Carolina’s offense was quiet as their only goal of the night was a first period tally off the stick of Brandon Suter, but that was all they would need as Ward would out-duel fellow all-star netminder Ryan Miller en route to the 1-0 shutout victory.  That shutout, the third of the season for Ward, wouldn’t come easy however, as the Sabres peppered him with 40 shots, but none were good enough to beat him on this night.

With the win, the Canes move just two points back of the Sabres for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.  They will have the opportunity to grab those two points tonight when they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at home.  Whether Ward will get the nod in back-to-back games remains to be seen, but for now he earns our “Stat Line of the Night” for Tuesday, March 15, 2011.

Total Pro Sports – With the start of the 2009-10 NHL Season upon us it’s time to take a look and see how each team stacks up. As per the norm, each preview will be broken down by division in order of how we think the team will finish.

Lets take a look at the Southeast Division for the 2009-10 NHL Preview.

1. Washington Capitals

After a less than stellar 2009 playoff performance Washington will look to re-establish their dominance in the Southeast division and anything less than an Eastern Conference Finals appearance will be considered a disappointment.

Offence is what drives the Caps and when you look at who they have up front it’s easy to figure out why. Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom have been able to develop some great chemistry and Alexander Semin always seems to fly under the radar, mostly due to the fact that so far he’s been unable to play a full NHL season. Mike Knuble was a great pick up during the summer and Eric Fehr will look to improve on his 25 points in 61 games from last season. Brendan Morrison is the wild card as he looks to rebound after a not so great 2008-09 season.

The defence doesn’t appear to be the greatest, but it shouldn’t hurt the Caps in their quest for the Cup. Mike Green, Tom Poti and a healthy Brian Pothier will help supply some offence from the back end while guys like Jeff Schultz, Shaone Morrisonn and John Erskine give Washington some stability and toughness in their own end.

Goaltending is a bit of a question mark heading into the season. Semyon Varlamov had his coming out party in last year’s playoffs but because of Theodore’s contract the Capitals will give Jose every chance to prove he’s still the team’s #1.

2. Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina had a great second half to the 2008-09 season and finished it off with a surprising run to the Eastern Conference Finals. They managed to keep their core together during the summer so it’ll be interesting to see if they can build on last season’s success.

Eric Staal leads the Hurricanes offence and will look to maintain his regular season chemistry with winger Erik Cole. If not, the underrated Ray Whitney is a more than capable replacement. Jussi Jokinen, Sergei Samsonov and Tuomo Ruutu will be looked upon to provide some secondary scoring and captain Rod Brind’Amour will look to rebound from a disappointing 2008-09 season where he put up 51 points and had a terrible plus/minus rating of minus-23.

Carolina’s defence will miss the departure of Anton Babchuk after his breakout season last year but in the end should still be good enough to help make the playoffs. Joni Pitkanen and Joe Corvo bring some offence from the blue line and players like Tim Gleason, Aaron Ward and Niclas Wallin will be able to hold the fort in their own end.

In net Cam Ward will be looking for his fourth consecutive 30+ win season and Michael Leighton will look to improve off of a so-so season that saw him put up 6 wins, a .901 SAV% and 2.92 GAA in 19 games.

3. Florida Panthers

The Panthers surprised a few people last year by finishing with 93 points and contending for the 8th spot in the East. Despite the loss of Jay Bouwmeester I expect Florida to do the same this year too.

The Panthers offence will be riding the coat tails of David Booth and Nathan Horton. Big things are expected of 2006 draft pick Michael Frolik and Stephen Weiss, Cory Stillman and Rostislav Olesz will provide the secondary scoring.

Despite the loss of Jay Bouwmeeester Florida’s defence looks good. Newly appointed captain Bryan McCabe, Jordan Leopold and Keith Ballard will look to anchor the point on the power play with Bryan Allen, Ville Koistinen and Denis Seidenberg rounding out the blue line.

Goaltending appears to be the team’s strength with Tomas Vokoun looking to start this season where he left off last season and Scott Clemmensen out to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke.

4. Tampa Bay Lightning

After back-to-back terrible seasons, 2009-10 is the season the Lightning climb out of the basement.

Upfront is where Tampa flourishes. Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St.Louis, Steven Stamkos, Ryan Malone and Alex Tanguay make up what will be one of the top offences in the league. Steve Downie, Ryan Craig, Jeff Halpern and Paul Szczechura make up a solid bottom 6 providing toughness and good defence.

With the addition of Mattias Ohlund and a healthy Andrej Meszaros the Lightning’s blue line will be much improved over last year’s. Paul Ranger and Mike Lundin will look to keep on improving and Matt Lashoff could surprise.

Between the pipes Tampa Bay is set with Mike Smith who posted a .916 SAV% and 2.62 GAA in 41 games last season and Antero Niittymaki as a solid backup.

5. Atlanta Thrashers

Despite some nice additions to their forward and defensive groups I still see the Thrashers finishing last in the Southeast Division and obtaining another top 5 draft pick.

Ilya Kovalchuk leads Atlanta’s offence along with youngster Bryan Little and will look to develop some chemistry with Nik Antropov. Vyacheslav Kozlov, Rich Peverley and Todd White will be looked upon to supply some of the secondary scoring with Colby Armstrong assigned as the team’s pest and Eric Boulton as the muscle.

The Thrashers look pretty good on defence with Pavel Kubina, Tobias Enstrom, Ron Hainsey and Zach Bogosian making up the top 4. Nathan Oystrick, Anssi Salmela and Boris Valabik will battle it out for the 3rd pairing.

Net is a big question mark right now. Kari Lehtonen appears to be the #1 still, but if he falters the team wont hesitate to go with Johan Hedberg or Ondrej Pavelec.

It is difficult to blame Cam Ward for the loss, as a team is unlikely to win when it can only manage to score one goal, which came in the opening minutes of the game.  The Talbot marker, however, did take momentum away from the Hurricanes, and give it to Pittsburgh going into the break.  Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and the Pens would not look back from there, netting four unanswered goals in the game and completing the series sweep on route to the Stanley Cup Finals where it looks like they will once again meet the Detroit Red Wings.

The Wings square off against the Chicago Blackhawks tonight at Joe Louis Arena in game 5, up 3-1 in the series.  They will be without the services of superstars Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Lidstrom for the second straight game.  It did not seem to slow them down last time in a 6-1 victory and they will be hoping for a similar result tonight.

Should the Wings end the series in this evening’s game 5 contest, the finals will begin on Saturday, May 30th in Detroit.  If not, game 6 of their series will take place in Chicago that same Saturday night.

Here is the Talbot goal.  Talk about bringing back the knuckle puck.  “OMG” indeed!

Malkin was flying all game, scoring his first goal in the opening frame, and assisting on another in the second, but it was in the third period that he really took over.  With the score tied at 4-4 and just over 8 minutes played in the third, Malkin scored his second, banging home a rebound past Canes goalie Cam Ward.  Less than four minutes later, it was an individual effort that will be all over the highlights today.

Malkin took the faceoff into the corner himself, brought the puck around the net, and as he came out on the other side, roofed a backhand, short side over the glove of Cam Ward.  That goal would put the Pens up by two, 6-4, and all but seal the victory for the home side.  It was a pure display of skill last night, and Malkin was the one showing it.

With the series now 2-0 and Carolina in desperate need of some help going back home, the story has quickly become the Penguins depth at center.  With Sidney Crosby, Malkin and Jordan Staal lined up down the middle, it is difficult for any team to match up with Pittsburgh in this area.  The Hurricanes will have to find a way though if they want to have any chance of playing for their second Stanley Cup in team history.

Here is the third Malkin goal.  An absolute beauty!

Total Pro Sports – Due to the shortened week there are some unlikely players making this week’s NHL Fantasy 3 Stars, most notably from the Los Angeles Kings.

This week’s honorable mention goes to Jarret Stoll of the Los Angeles Kings. Stoll put up 3 points (1 goal & 2 assists) with one of those assists coming on the power play. He also had 6 shots on goal and 2 penalty minutes. Jarret is far from a staple on any fantasy lineup, but he could come in handy in deeper leagues as he has a booming shot and sees lots of time on the power play for the Kings.

Lets take a look at the NHL Fantasy 3 Stars for Week 16.

3rd Star – Kyle Calder (LW), Los Angeles Kings

Once thought of as a young player with good potential in Chicago, Calder has found it difficult to vacate the 3rd line in the NHL. Kyle did put up 2 goals and 1 assist for 3 points last week to help the Kings win back-to-back games against the Wild and Avalanche. He also had two power plays points, 5 shots on goal and a plus/minus rating of plus-2.

2nd Star – Cam Ward (G), Carolina Hurricanes

After a strong start the Hurricanes find themselves fighting for the 8th and final playoff spot in the East and Cam Ward is a big reason why they haven’t dropped even further in the standings. Last week Ward won both of his games while posting a 0.50 GAA, .985 SAV% and 1 shutout. Cam is doing everything in his power to make sure Carolina isn’t the first team in NHL history to miss the playoffs 3 straight years after winning the Stanley Cup. So if you need goaltending help, Ward would be a good option to trade for in the second half.

1st Star – Ales Hemsky (RW), Edmonton Oilers

If Ales Hemsky isn’t the Oilers’ MVP so far this season, I don’t know who is. After missing 3 weeks Hemsky came back with a vengeance scoring 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points. He also had one power play point, 3 shots on goal and a plus/minus rating of plus-2. Ales is easily Edmonton’s best player and a great play maker but until he’s paired up with a great goal scorer he’ll never be able to reach his full fantasy potential.

Remember to check back in next week to see who the NHL Fantasy 3 Stars will be for Week 17.

3. Carolina Hurricanes Season Preview

The Hurricanes pushed Washington for the division last year but finished in 2nd and failed to make the playoffs. I expect them to miss the playoffs again this year and end up 3rd in the division.

Carolina has a good foundation at forward with Eric Staal, Rod Brind’Amour and the underrated Ray Whitney. Patrick Eaves will look to prove that he is a top 6 forward and Tuomo Ruutu will try to stay healthy and try to establish himself as a top 6 forward as well. Justin Williams gone for a long period of time will really hurt this group but will give players like Eaves and Ruutu opportunity to prove themselves.

On defence the Hurricanes are fairly solid. Joni Pitkanen and Joe Corvo are good offensive defencemen who will help the power play. Tim Gleason and Frantisek Kaberle round out the top 4. Anton Babchuk, Josef Melichar, Dennis Seidenberg and Niclas Wallin will fill out the 3rd pairing.

Between the pipes Carolina is set with Cam Ward as the #1 but is lacking in the backup role with Michael Leighton.

The Hurricanes have a good defence and will get solid goaltending from Ward but their weakness at forward will hurt them and have them looking from the outside in when it comes to the playoffs.