Around the NHL (Dec. 22)

 Here’s your Saturday fix from around the NHL . . .

DETROIT: The Red Wings have a record of 25-7-3 heading into Saturday’s game at Minnesota.  That’s not too shabby, but the Wings are 5-6 against the Central Division. The Blues are responsible for two of those division losses, including Thursday’s 3-2 victory over the Wings. For comparison, Detroit was 22-4-6 against the division last year. “You want to be challenged,” goalie Chris Osgood said. “Not that anyone wants to struggle, but you want to battle and see how tough the guys in the room are. You don’t want it to be a cakewalk.”

EDMONTON: The Oilers LOST a shootout in Dallas Tuesday. That’s headline news  for two reasons. Even with the loss, the Oilers are 10-2  in shootouts this year. Also, it was the fourth straight Oilers game that went to a shootout, an NHL record. “It’s great entertainment, great drama,”  Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said.  â€œYou get to the shootout, you’re playing with   house money.” Edmonton uses Sam Gagner, Ales Hemsky and Shawn Horcoff in shootouts.

NASHVILLE: The Predators have lost five straight games and seven of their last eight heading into tonight’s game against L.A. In the eight-game stretch, the Preds have scored only 14 goals and have netted more than two goals in a game just once.  Here’s teh individual breakdown: David Legwand (1 goal last 18 games), Alexander Radulov  (2 in last 13), Jason Arnott (2 in last 11), J.P. Dumont (2 in last  9) and Martin Erat (1 in last 7). “There are certainly guys that we expected to score that haven’t scored,” Preds GM David Poile said. “David Legwand has one goal in (18) games. That’s embarrassing. It should be embarrassing to him.”

BUFFALO: The Sabres won 2-1 over the New York Islanders this week, marking only the fourth time this season they’ve won a game by one goal. In Buffalo’s 17 wins this season, they have outscored their opponent 76-29. In their 15 losses, they’ve been outscored 60-25. “I think it shows some inconsistency,” Buffalo defenseman Brian Campbell said. “One good game, one game not so good.”

CALGARY: As it turns out, the Blues were part of NHL history when they lost to the Flames last week at Scottrade Center. Calgary left St. Louis and won in Columbus, closing out their road trip 6-0.  The perfect six-game  streak tied the ‘71-72 Bruins for the longest, continuous trip. The ‘82-83 Flyers and ‘01-02 Red Wings also won six on the road with no home games in between, but those trips were interrupted by the Christmas break (Flyers) and the Olympics (Red Wings).

FLORIDA: Goalie Tomas Vokoun has really turned his season around, as Blues fans witnessed recently in a 1-0 Panthers’ shutout over the Blues. Here are Vokoun’s numbers from the first 16 games: 3.31 GAA, .897 save-percentage, 7-9 record.  Here are his numbers from the last 14 games: 1.79 GAA, .947 save-percentage, 9-3-1 record.

DALLAS: Goalies Marty Turco and Mike Smith put a little humor into the Stars’ morning skate while in Vancouver. A year ago in the playoffs,  former Stars GM Doug Armstrong  asked the NHL to look at the pads of Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, and see if they met the league’s rules. They were ruled to be OK. This week, Turco and Smith took the ice wearing absurdly large cardboard extension pads with Luongo’s No. 1 on them. “The (homemade pads) were part comical, part serious,” said Turco, who is a member of the NHL competition committee. “I was really serious because I don’t like the idea of larger nets. We’re looking at a few ways so we don’t have to have larger nets.”

BOSTON: If Sidney Crosby never fights again in the NHL, Andrew Ference will be the answer to a trivia question. “Who was Crosby’s one and only fight in the NHL against?” The two tangled Thursday after Ference checked Crosby hard into the boards.  ”It was the same as if it was against anybody,”  Ference insisted. “It doesn’t matter if  it’s Sid or somebody else. That’s the way hockey is.” Crosby said: “It’s not something I’m going to make a habit of. I just remember getting punched. I don’t know if it was after the whistle, I just remember him punching me. His gloves came  off.”

TAMPA BAY: Lightning owner Palace  Sports & Entertainment  has  entered an exclusive negotiating window  with  Hollywood producer Oren Koules to work out a sale of the team. It’s believed the deal could go through by the end of January.  General manager says the sale should squash rumors of the Lightning trading their core players because Koules is buying the team because of players such as Vinny Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Marty St. Louis and Dan Boyle.

COLUMBUS:  Since a  stretch of 8-3-2, the Blue Jackets are 6-10-4. The word in Columbus is that fans are clamoring for a trade. GM Steve Howson will have a tough time making that happen because of the hefty contracts of Sergei Fedorov ($6.08 million) and Adam Foote ($4.6 million). “I can be very, very patient,” Howson insisted.

Writers in other cities contributed information to this report.

JR