Stellicktricity: Red Wings have record of longevity

Nicklas Lidstrom played in his 1,550th NHL game in Detroit's 4-3 win over Philadelphia on Sunday, all with the Red Wings, which establishes a new NHL record for the most career games with a single team. Next on the list are two other Red Wings. Alex Delvecchio (1,549 games) held the record Lidstrom broke and next is Steve Yzerman at 1,514 games.

- Fabulous week for Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada in Prince Edward Island. I enjoyed the people and the hockey at all levels.
 
- Can't say the same about the Montreal Canadiens-Toronto Maple Leafs game on Saturday night. Mats Sundin eloquently and passionately urged the crowd to put their support behind a young Leafs team that was trying as hard as it could under the pressure of playing hockey in a place like Toronto. The crowd continued to applaud Sundin and followed his wishes. It was tough to sustain during the embarrassing 5-0 drubbing that followed.
 
- Give Jaroslav Spacek credit for sticking to his guns over comments he made a few months ago. The ex-Canadien, now a member of the Carolina Hurricanes, maintained that Montreal was a fabulous city to play in, but that things had "fallen apart" with the hockey organization while he was there. He reiterated his support of Randy Cunneyworth's abilities and his belief that an anglophone could successfully coach the Canadiens as long as he had the services of an interpreter for the media. Cunneyworth and Kirk Muller, his current head coach in Carolina, are two candidates that Spacek thinks would have fit the bill.
 
- Nicklas Lidstrom played in his 1,550th NHL game in Detroit's 4-3 win over Philadelphia on Sunday, all with the Red Wings, which establishes a new NHL record for the most career games with a single team. Next on the list are two other Red Wings. Alex Delvecchio (1,549 games) held the record Lidstrom broke and next is Steve Yzerman at 1,514 games.
 
- Not only is Evgeni Malkin looking like the Hart Trophy winner, he has also scored at least one goal in each of the Pittsburgh Penguins' last eight home games. Only one other player has accomplished that same feat this year and that is teammate James Neal, who scored in the Penguins' first eight home games of the season. Only once have two players on the same team scored in at least eight consecutive home games in a single season. That was the Boston Bruins in 1970-71, when Phil Esposito scored in 13 consecutive home games and Ken Hodge in eight consecutive home games.
 
- Last year's Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry has five hat tricks in the last two seasons, which is the best mark in the NHL. Unbelievably, Perry never had a three-goal game in his first five seasons. He leads a charging Ducks team that has now been upgraded to an outside chance of making the playoffs in the Western Conference from no chance at all before Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach.
 
- Interesting connection to Perry with the announcement that Mike Comrie has retired after 10 NHL seasons and three hip surgeries. He is only 31. When Comrie had his well-publicized and bitter split with his hometown Edmonton Oilers in the summer of 2003, the Ducks were one logical destination. The stumbling point for the Oilers was that they wanted Comrie to return $250,000 US to the Oilers organization in order to facilitate the trade. He refused and was later dealt to Philadelphia. The player they were to receive from Anaheim? The recently drafted Perry, who was then playing for the OHL's London Knights.
 
- One of the biggest splashes at last year's trade deadline was the Los Angeles Kings' acquisition of Dustin Penner from Edmonton. Head coach Darryl Sutter seemed to reach wits end when he made him a healthy scratch last Saturday against Dallas (a 4-2 Kings' win). On the positive side, two King players recorded their first ever NHL goals in that victory, Dwight King and Jordan Nolan (son of former NHL coach Ted).

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Stellicktricity: Red Wings have record of longevity

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