NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

Distraught McSorley offered support for his shame, but not for the offense

Boston Bruins’ GM Harry Sinden said he would not have protested the NHL’s discipline decision for disgraced right winger Marty McSorley, no matter how severe the punishment. McSorley was banished for the rest of the season and playoffs for his Feb. 21 stick attack on Vancouver Canucks’ forward Donald Brashear “Whatever suspension the league handed out, the Bruins and myself were prepared to accept as the fair one and the right one,” Sinden said. “The disciplinary procedure of the NHL is something a person like myself and [Edmonton GM] Glen Sather have had a hand in putting into place. We think it’s a very good one and we think it’s administered by very competent people. “The team is no way finds this excusable and does not condone these jdnds of actions from any player…

Another bad February for Panthers

February Funk isn’t a retro-tour by Sly and the Family Stone, but rather a laborious stretch of NHL life for players and coaches. It’s the dead of winter, the all-star break is past and the playoffs are still a speck on the horizon. For the Florida Panthers, there’s an addition to the usual doldrums of the dreaded FF-they usually don’t play particularly well. They’ve never played at .500 in any single February. The franchise’s only winless month was a February, in 1998, a month split by the Olympic break. In fact, the franchise record 15-game winless streak began Feb. 1 that season. This season’s first three-game losing streak, which included the first set of consecutive home losses, was in February. A 2-1 home loss Feb. 19 to the Pittsburgh Penguins was followed by a…

Many bruised egos, bodies on beat-up defense corps

As the San Jose Sharks began a critical 20-game home stretch in pursuit of a Stanley Cup playoff berth, a potentially devastating series of problems arose on the club’s blueline. The Sharks lost defensemen Gary Suter and Marcus Ragnarsson to injuries during a 4-1 loss to the visiting St. Louis Blues Feb. 23. Equally as troubling were the struggles of Ragnarsson and Mike Rathje, San Jose’s top defensive tandem. The Blues burned the Rathje-Ragnarsson pairing for three goals, marking the third time in six games Rathje and Ragnarsson had finished minus-3. “We count on Mike and Rags to play against the other team’s top line,” said Sharks’ assistant coach Paul Baxter, who oversees the team’s defensemen. “Certainly, since the start of the last road trip, their plus-minus (minus-7 over eight games) has dwindled substantially.…