-- Up top, watch Alex Ovechkin score his 30th goal of the season Saturday against the Coyotes. They call that spot on the ice -- right around the top of the left faceoff circle -- Ovechkin’s “office,” just like Wayne Gretzky’s office used to be behind the net.
-- So, how is it that Ovechkin can keep scoring from the same spot without opponents being able to stop him? The Washington Post asked his old coach, Bruce Boudreau, who said: “He’s scored 250 goals like that from that spot. Every team has designed things to do, but if he gets the shot away, if it doesn’t hit you, it’s in the net. … He’s that good.” (Washington Post)
-- At 40 years old, retirement is looming for Shane Doan. Maybe not this year. But soon. Just don’t expect him to stop thinking about the Coyotes when he hangs up the skates. The way he talks, it sounds like he’ll still be quite involved. “We have to get it turned around. We’ve had moments in our organization where things have looked like they’re going in the right direction, and some key steps got missed, and we had to turn it back and start over again. Looks like right now we’ve got some things in place. But the next few years are going to be very important with the steps we take to do things right."(Sports Illustrated)
-- New England Patriots safety Patrick Chung hit the ice with the Boston Bruins Friday. And you know what? He wasn’t too bad. (CSN New England)
-- An appreciation of Cam Talbot’s season, by Dave Lozo of Vice Sports: “A consistent workhorse for a team lacking a reliable backup goaltender, he is one of the biggest reasons the Edmonton Oilers are returning to the playoffs for the first time in a decade.” Indeed, Talbot has been by far the busiest goalie in the NHL this season, logging 555 more minutes and making 71 more saves than the next busiest, Toronto’s Frederik Andersen. (Vice Sports)
-- Last year, the Chicago Blackhawks’ blue line was considered their biggest weakness. But not this year. Said returnee Johnny Oduya: ‘‘This is the deepest team on the back end I think we’ve ever had. You never know what happens down the road with injuries or different things, so that’s a positive for us. It gives us more options. Certain nights, some guys might be more on fire than others, so we can lean on different guys on different nights.” (Chicago Sun-Times)
Enjoy the games!