Rask’s eleventh start of the season also turned out to be his best, as he stopped all 41 shots directed his way for his first shutout of the season.  With only 22 shots on goal of their own, the Bruins were out-shot by a wide margin, but thanks to Rask’s perfect performance between the pipes they were able to come away with the 3-0 win.

While last night’s outing may not bump him ahead of Tim Thomas on the pecking order in Boston just yet, it does earn him “The Stat Line of the Night” for Tuesday, December 13, 2011.

The first missed call Rask poke checked the River Rats player who picks up the should be dead puck shoots and scores.  The second blown call comes when the River Rats player hits the crossbar and the ref counts it as a goal.

NHL rules state on penalty shots that,

• 25.2 Procedure – The Referee shall ask to have announced over the public address system the name of the player designated by him or selected by the team entitled to take the shot (as appropriate). He shall then place the puck on the center face-off spot and the player taking the shot will, on the instruction of the Referee (by blowing his whistle), play the puck from there and shall attempt to score on the goalkeeper. The puck must be kept in motion towards the opponent’s goal line and once it is shot, the play shall be considered complete. No goal can be scored on a rebound of any kind (an exception being the puck off the goal post or crossbar, then the goalkeeper and then directly into the goal), and any time the puck crosses the goal line or comes to a complete stop, the shot shall be considered complete.

• 26.4 Infractions – During the Course of a Penalty Shot – A goal will be awarded when a goalkeeper attempts to stop a penalty shot by throwing his stick or any other object at the player taking the shot or by deliberately dislodging the goal.

So after reviewing the rules we think the first goal should have definitely been waved off and think that the ref’s blew the game for the Bruins.  The AHL should definitely fix this matter and correct the mistakes that were made.

Ending ( Feb 1st)

Total Pro Sports – This week’s NHL Power Rankings finally sees the San Jose Sharks relinquish their hold on the top spot and the Detroit Red Wings barely remaining in the top 5.

NHL Power Rankings Movers And Shakers

The biggest Shakers in our NHL Power Rankings this week were the Vancouver Canucks falling 6 spots to land at #21.

The second biggest shaker was the Phoenix Coyotes dropping 3 spots ending up at #15.

The biggest Movers in our NHL Power Rankings this week were the New Jersey Devils, Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers all moving up 4 spots to end up at #4, #13 and #14.

Lets take a look at the rest of the league: NHL POWER RANKINGS for Week 17.

Rank	Team	Record	Change	Comment
1		37-8-6	1	Interesting move by sending Tuukka Rask back down to the AHL after recording his first career NHL shutout.
2		36-7-5	1	Losing their second home game in regulation in January it appears as if the Sharks are in fact human.
3		32-15-4	1	Scoring his second hat-trick of the season, Alexander Ovechkin seems poised to win his second consecutive Rocket Richard Trophy.
4		32-15-3	4	Things couldn’t be better for the Devils. Won all 3 of their games last week and Martin Brodeur has begun light on-ice workouts.
5		31-11-7	2	On a 5 game winless streak and with injuries starting to mount things aren’t looking good in the Motor City.
6		30-14-4	1	Mike Cammalleri has been on fire recently and didn’t show any signs of slowing down with a hat-trick vs. Buffalo.
7		28-16-6	2	A week to forget losing 3 out of 4 and also losing Robert Lang to a severed achillies vs. Boston.
8		29-18-4	2	Tough week allowing 6 goals vs. Pittsburgh and then getting shutout by Tuukka Rask and the Bruins.
9		27-13-8	-	This young team is definitely proving to people that they’re here to stay after two big wins over the Ducks and Sharks.
10		26-14-9	-	With the demotion of Luca Sbisa back to his junior team the Flyers seem to be content with what they have, as they should be.
11		26-19-5	-	Sabres had themselves a nice month of January going 9-4-0.
12		25-22-5	1	Great 31 days for two Ducks as Scott Niedermayer and Bobby Ryan lead the league in scoring for defencemen and forwards for the month of January.
13		25-21-5	4	Cam Ward remains on fire as he posted his third shutout of the season vs. Atlanta.
14		23-18-8	4	Just when you think the Panthers will take a step backwards they put up two big wins over the Flyers and Canadiens.
15		24-22-5	3	They’re still in contention for a playoff spot in the West but will have to put out a more consistent effort each night if they’re going to keep playing come spring time.
16		24-22-5	2	It’s clear that some sort of change needs to happen in Pittsburgh for this team to turn things around.
17		25-21-3	1	What else is there to say after suffering the worse home loss in team history 10-2 to the Sabres.
18		25-21-3	1	Nice pick up getting Dan Fritsche and a nice overtime win vs. Vancouver on Saturday night too.
19		24-21-5	1	Should be interesting to see how Steve Mason’s bout with Mono. effects the Blue Jackets.
20		23-18-7	2	The hottest team in the NHL right now working on a 4 game winning streak including a 7-3 beating of the Blue Jackets.
21		22-20-8	6	The coldest team in the NHL right now currently on a 8 game winless streak.
22		23-26-1	1	Goaltending seems to be an issue yet again for the Avs as they’ve now lost 4 games in a row.
23		22-24-3	1	Up and down season continues losing to the Devils and Flames while also beating the Canucks and Oilers.
24		20-21-7	1	Dustin Brown had a big week scoring 3 goals & 2 assists for 5 points in 2 games.
25		19-23-8	1	Luke Schenn finally had his coming out party vs. Pittsburgh with a nice assist, big hit on Evgeni Malkin and using Tyler Kennedy’s face as a punching bag.
26		20-24-4	1	Had an up and down week losing to the struggling Senators and then shutting out the Flyers 4-0.
27		17-23-10	-	Hit a snag in their climb up the standings losing to the Hurricanes and Flyers.
28		17-24-7	1	Yet another bad week for the Senators going 1-3. They need to do more than just fire Craig Hartsburg to turn their season around, but it may be too late.
29		17-29-5	1	On a 4 game losing streak including being shutout in two of those games. Is it too late to pencil in a Victor Hedman and Zach Bogosian defensive pairing?
30		15-29-5	-	Definitely a month to forget for the Isles as they went 3-7-1 in the month of January.

Be sure to check back next week with our NHL Power Rankings for Week 18.

Justin Pogge was just a young backup with the Prince George Cougars when he first joined the WHL. However, over time he became more familiar with the game and started to earn more and more starts.  He eventually took over the #1 spot and flew up the draft rankings when the Leafs selected him 90th overall. He continued his excellent play into the next season and was traded to the Calgary Hitmen at the trade deadline which lead to his breakout season. In the 2005-06 season Justin posted an impressive 1.72 GAA, 11 shutouts and 38 wins to go along with his WJHC Gold, Tournament MVP and WHL & CHL Goaltender of the Year awards.

After his impressive last season in the WHL Pogge jumped over to the AHL and struggled to adjust to playing with men as the Marlies backup.  However, just like he did in the WHL, he worked hard and improved the next season in a split role with Scott Clemmensen posting a 2.34 GAA, 4 shutouts and 26 wins.  He’s now heading into this season as the Marlies #1 and will be watched closely by the Leafs management.

Now I’m not saying Justin Pogge will be the next Ed Belfour, Patrick Roy, or Martin Brodeur but as his history shows, now is too early to write him off and the career backup talk is premature at this point.