Fun city

This was SO MUCH fun.

There are few things in this world that make me feel like a kid. You know, that period of time before the BARS (Bitter, Angry, Resentful, Sullen) set in.

Covering hockey makes me feel that way.

For some, it's all about the graft and the food, and not in that order. I'm not that comfortable eating in a press room, so I don't bother. As far as media guides go, hell, I'll never say no to one of them.

It still stings some that when I wrote for The Associated Press, it's as a stringer as opposed to a byline. Then again, just that it's out there takes some of the ill will away.

This is what I love doing ... writing about my favorite sport.

Channeling Tony-O

With less than three minutes to play on Wednesday, Alexander Semin was going to end a shutout bid by Nikolai Khabibulin, making his first start after a back injury sidelined him for nearly a month.

Instead, Khabibulin finally made the kind of highlight-reel save that may justify his signing the richest contract in franchise history three seasons ago.

It seemed only fitting then that “The ‘Bulin Wall’” was channeling “Tony-O”.

After honoring the greatest goaltender in Chicago Blackhawks history, they got 25 saves from Khabibulin in a 5-0 win over Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.

Before the game, the Blackhawks continued to mend fences with their past stars by anointing them as team ambassadors. Earlier this month, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita returned to the fold.

Tonight, it was Tony Esposito.

A pre-game ceremony included an appearance by older brother and fellow Hall of Famer Phil, but the chants throughout the crowd were for Tony-O, still revered in the Windy City.

A video montage of his career showed that when he broke into the league in 1969, Esposito recorded 15 shutouts – a record that still stands – en route to winning the Calder and Vezina trophies. More video clips had Tony-O showing off his butterfly style of goaltending, and briefly showing younger generations the art of the skate save.

Now 64, Esposito said the future is looking bright in Chicago, though it likely will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season.

"It's an honor to be here with the new, young vibrant Hawks. I know they're going to get better and we're all going to fill this building,” said Tony Esposito, Chicago’s all-time leader with 418 regular-season wins and 74 shutouts over a 15-year career that ended in 1984.

It took just 87 seconds on Wednesday for Chicago to take the lead on Jason Williams’ goal. Jonathan Toews, Yanic Perreault and Patrick Sharp also scored in the first period, and Rene Bourque converted a breakaway in the second.

After that, it was all No. 39 – and looking a whole lot like No. 35.

With 2:53 to play and Khabibulin out of position, Semin unleashed a blast from the right face-off circle toward the open net. Khabibulin dove back to his left and picked the puck off like a third baseman taking away an extra-base hit, touching off chants of “Khabi!” with some “Tony!” mixed in from the sellout crowd of 20,942.

“When we have a ceremony like this, it’s nice to win a game,” Khabibulin said. “Even better that it was Tony and even better that it was a shutout.”

Following the NHL lockout, Khabibulin signed a four-year, $27 million contract after helping lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup in 2004. Heading into play against the Caps, Khabibulin was 60-70-16 with a goals-against average just under 3 and only two shutouts in two-plus seasons.

Chicago’s possible playoff confidence also may be bolstered by having kept Ovechkin off the scoresheet. The league-leader with 58 goals and 102 points, Ovechkin was bidding to become the first with 60 tallies in a season since Mario Lemieux (69) and Jaromir Jagr (62) did it for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96.

Instead, he managed just two shots and one minor penalty in 17:53.

The NHL's double standard

Been a while since I updated this, but that's what happens when the flu combined with NCAA basketball championship week just flat wears you out.

So, let's see if I get this straight. When Chris Simon was with the New York Islanders earlier this season, he received a record 30-game suspension by the NHL for using his skate to stomp on the leg of noted Pittsburgh Penguins' agitator Jarko Ruutu.

Chris Pronger of the Anaheim Ducks uses his skate to stomp on the leg of the Vancouver Canucks' Ryan Kesler earlier this week - and gets only an eight-game ban.

Logic, please? Simon, now with the Minnesota Wild, is still looking for some.

"I watched the tape and I think the tape's self-explanatory," Simon told The Associated Press. "It shows what he did."

Now some can look at Simon's and Pronger's careers, and try to justify why one received a suspension nearly four times as long for the same offense. Heading into play Saturday, Simon has 305 points - and 1,817 penalty minutes in 777 career games. He's been suspended eight times in during a 15-year career, including 25 games last season for a baseball bat-like swing in the mouth of the New York Rangers' Ryan Hollweg.

But Pronger hasn't been an angel during his 14 NHL seasons either, now also having received eight suspensions with two coming during last season's playoffs. During his 939-game career, Pronger has 131 goals, 427 assists - and 1,367 penalty minutes.

Pronger hasn't had to sit out more than four games prior to this ban, which ends on the final day of the regular season.

“Looking at other precedents and other situations that have happened, certainly as a league we don’t condone these types of incidents and obviously want to put these behind us and talk about the important parts of the game,” said Pronger, who's missed a total of 20 games due to suspensions. “I didn’t really plead my case all that much.



“There probably wasn’t too much to say, merely just to replay the incident to them and understand the league doesn’t condone instances like this. I expressed my sincere apologies and they did what they needed to do and I’d have to live with it.”

That doesn't seem to sit well with Simon - and he may have a point.

"It's more disappointing that I can get the amount of games that I get ... and other players can hurt players," Simon said one day before Pronger's ban was issued.

Here's some reasons why Pronger wasn't suspended until the start of the 2008-09 season: He's a recognizable name on a team that will be trying to defend its Stanley Cup championship ... He's a Hart and Norris Trophy winner.

Pronger is white, unlike Simon, who is a member of the First Nations and had received counseling for alcohol problems while playing junior hockey.

Someone needs to ask Gary Bettman and NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell if race was a factor in this decision. Because it sure appears to have been.

THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT, MARCH 15

1. Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils: Brodeur will eventually go down in NHL history as the greatest goaltender ever. The active wins leader recorded his 40th victory for the seventh time in his Hall of Fame career, leading the Devils to a 4-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

2. Marian Gaborik, Minnesota Wild: Gaborik scored his 200th career goal as Minnesota snapped a five-game losing streak and moved back atop the Northwest Division with a 2-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

3. Jaroslav Halak, Montreal Canadiens: With rookie Carey Price given the night off, Halak stopped 30 shots in a 3-0 win over the Islanders. Halak's third career shutout and first since April 3 moved Montreal within one point of New Jersey for the Eastern Conference lead.

Crosby returns, Forsberg debuts

Being sick sucks.

I spent most of the last three days in bed with the flu before returning to work on Tuesday night, just in time to see Sidney Crosby return and Peter Forsberg make his season debut.

Crosby, who missed 21 games with a high ankle sprain that also cost him an All-Star appearance, assisted on Maxime Talbot's goal with 2:47 to play as the Pittsburgh Penguins blanked the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0.

Crosby played just over 22 minutes, and the reigning Hart and Art Ross Trophy winner didn't look like he missed much time at all.

"It's good to get it over with and get that feel and get that timing back, but it's still not there," Crosby said. "I had some great chances that I would have loved to put in. It didn't happen. Sometimes that's the way it goes. I'm a little rusty."

Forsberg didn't look rusty, either, as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Vancouver Canucks 2-1. And he was playing in his first NHL game in 10 1/2 months.

"Of course you want to get a goal or an assist, but I’m just happy we won the game," said Forsberg, who has only gone through one practice and one skatearound with the team since signing a one-year deal last week. “That’s all that matters now."

That's four straight wins for the Avs, who will need Forsberg to step in for the injured Marek Svatos and Ryan Smyth. Svatos is out for the season with a knee injury, while Smyth, who already missed time with an ankle injury this season, is out indefintely with a concussion and separated shoulder.

THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT - NOT NAMED 'CROSBY' OR 'FORSBERG' - FOR MARCH 4

1. Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames: After going 64 games without a shutout, Kiprusoff recorded his second in five games, making 39 saves in a 1-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The win allowed Calgary to move into a tie win the Minnesota Wild atop the Northwest Division.

2. Wade Dubielewicz, New York Islanders: With All-Star Rick DiPietro attending to a family matter, Dubielewicz stopped 27 shots before denying five more tries in the shootout as the Islanders defeated the New York Rangers 4-3.

3. Martin Erat, Nashville Predators: Wrapping up his sixth season, Erat recorded his first NHL hat trick in Nashville's 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers. The Predators have won eight in a row over Edmonton since an overtime loss in March 2006.

3a. Craig Anderson, Florida Panthers: Not a bad follow-up. Anderson, who made 53 saves in a 1-0 win over the Islanders on Sunday, stopped 40 shots in a 1-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. Since 1989-90, according to the wonderful folks I work for, Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres had the most saves in back-to-back shutouts with 75.