NHL DEPTH CHARTS

Young Bolts picked to play for Canada

Tampa Bay Lightning captain Vinny Lecavalier and rookie of the year candidate Brad Richards accepted invitations to play for the Canadian national team at the World Championship in Germany. “A great honor,” Lecavalier said. “A dream come true,” Richards added. Tampa Bay left winger Fredrik Modin previously accepted an invitation to play for Sweden. Team Canada begins a one-week training camp April 19 in Finland. The tournament runs April 28-May 13. “It’s like being in the playoffs,” Lecavalier said. “It will be good to get used to that because we want to play here in May and June.” Lecavalier said the larger ice surface and the more wide open international game might help him get out of a slump that had reached seven goals in 36 games by March 29. ANALYSIS After back-to-back excellent practices, goalie Nikolai…

Foes face Devil of a time

No. 1 NEW JERSEY DEVILS Definitive Strength New Jersey has a system that encourages offense, but makes solid defense a top priority. Question Mark None - but New Jersey was proven vulnerable to a sudden lack of confidence when it lost in 1998. Key Fact The Devils have the best goals-for, goals-against differential in the NHL, plus-93. Depth No team distributes ice time as evenly as the Devils, whose best forwards get less than 19 minutes per game and worst (in relative terms), almost 13 minutes. New Jersey has the deepest and most capable lineup-1 through 18 - in the NHL. Goaltending Martin Brodeur is the new Grant Fuhr; his results are better than his numbers. Penalty Killing New Jersey didn’t have great penalty killing during the season and didn’t need…

Fans falls prey in Domi’s sin bin

In a confrontation both funny and frightening, Toronto Maple Leafs’ winger Tie Domi fought with a fan in the penalty box during a game in Philadelphia. Domi, who said the fans were throwing “things” at him, squirted taunting fans behind the box with water. When one of them, a 36-year-old concrete worker named Chris Falcone, tried to reach over the glass, the glass gave way landing him beside Domi. Linesman Kevin Collins intervened, but Domi said when he saw the fan land a punch on the official, he started swinging. “I was not going to let anyone take a swing at me. I don’t care who it was,” Domi said. “He was in my territory.” The NHL investigated the March 29 incident and fined Domi $1,000, but didn’t suspend him. “The league was really…