There isn't any doubt the shootout is here to stay, and that's fine. I'm not convinced a majority of players - especially goalies - like it all that much, but the fans love it, and that should be more than enough to keep it around.

But I do think the NHL needs to tweak the way it allocates points. Shootout victories are rewarded as much as for those in regulation, which I don't think is particularly fair.

Worse, the current system doesn't encourage teams in a tie game near the end of regulation to play to win. Too often, teams are content to play not to lose in regulation; they just want to make it to overtime and grab that guaranteed point.

Those overtime points are crucial, especially now, with teams competing for playoff positions with a little more than a week to go in the regular season. It doesn't seem fair that a number of teams currently holding playoff spots can lose every game the rest of the way and still survive as long as the defeats occur in overtime.

In what other leagues are teams rewarded for losing?

This is why the NHL ought to change the way points are distributed. Award three points for a win in regulation, which should encourage teams to go all out for the victory. Give two points for a win in the 5-minute overtime and shootout, one point for an overtime or shootout loss.

The league's standings are already muddled enough, so why not add an extra column? Either that or eliminate all points for losing.

Does anybody else miss ties?

Savard speaks out

Hall of Famer Serge Savard, in an interview with TheHockey News.com, made it clear he believes the NHL is making a mistake by allowing fights in games to continue.

"You can live with the spontaneous fight," said Savard, who won eight Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens. "That's something that can happen between brothers, two kids getting into a fight because of an argument. But you don't want the designated hitter. That's my view."

Savard took umbrage with league commissioner Gary Bettman's recent remark that fighting is a part of the game.

"That's the way people were thinking 30 years ago," said Savard, who retired in 1983. "I've always been against violence, against fighting. Bettman comes out and says fighting is part of the game. Well, that depends (on) what you want to do with your game.

"We're the only sport that allows it."

Savard suggested players wouldn't find it necessary to police themselves if the league handed out harsher penalties for stick fouls and hits to the head. He said the 25-game suspension given to the Islanders' Chris Simon for hitting the Rangers' Ryan Hollweg in the face wasn't severe enough.

"The league says, 'Well, it's OK, 25 games and you can come back,' " said Savard, who was the Canadiens' general manager for 12 years. "When these things happen, it's because the league has been too soft for many, many years."

Guaranteed playoffs

The Tampa Bay Lightning has lost two consecutive games and five of its past seven, but coach John Tortorella isn't discouraged.

"We're getting in (the playoffs)," he told reporters. "We are going to get in. 'We're going around the block' is the best way to put it. But we're going to get in.

"You can write that. It is a guarantee."

Bruins coach fires back

Boston Bruins coach Dave Lewis should be surprised if he doesn't get hard-working performances from his team in the remaining games.

The day after a 5-0 drubbing by Pittsburgh, Lewis conducted one of those dreaded "bag skates" in which he made the players skate laps and sprints for 45 minutes with a couple of breaks for water.

That wasn't all. The players had to stay and watch a replay of the entire loss to the Penguins while the coaches took the team bus back to their hotel.

"You can't control your talent, but you can control your effort, your emotion, your passion, your commitment," Lewis said. "Those things you control. There are some areas where maybe we're not the most talented team, but we certainly have to work harder with what we have."

Blue Jackets look better

The Columbus Blue Jackets will miss the playoffs again, but they have been competitive under coach Ken Hitchcock and have a chance to set team records for wins and points.

The Blue Jackets were 5-14-1 when Hitchcock took the reins, and they since have gone 27-24-6 and moved up to 11th in the Western Conference. Their best finish in the franchise's previous five seasons was 13th, so progress is being made.

"To me, you're strutting when, instead of bowing your head when the opponent is tough, you're looking him right in the eye," Hitchcock told The Columbus Dispatch. "I don't know that the strut is there just yet, but we're getting really close to it."

Memories for Blake

When defenseman Jack Johnson left the University of Michigan to sign with the Los Angeles Kings this week, it reminded Rob Blake of the decision he made 17 years ago.

Blake played at Bowling Green for three years, signed with the Kings late in the 1989-90 season and was able to play in four regular-season and eight playoff games. He made the NHL's all-rookie team the next season.

"It was huge getting that chance right away," Blake told the Los Angeles Times. "It gave me an idea what to expect the following September. Jack has a chance to get familiar with the practice facility, the arena and Los Angeles itself."

Johnson, 20, was Carolina's first-round pick (third overall) in the 2005 draft, behind Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Anaheim's Bobby Ryan.

His rights were traded to the Kings in October, and he spent his sophomore year at Michigan.

Johnson signed with the Kings after the Wolverines' NCAA tournament loss to North Dakota last weekend at the Pepsi Center.

Remembering roots

The Phoenix Coyotes wear "Decade in the Desert" patches on their jerseys, but management hasn't forgotten the team's roots. Before Thursday's game against Los Angeles, the Coyotes will induct center Dale Hawerchuk into its Ring of Honor. Hawerchuk will become the third member, joining former Winnipeg Jets Bobby Hull and Thomas Steen. The franchise moved from Winnipeg after the 1995-96 season. Hawerchuk had 379 goals and 550 assists in nine seasons with the Jets.

sadowskir@RockyMountainNews.com

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