Community Picks: Anaheim Ducks 0% vs Columbus Blue Jackets 0%

Corey Perry is playing so well that teams are resorting to all kinds of tactics to try to slow down the prolific winger. Perry was bloodied but not beaten his last time out and looks to continue his strong production for the visiting Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Ducks top goal scorer with 21, Perry had two assists in Tuesday's 4-1 victory at Philadelphia to give him 10 points in a 7-1-0 surge. Continue to Article

February 10, 2016 2:51:pm EST

There's a pretty simple way to break down the resurgence of Sidney Crosby that, on the surface, is very damning for former Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Johnston. - Sidney Crosby's career average points per game before Johnston arrived: 1.4. - Sidney Crosby's average points per game under Johnston: 0.98. - Sidney Crosby's average points per game since Johnston left: 1.36 One of these things is very obviously not like the other, and you can see why every Penguins fan had been complaining about the offensive output for world's best player under Johnston. Less than a point a game is pretty clearly not what we would or perhaps should expect out of Sidney Crosby. It also doesn't help that Crosby was only averaging about three shots per game under Johnston, as opposed to the almost 3.4 in his entire career prior, and 3.6 since. But obviously there's more to player performance over stretches of 100-plus games than the production of shots, goals, and points. Now, I got under the hood on a lot of Crosby's numbers in the immediate wake of the Johnston firing and found that, all things considered, your old pal No. 87 performed more or less as well under Johnston as he did under Dan Bylsma. But this is a topic worth revisiting because of one simple fact: He's ripped the doors off the league under Mike Sullivan. The fact that he's now top-10 in the league in scoring, a spot which was almost inconceivable just two months ago, is out of control. He's up to 30 points in 22 games under Sullivan, including 18 in his last 10. It's kind of amazing how closely Crosby's numbers pre- and post-Johnston adhere to one another. A gap of 0.04 points per game is easily explainable as noise. But here's the thing: He only played 105 games under Johnston (though Johnston coached 110 in Pittsburgh overall) and you can very easily make the case that this admittedly rather long stretch was similarly just noise. People would really, really like there to be a reason that explained the apparent decline of the greatest player of the last decade. The coaching issue is an easy one to pull, too. Crosby scored at a rate almost observed in the league before Johnston arrived. Crosby scored like a normal superstar under Johnston. And in the first 20-something games in the wake of Johnston's immediate departure, he's back to scoring at more or less the same superhuman rate. In most sets of 110 games over his career, Crosby has been scoring somewhere between 130 and 140 points, so to come in at just 108 under Johnston is worrisome. But there was a fairly sharp decline in production even before Johnston came aboard. And under Johnston I think you can say a lot of his problems stemmed from one of the lowest shooting percentages of his career for a stretch of 110 games. Continue to Article

February 08, 2016 10:08:am EST

Who is head of the class in the National Hockey League?  The Washington Capitals are getting a serious challenge from the Chicago Blackhawks, but have Joel Quenneville's defending champs finally caught them? And is there any way for the Columbus Blue Jackets to climb out of the basement? Every other week, Yahoo Sports will be bringing you NHL Power Rankings as voted on by the Y! Sports staff and Puck Daddy editors. Please keep in mind these rankings were created prior to Monday night’s games. Feel free to provide your own rankings in the comments section. See you in two weeks! Questions? Comments? Hit us at  puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com . Continue to Article

February 06, 2016 9:46:am EST

While one win doesn't necessarily signal the start of a turnaround, the Calgary Flames are desperate for positives right now. Calgary tries to put together consecutive victories for the first time in over a month Friday night when it hosts the league-worst Columbus Blue Jackets. One the same day they learned they could be without defenseman Dennis Wideman for the next 20 games due to a league suspension, the Flames (22-24-3) ended a three-game skid Wednesday with a 4-1 win over Carolina. Continue to Article

February 05, 2016 3:28:am EST

Columbus coach John Tortorella wasn't looking for any special fanfare in his first visit to Vancouver since the Canucks fired him after a single season. ''I think I got enough recognition when I got booted out of here,'' Tortorella said after his Blue Jackets beat the Canucks 2-1 in a shootout Thursday night. Alex Wennberg scored the only goal in the shootout as last-place Columbus handed the Canucks their third straight loss. Continue to Article

February 05, 2016 3:21:am EST