A Two-Man Race

With two months left in the NHL season, it's official.

The race for the Hart Trophy as league MVP is down to two, and it's going to be one heck of a charge to the finish line.

It's crystal clear that Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur have separated themselves from the crowd, a very deep and talented crowd that includes Vancouver netminder Roberto Luongo, Tampa Bay centre Vincent Lecavalier and Anaheim blueliner Scott Niedermayer.

But Crosby and Brodeur are clearly the two to watch.

Crosby, in case you haven't noticed, is running away with the NHL scoring race, 14 points clear of his closest rival.

On Thursday night, he conquered his personal bugaboo, scoring the shootout winner against Philly after going 0-7 on free shots earlier this season.

The Pens only need to play .500 hockey the rest of the way, probably, to qualify for post-season competition, which makes Crosby's Hart candidacy that much stronger.

And Sid the Kid's in town Saturday night to face a Leaf team that's desperate to prove it can win on home ice.

Brodeur, meanwhile, picked up his 10th shutout Thursday against the Islanders, remarkable given that this is supposed to be a time for heightened offence and he plays in the Eastern Conference against the most prolific scorers in the league most nights.

With 34 wins and 37 Devils game to play, Brodeur looks poised to smash Bernie Parent's 1973-74 record of 47 wins, probably inevitable given the extra opportunities available to modern goalies to pick up wins through OT and shootouts.

That Brodeur, barring injury, will get the chance to break the record seems equally inevitable. His backup, Scott Clemmensen, hasn't played since Dec. 14 and has blocked shots for the Devils for only 149 minutes this season.

Shutout-wise, Brodeur became the third goalie ever to pick up 90 in his career with his perfect outing against the Isles. He's four short of George Hainsworth and just 13 shy of Terry Sawchuk's all-time record.

That Sawchuk mark of 103 was always one that seemed unbreakable, like DiMaggio's 56-game streak.

But Brodeur, still only 34 years old, could break it by next season.

So you have to believe it's Brodeur vs. Crosby for the Hart.

If there's a downside to this story, its that both toil for franchises that are clearly struggling to survive.

The Pens still haven't been able to come up with a new arena deal to stay in Pittsburgh despite all kinds of speculation that an agreement is imminent.

Jersey, meanwhile, drew only 10,110 for the Islander game, and have had as few as 8,269 for a game this year.

A new arena in Newark beckons, but it better come complete with legions of newly committed supporters.

Comments

[Marijan Kalman]

NICKLAS LIDSTROM is THE BEST player in this league for last five years.
From 1991 he leads all blue liners in every category, EVERY CATEGORY!!!

Problem is:

1) He is Swede
2) He ONLY leads league in plus/minus and defensmen points!!!!!!
3) If his name was John Carmichael would you journalist still ignore him?????

Brodeur couldn't stop a train at Olympic Games and got spanked like an idiot.

He is wining games because NJ plays s... hockey with clutching, grabbing and holding.

Last season in September and October when referees where calling everything he was whining. . .

Read Scotty Bowman interview from October of 2006 and you will find out who is best player in this league.

Talking about records:

If Hasek was playing his whole career in Detroit he would have 600 wins and 300 shutouts, 10 HARTS, 15 VEZINAS etc....

[Andrew Barrie]

First off, please, let the penguins move to a city who will welcome them, and get them a rink to play in. I am sick of hearing this crap about how its important for them to stay in Pittsburg. It isn't. they'd do much better in any major city in canada, including a few that already have teams (probably just Toronto, maybe Montreal). our country already drives 3/4ths of television viewership. we deserve more teams. like Pittsburg.

Seconldly, I quote: "Brodeur looks poised to smash Bernie Parent's 1973-74 record of 47 wins, probably inevitable given the extra opportunities available to modern goalies to pick up wins through OT and shootouts."

These records should be seperate. how many wins would brodeur have under the system Parent had? would Brodeur still be close to smashing said record?

Anything that is a record "in a season" is impossible to really compare between eras, since things like games played in a season, and ways to win lose or tie (Is Domi's show still on anyway?) have changed so much. Its really not fair, and a record is not really broken. It's a different record, and we shouldn't be dismissing the old ones that still stand.

and Barry Bonds should never have his name in a record book. ever. except number of fans who hate him for ruining baseball.

[Jeff W.]

Damien,

I think you're losing touch with reality. What Nik Lidstrom has done in Detroit just this year alone is nothing short of remarkable. I never really believed in a North American bias among the media until recently. How many more Norris Trophy's must Lidstrom win before he gets consideration for the ultimate prize - The Hart? The Sid hyperbole is out of control. He's nowhere near a "complete" player (lazy backchecking, turnovers for trying to do it all himself) and yet he's not even blowing everyone else away in the scoring race. All Lidstrom has going for him is the complete package (offense AND defense) and you call it a race between Sid and Marty?

Do yourself a favour and watch a couple of Red Wings games and if you are the least bit objective, you'll want to add a 3rd name to that list: N. Lidstrom.