Hockey Rewind: March 5 -12

A look back at the week that was in the National Hockey League...

St Louis:

If there's a Stanley Cup contender that's going under the radar, it's the St Louis Blues. While the Western Conference has been enamoured with the Sedins in Vancouver, Detroit's home win streak and the train wreck currently taking place in Columbus. Quietly, the Blues have become the class of the Central Division, thanks to their mid season coaching hire, Ken Hitchcock. Honestly, firing Davis Payne, a situation that may have looked a little shaky at first, has become a master-stroke. General Managers like George McPhee in Washington and

The Blues have all the pieces in place and they're going to go deep into the playoffs. They might be the best team in the entire National Hockey League at the moment. Their defence is good, they have young guys doing great things on the offensive side, and their goalie play is outstanding. Outstanding! I don't care who they have in net, Brian Elliott (20-8-2, GAA 1.63, SV% .937) or Jaroslav Halak (23-10-5, GAA 1.86, SV% .926). Both guys are standing on their head. There isn't much drop-off on any given night.

If you haven't seen the Blues play yet this season, make it a priority. Try checking out their 5-1 demolition of Chicago on Tuesday. Or Thursday's 3-1 come-from-behind win over Anaheim.

Kronwall:

I may be in the minority here, but I loved Niklas Kronwall's MONSTER hit on Philadelphia's Jacob Voracek on Tuesday night and I am especially glad that the czar of NHL discipline Brendan Shanahan didn't fine or suspened the lumbering Swede. We've all seen the replays; I watched them again just before I started writing. It was a clean hit and a good hockey play. You take that out of the game, and hockey just isn't hockey anymore. Those monster hits are a part of the game - as much a part of the game as fighting. Look at it from this angle. Kronwall is famous for blowing guys up like that, so why is Voracek not got his head up, maybe expecting something like that?

One thing I want to say, poor showing by the refs. It usually isn't my style to dump on officials, but man, when a guy goes down like Voracek went down, and when all and sundry can see that he's in a major world of hurt, BLOW THE WHISTLE and stop play. Don't let it continue for another few seconds. Get the game on hold and allow medical people to get onto the ice. That was a bad error in judgement. Let's hope the on-ice officials learn from that.


Phoenix:

Talk about a tale of two months! Couldn't lose if they'd tried in February going 11-0-1, and can't buy a win through early doors in March, starting out 0-4-0, which slides them out of the Pacific Division lead - hang on, the Phoenix Coyotes are in the Pacific Division; what? - and to the wrong side of the cut-off for the very-nearly-here Stanley Cup playoffs!

Pittsburgh:

The Penguins look to get Sidney Crosby back this coming week and are six points behind the New York Rangers in both the Atlantic Division and the overall Eastern Conference standings, riding a 9-game winning streak after thumping Boston on Sunday afternoon. Not exactly breaking news, I know, but regardless, the Penguins are a very good team and other teams should be very worried about them currently. And that's without arguably the league's best player. Put Sid the Kid back in that team and the rest of the universe - including this Rangers fan who wants to be #1 seed in the East - should be very worried.