Munich climbing out of the cellar

Munich 3, Bern 1 – The Munich Dire Wolf have been on a mini run lately, winning 3 of their last 4 games and 4 of their last 7 games. If they defeat Milan on Thursday, Munich will leapfrog the Guerrerio in the standings. Until recently, they were in the same place the Buffalo Sabres were…

Paris’ Pietrangelo tops another list

(This is a continuation of a story published earlier today on the league’s best all-around players through the first half of the season. The previous story focused on forwards, while this lists defensemen.) Last year’s league MVP, Alex Pietrangelo, is the best all-around defenseman in the league according to AAR rating. That means the best…

South pummels North 10-3 to reverse all-star trend

HELSINKI – After losing the first four all-star games, the Southern Conference finally beat their northern neighbors and they did so emphatically, victimizing the hometown hero in the process. Trailing 5-3 heading into the third period, Henrik Lundqvist took his turn in the Northern goal crease, but in the relatively warm weather in the first outdoor all-star…

Kane, Giroux, Byfuglien shine in Skills Competition

Patrick Kane, Claude Giroux and Dustin Byfuglien were crowned as Skills champions Saturday in three very close competitions. Kane of Minsk edged out a group of four other skaters to win the Fastest Skater title. The next four spots were divided by hundredths of a second, with Jeff Skinner of London  placing second ahead of…

All-Star Weekend: Who’s got the skills?

Of the three events in this weekend’s EURO All-Star Game Skills Competition in Helsinki, the one that odds makers aren’t even touching is the Fastest Skater competition. It’s anyone’s guess who will come away with that race with the title on Saturday. In the Hardest Shot competition, Dustin Byfuglien, three-time winner  Shea Weber, Tyler Myers…