[tigerthelion]

How about this tear Evgeni Malkin is on! In the past few weeks he's been leaping over players in the scoring race every game, and now after todays 4 point showing against he Flyers, he finds himself tied with Daniel Alfredsson for 2nd in the NHL, trailing only fellow countryman & 2004 first rounder Alexander Ovechkin. Actually the #1 & 2 picks in that draft are currently 1 & 2 in scoring!

Is it possible *gulp* that Crosby *gulp* isn't the best player in the world? *gulp* The Pens don't look too bad without him.

[emperor penguin]

pretty scary incident in Buffalo tonight when Panther's player Richard Zednik got his throat sliced open by Oli Jokinen's skate blade

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Hopefully he'll be alright

[thedarkcanuck]

if you would have told me the pens would lose fleury and crosby for 2 months each and the starting goalie was conklin...well i`d of thought everything is bleak, but there they are in first place and looking very good geno has been a man possessed since crosby went down

[mrlayance]

pretty scary incident in Buffalo tonight when Panther's player Richard Zednik got his throat sliced open by Oli Jokinen's skate blade

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Hopefully he'll be alright

Scary stuff, sounds like he is ok.

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[ryan93]

I haven't seen a highlight of it yet, but i'm guessing it'll be the top story on Sportscentre in a few minutes. Kinda scary that it was the 2nd skate incident in as many days. The ref that was hit as a result of the Fedor Tyutin hipcheck could of been really bad, but luckily it got him in the nose. Zednik though, it sounded pretty damn bad, hopefully he'll be ok.

[ryan93]

NHL Network replayed the game today & i watched the 3rd period, scary stuff.
It's crazy how big of effect something like this has on the entire hockey world. Not a single player on my rec team wore a neck guard until last nights incident...i just got back from hockey a few minutes ago, and 4 of my teammates had them on tonight & i noticed a couple guys wearing them on the other team.

[The Horrible Esthete]

What's also a shame is that here in "flyover" America, hockey never gets any run unless something bad happens in the sport....

[sean.bonner]

I still don't understand why neck guards aren't mandatory.

Same with face shields.

[d_alex_d]

What's also a shame is that here in "flyover" America, hockey never gets any run unless something bad happens in the sport....

For example, I watch Pardon the Interuption everyday or so, and maybe once a month they talk about hockey. Last week they questioned whether the Red Wings would break their own NHL record of 62 wins in a season, but they couldnt name a single player on the team. Yesterday's show started with the story about Zednik. I was curious as to what there take on it would be, seeing as they have no understanding about hockey. But they were actually quite right in their take, I think, basically just saying, they couldnt believe it doesnt happen more often, and thank god he is alive.

On a related note, I do wear a visor, and most on my rec team do, in the dressing room before our game Sunday (before Zedniks injury), a couple guys debated taking their visors off, but didnt. Then literally 20 seconds into our game, one of our Defenceman, took a puck in the eye and left for the hospital. He was not wearing a visor.

[skippy the wonder dog]

I still don't understand why neck guards aren't mandatory.

Because the probability of a skate cutting someone's neck is very low, which is why there hasn't been an incident like this in about 20 years. While on the other hand, players are likely to find neck guards hot and uncomfortable.

[sean.bonner]

I still don't understand why neck guards aren't mandatory.

Because the probability of a skate cutting someone's neck is very low, which is why there hasn't been an incident like this in about 20 years. While on the other hand, players are likely to find neck guards hot and uncomfortable.

It protects against more than just a skate to the neck.

[cferneyh]

So we get JFJ AND Mike Milbury doing commentary during the trade deadline? Two of the worst GMs of the last decade? Seriously? Was Doug Maclean not available? Isn't this kinda like having Britney Spears hosting a television special on the importance of good parenting?

[skippy the wonder dog]

I still don't understand why neck guards aren't mandatory.

Because the probability of a skate cutting someone's neck is very low, which is why there hasn't been an incident like this in about 20 years. While on the other hand, players are likely to find neck guards hot and uncomfortable.

It protects against more than just a skate to the neck.

Regardless: the rate of injuries that it would protect against is very low.

[d_alex_d]

I still don't understand why neck guards aren't mandatory.

Because the probability of a skate cutting someone's neck is very low, which is why there hasn't been an incident like this in about 20 years. While on the other hand, players are likely to find neck guards hot and uncomfortable.

It protects against more than just a skate to the neck.

What else would it protect against besides maybe a stick cut to the neck?
It certainly wouldn't protect against a puck, or blunt force.

Personally, I always hated my neck guard more than anything else. It was so uncomfortable and strangling.

[farmerdan]

I know this sounds stupid, but I never played with one - as a goalie.

I was just too uncomfortable.