keeps yapping, I say dump him.

Has no one learned from the whole Dany Heatley saga?

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All of this went down after the Montreal Canadiens lost 3-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.  Walsh decided to do what too many people have – say too freaking much on Twitter.  Why can’t people control themselves?  He wrote: “Interesting stat of the night….Price is 10W, 32L in last 42 starts. Hmm.”

That’s such a crappy thing to say.  He’s a young goalie and I know that Walsh’s job is to pimp out Halak but let their talent dictate who starts and who doesn’t.

He later Tweeted: “It was a tongue in cheek comment not meant to be taken seriously, forgot it was Montreal and everyone loses a sense of humor.”

So far this season, Halak has a 5-2 record this season while Price has a 3-7 record.  There’s no need to kick a guy while he’s down.

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Ward is still in the hospital and didn’t fly home with the team after the 3-2 loss.  “It’s a significant injury and all I mean by that is I don’t have any timeline,” coach Paul Maurice said. “There was a fair amount of blood on the ice. All I know it was his leg; other than that I do not know any more.”

Ward had to be helped off the ice by two trainers with blood trailing him all the way to the dressing room.  He seems to be a magnate for skate blades since he got sliced up by Brad Isbister during a game in March 2007.

“It’s a scary thing to have happen,” Columbus goalie Steve Mason said. “When you see something like that happen, especially a guy like him — he’s a really nice guy off the ice — you hope everything is OK and it’s not too serious.  With the amount of blood that was coming from him, it’s a pretty scary situation.”

I seriously hope that everything goes well with Ward.  He was so important to the team’s playoff success last year and I felt that he was off to a decent start again.  Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious and he’ll be back in the lineup in no time.

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Rangers forward, Andy Bathgate, was pretty irritable with Habs netminder, Jacques Plante, who, he says, rubbed it in when the Rangers were beaten at home.  He also was a bit upset about an altercation with the goalie that almost left Bathgate in the hospital.

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“The puck was dumped in and it wasn’t a hard shot,” Batgate recalled.  “I thought I could beat him to the puck but all this was happening in split seconds. And Jacques came out the right side and he saw that I was coming, I was right on him, and he turned around and saw me and he gave me a poke-check and I went head first into the boards. I wasn’t prepared for that and my head was right straight-on, and I got it turned enough that I cut my ear and I cut my face a little bit. What he did to me was not called for. I thought: “How do you show him, ‘Hey, big boy, you got to even things up here. You want to play that game?  I had better straighten it out.’”

“I came down the left wing, and Jacques used to sort of sit with his ass in the net and his head sticking out, ready to go across,” Bathgate continued. “I just gave him a fairly good wrist shot. I was trying to hit him somewhere where he would remember me and, boom, I nailed him. It wasn’t a hard shot. If I had really wanted to shoot it hard, I could have broken his jaw, but he bled good.”

Plante suffered a broken nose, needed stitches and was pretty banged up but he didn’t want to miss the rest of the game.  He had been experimenting with a homemade mask and asked if he could wear it onto the ice.  The coach (Toe Blake) was pissed and didn’t want him to wear it but he had no choice since there wasn’t a backup.  He made Plante promise to get rid of the mask when his face healed up.

“He had to go to his own dressing room and then all of a sudden he came out with this mask on,” recalled Bathgate. “And we all looked at each other and said, ‘What is this?’”

Unbelievably, the Canadiens supported their newly masked goaltender and ended up winning the game 3-1.  I’m guessing the positive experience was enough that the Habs goalie continued wearing it and his peers decided to copy.

It’s great to look at how such an important part of the game was introduced.  I can’t imagine hockey without the goalie mask and what would the world be like without masked (fictional) serial killer, Jason Voorhees?

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