NHL Pacific: Boucher proves his worth to Sharks

Hockey Betting Lines

11/22/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When goaltender Evgeni Nabokov went down with a lower-body injury, the San Jose Sharks listed him as day-to-day. Six games later, and the 33-year-old has yet to return to the net.

With the way backup Brian Boucher has been playing, there was no need to rush him.

Boucher has been excellent since taking over for the injured Nabokov. He is 6-1-1 in eight games this year, including a pair of shutouts in his first two starts that came before Nabokov's injury. In six games since Nabokov was hurt during a shootout win against St. Louis on November 6, Boucher has posted a 2.49 goals against average.

Keeping the puck out of the net is nothing new for Boucher, who once posted five straight shutouts while keeping opponents off the board for 332 minutes and one second while with Phoenix in 2003-04. This year, he is second in the NHL with a 1.87 GAA and fifth with a .930 save percentage.

However, with Nabokov returning to practice on Thursday, Boucher's time in net will start to go down. However, he has earned more playing time this year, something that might not bother Nabokov too much seeing as he played in 77 games a year ago.

San Jose will still need to keep its offense in first gear, even when Nabokov returns. Though the former ninth-round pick is 10-2-0 with a 2.72 GAA this year, his save percentage is just .891. That could be because Shark goaltenders haven't been seeing a lot of shots.

San Jose is first in the NHL in goals (71) and shots per game (37.9), and has yielded the second-fewest shots per game at 26.0.

STARS: MUST LEARN HOW TO PLAY WITHOUT MORROW

The Dallas Stars weren't doing much winning with their captain in the lineup. Now they must learn how to do so without him.

Dallas' disappointing start to the season took a turn for the worse on Friday, when the club announced that Brenden Morrow will miss up to six months after tearing the ACL in his right knee versus Chicago on Thursday.

There is no doubt that Morrow is what a team needs in a captain. He set a career high in goals (32) and points (74) last year and in addition to leading the Stars in goals, he was tops on the team in hits (260) and plus/minus rating (+23).

Factor in seven game-winning goals and the fact he is the only player in the NHL over the last three seasons to have a year of 30-plus goals and 100-plus penalty minutes, and you have found your leader.

However, that is all gone from a club that has lost four of its last five and is last in the Pacific Division with 15 points. In 18 games this year, the 29- year-old Morrow had five goals and 10 assists.

Scoring hasn't been the Stars' problem this year. They are netting nearly three goals a game, but have also allowed an NHL-high 67 goals on the season.

Franchise goaltender Marty Turco has never posted a goals against average above 2.55 in his seven previous NHL seasons, nor won fewer than 31 games in any of the last five campaigns. However, through 16 games this season he is just 5-8-3 with a 3.67 GAA and .867 save percentage.

DUCKS: FINDING THEIR POWER

The Anaheim Ducks stumbled out of the gate this year, losing four straight. Part of the reason for those struggles was a power-play unit that went 0- for-13 in that span.

It took a while, but Anaheim is finally making teams pay for taking penalties.

Heading into a matchup with Ottawa on October 24 -- the Ducks' eighth game of the season -- Anaheim was a horrid 1-for-24 on the man advantage for just a 4.2-percent conversion rating. However, their power-play goal against the Senators that night started an avalanche of special teams goals.

Including that victory over Ottawa, part of a five-game road winning streak, the Ducks went 10 for their next 28 up a man (35.7 percent) and for the season are now tied for ninth in the NHL with a 20-percent power play (17-for-85).

It is no surprise that winger Teemu Selanne is leading the way. Nine of his 10 goals this year have come on the power play in addition to three helpers on the man advantage.

In his 16-year career, Selanne has 199 goals and 269 assists on the power play.

KINGS: LOOKING FINDING GOALTENDING CONSISTENCY

Eighteen games into the NHL season and the Los Angeles Kings are not down in the bottom of the Pacific Division standings as usual. They have a man from Sweden to thank for that.

Netminder Erik Ersberg has brought stability to a position that the Kings have had none in for some time. He is 5-2-1 in eight games as a starter this year and ranks second in the NHL with a 1.96 goals against average.

Dating back to last season, when Ersberg made 14 appearances, the Kings are 11-7-3 when the 26-year-old starts. The club's first-ever Swedish goaltender has started every game for Los Angeles since November 4, a run that included a career-best four-game winning streak from November 6-13.

With an 8-8-2 record and 18 points on the season, LA finds itself three points up on last-place Dallas and just five points back of second-place Anaheim.

The Kings saw six different netminders appear in a game last year, one season after they used five different goaltenders. Outside of Mathieu Garon in 2005-06, Los Angeles hasn't had a goalie appear in 60 games since Stephane Fiset in 1997-98.

With 10 games already under his belt, the Kings hope their man from Sweden can become the latest.

COYOTES: YANDLE GETS THE MESSAGE

Phoenix Coyotes head coach Wayne Gretzky knows a little something about motivation. So when defenseman Keith Yandle struggled early on in the season, his coach knew what to do about it.

Yandle had one goal and three assists and was a minus-three through Phoenix's first seven games before becoming a healthy scratch over the next four games. He returned to action on November 8 versus Florida and responded with two assists.

The 22-year-old hasn't been out of the lineup since.

Heading into action on Friday, Yandle is riding a career-best three-game points streak and leads all Coyotes defenseman in scoring with 10 points off of a goal and nine helpers. He has six assists and a plus-four rating in his seven games since being a scratch.

Gretzky must have confidence in his young defender again, as Yandle logged a season-high 27 minutes and eight seconds of ice time in Friday night's 5-2 loss to Carolina.

One thing the Coyotes haven't done since Yandle returned to the ice is win. The club has dropped a season-high four straight games, getting outscored 15-6 in that span. Phoenix is just 4-5-1 so far in November.