2nd Round Impressions and Conference Finals Predictions
May 15, 2009 by Kyle
Filed under Hockey Columns
Raise your hand if you think this is the best hockey you ever seen? Outside of International hockey which tends to always be this good, I can’t recall a playoff year being so full of exciting end-to-end hockey. For years we were used to guys “water skiing”, chipping their way through the playoffs with stifling defense and sluggish flow.
Not this year. And it’s not likely to start any time soon.
Thoughts on the Second Round
The Hurricanes have made me, and I suspect most of us look silly twice now. I don’t know if many predicted them to beat the Devils (though I did), and I think even fewer predicted them to beat the Bruins (I did not). I don’t know what it is about this team, but it sure feels like they’re a team of destiny, doesn’t it? How can you not like this team? From Paul Maurice and Ron Francis , to Eric Staal and Cam Ward , what’s not to like? I guess if you’re a Bruins fan, you don’t like Scott Walker very much now…the guy who kayoed Aaron Ward , and then kayoed the Bruins entirely . I thought the Bruins played well enough to win game 7, but they slipped in games 3 and 4, which cost them dearly. The Bruins have never overcome a 3-1 series deficit, and that history will continue for at least 1 more year. I feel bad for Tim Thomas, Claude Julien , and Aaron Ward, but the Bruins had a great year and should be back next year to challenge again. The questions will begin to circle around Tim Thomas now, especially now that he has a fat long-term deal. He’s now 0-2 in playoff game sevens and he’ll be dogged by that until he wins one.
What can you say about this series that hasn’t been said already? A series featuring several of the games brightest stars, highlighted by Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin . This series was hyped as a showdown between these 2 stars as if they were the only ones playing, and for long stretches, it seemed like they were the only 2 doing anything. Crosby had 13 points in the series while Ovechkin had 14. But in the end, Crosby was there in game 7 while Ovechkin seemed to fade after being robbed by Marc-André Fleury early in the first period. That save was the turning point of the game. It looked like this series was going to be a quick one after Washington took a 2-0 series lead, but the Penguins battled back on home ice and won 4 of the next 5 games, which many thought would be next to impossible. Again, the old adage of “you’re never in trouble until you lose on home ice” proves true. As for the Crosby/Ovechkin feud, I think it’s time to say that Crosby gets the edge. Sure Ovechkin has the flair and the personality – no debate there. But at 21, Crosby has already been to the Cup finals and is 1 series away from doing it again. He brought it and delivered big time in game 7 when it mattered most, and without a doubt understands the team game and how to use his teammates better than Ovechkin does. The poignant image in this series for me is when Crosby stole the puck from Ovechkin, streaked down the ice and beat Jose Theodore to seal the series. If that was not the series in a nutshell, what is?
This series seemed to be littered with blown calls, missed calls, weird brawls involving lightweights, stars and mismatches and of course, controversy. In the end I believe everything balanced out and the better team won, though it took longer than it ought to have taken. If not for the heroics of Jonas Hiller , this series is over in 5. Even with Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom sound asleep this playoff year, the Wings are still getting consistent scoring from “the Mule” Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg, Nik Lidstrom, Marian Hossa and Jiri Hudler . Anaheim seemed only to be able to go as far as Hiller and Getzlaf could take them. Niedermayer and Pronger are not the players they used to be, nor is Teemu Selanne . It may be time for a changing of the guard in Anaheim, as many of their key veterans are unrestricted free agents.
Who says young teams can’t win this deep in to the year? The Blackhawks are the youngest team in the league and are impressively showing everyone that you can’t lose if you don’t know what losing is. Call them the Canada killers, but they’ve knocked out the 2 Canadian representatives in the Western Conference in impressive fashion. They rattled and eventually shredded Miikka Kiprusoff , and did the same to Roberto Luongo . Speaking of Luongo, what a bad time for the team captain to play his worst hockey of the year. For a guy that everyone expects to be named Canada’s #1 goaltender at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, he sure didn’t play like he can handle the pressure (In fact, neither did Brodeur , which begs the question – is Cam Ward the best Canadian goaltender in the game right now? One thing is for sure today, if Luongo is named Team Canada’s #1 guy, it will be in large part due to the politics of having the home town guy between the pipes. Hopefully Team Canada General Manager Steve Yzerman and the coaching staff can see through this and make the correct call. It may end up being Luongo come next year, but right now it’s not.).
I wonder how the Canucks feel today about bringing in Mats Sundin , as he did not quite live up to expectations, despite respectable playoff stats. It’s evident that skipping training camp hurt him, and father time is catching up. Will he be back next season? Will the Canucks want him back? If the Sedins leave, they may be forced to bring him back just to keep them competitive. The rest of the Canucks seemed not to be able to raise their game in the playoffs. Steve Bernier, Ryan Kesler and Pavol Demitra were not able to match the skill and production of the Hawks. Going back to the Hawks, there’s no shortage of extremely talented kids that can flat out get the job done. From Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, to Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg and Martin Havlat , the scoring is there in spades. And with role players like Burish, Byfuglien, Bolland, Ladd, and Sammy Pahlsson, the sandpaper and intangibles are there too. The defense is able, and more importantly, willing to take abuse and give it out. Joel Quenneville is to be commended for what he’s done with this collection of youngsters. It’s clear that the firing of Denis Savard so early in the year was the right move, after it left so many shaking their heads.
Predictions for the Conference Finals
Carolina (6) vs Pittsburgh (4)
I don’t want to make the mistake of disrespecting Carolina again, since they seem to be proving just about everyone wrong, but I have a tough time making a case for them to beat the Penguins. I can easily say that fortune is smiling on the Canes and that will somehow carry them through the series, but I’m not going to do that. I think that the Penguins have the 2 best, or at least 2 of the 3 players in the league. And in Crosby’s case, he looks as though he’s just warming up. The Canes don’t have the defense to contain all of the Penguins up front talent…do they? Paul Maurice will have to roll lines because he won’t win many matchup battles. On the other hand do the Penguins have the necessary defensemen to lock up Eric Staal? Does it matter? Staal asserted himself quite well against Norris candidate Zdeno Chara , so maybe it doesn’t matter who the Penguins run out there. On the Penguins front, Sergei Gonchar came back for game 7, and had a positive contribution in the outcome. Will his knee be able to last for whatever amount of hockey is left in their season? I expected this to be another fast-paced series, with the Penguins talent being the difference. Though I will NOT be surprised to see the Canes advance. After all, Cam Ward STILL has never lost a playoff series (6-0), including a sparkling 4-0 record in 7th games. If that’s not clutch, I don’t know what is. Even after being seemingly rattled after the Bruins dominated games 5 and 6, he came back with a stellar effort in game 7. I don’t want to keep betting against this guy, but I also don’t want to bet against Sidney Crosby on a mission. The Canes are certainly battle tested, with both series this year going down to the wire in 7 games (to the last minute vs the Devils and OT vs the Bruins). That’s invaluable experience, but begs the question – how much do they have left in the tank. This is a team that will heavily rely on Staal to carry the mail offensively, as they have in both series to this point. Can he do it again? Maybe, but not quite enough.
Pittsburgh in 6 (though if it gets to a 7th game, I can’t help but think the Canes will win).
Let’s hope that this original six matchup provides better entertainment than the Canadiens / Bruins series, which was as anticlimactic as it gets. In this matchup, we have division rivals, original six rivals, defending champs & league’s oldest team (Detroit) against the upstart, youngest team in the league with their sights set on the prize (Chicago).
This series has major potential for fireworks and drama, the same way the Penguins / Capitals series gave it to us. I think a lot of people are waiting for the air to slip out of the Blackhawks balloon, but so far it has not happened. People thought that the rougher, bigger defense of the Flames and Canucks would punish and smother the smallish, inexperienced Hawks forwards. But the Hawks have proven that they are more than up to the challenge. They’ve fought back and dished out as much as they took. On the flip side, the Red Wings do not play a bruising type of hockey. They play smart, they move the puck and they are disciplined. They are led by guys with multiple cup rings, guys who have been here many times and know precisely what it takes to get the job done. How much more can Quenneville get out of his troops? For Detroit, Mike Babcock also has a tremendous amount of experience at this time of year and can handle anything. So far he’s beaten a Columbus team that rode an extremely hot Steve Mason in to the playoffs, he’s beaten an Anaheim team that wanted to grind the Wings to a halt, and now they’re playing a Hawks team that will try to skate and finesse them in to the ice.
It’s time to throw the inexperience argument out the window. The Hawks don’t care. Whether they are right in thinking this remains to be seen. I’m calling the talent on both sides as a draw. In my mind this series will boil down to Osgood vs Khabibulin and how well their defensemen can contain the skill. I think now is the time we will see Datsyuk and Holmstrom wake up and make their contribution. Notice has been served however, that the Chicago Blackhawks are for real, and they’re going to challenge Detroit for the division title starting from game 1 next season. But for now, the champs will continue their march towards a rare Stanley Cup repeat.
Detroit in 6.
I believe we are looking at a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals, which should be even better this year. The Penguins are a better team, and the Wings…well, when aren’t they great?
As an interesting side note, 3 of the 4 coaches still standing were hired DURING the season after the previous coach had been fired (Therrien, Laviolette, Savard). As a copycat league, where teams try to mimic the Stanley Cup champ, I wonder if we will see a rash of firings next season as teams try to capture lightning in a bottle?
Please leave your thoughts and predictions below!
Simeon Varlamov Answers The Call
April 21, 2009 by Tyler
Filed under Hockey Columns
Varlamov Answers the Call
On Frozen Blog has the dish on Simeon Varlamov, the Capitals sensational young goalie who was a key factor in the 4-0 victory over the Rangers in Game #3 of the series. The article includes a very good Q&A with the young netminder.
Of course Sean Avery was up to his old tricks again. Avery was the pinnacle of undisciplined play – to the tune of 18 minutes in penalties.
Habs Looking Hopeless
Michael Ryder haunted his former club on Monday night, scoring the key goal to help put the Boston Bruins on the verge of a sweep of the Montreal Canadiens.
Even without Milan Lucic, the Bruins downed the struggling Canadiens in relatively easy fashion. The Canadiens powerplay was, again, nowhere to be found and Alex Kovalev took another patented “night off” at the worst possible time.
Ducks Host Hockey Tailgating Party!
The Anaheim Ducks announced an outdoor hospitality venue for their fans called The Playoff Spot. It will open three hours prior to faceoff and be available throughout the game, will offer large-screen plasma televisions for viewing NHL playoff action (including out-of-market games) and exclusive menu options and beverages.
Now, not only can Ducks fans enjoy their two wins over the San Jose Sharks…they can get bombed outside prior to the game! Who would have thought that California would be the home of the first official hockey tailgating party?
Twitter Goes Mainstream
Alanah, from Canucks and Beyond, has a list of some Mainstream Media hockey folks on Twitter. These folks include a few hockey personalities from CBC, print media reporters from around the league and my personal favorite – NHL’s Carrie Milbank!
NHL Digest has been using twitter for some time now and found it a terrific place to meet other awesome hockey fans! If you’re not using Twitter, please sign up and follow NHL Digest Tweets here: www.twitter.com/nhldigest
Canadiens and Wings Take Series Lead
April 11, 2008 by Tyler
Filed under Hockey Columns
Canadiens Defeat Bruins
Tom Kostopoulos had a goal and an assist and Carey Price made 17 saves as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarter-final.
The best-in-league Canadiens PowerPlay was mis-firing all night with Alex Kovalev making some uncharacteristic poor passing decisions. However, the Habs managed to take advantage of some opportune scoring to down the Bruins as expected at the Bell Centre in Montreal Thursday night.
Sharks Even Series With Flames
Nabokov made 21 saves in his sixth career postseason shutout, and rookie Torrey Mitchell scored a power-play goal in the Sharks’ 2-0 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night, evening their first-round series at a game apiece.
Dion Phaneuf turned 23 yesterday and logged 9:20 of ice time in the first period. The second period saw the Flames take three straight penalties. They only took two penalties in all of game one. The Flames outshot the Sharks 10-8 in first period, but the second period was a whole other story. The Sharks had 27 shots, notching two goals, while the Flames had three measly shots.
Detroit Edges Nashville In Series Opener
Henrik Zetterberg scored the go-ahead goal just under seven minutes into the third
period and added an empty-net goal later in the period to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a
3-1 home win over the Nashville Predators.
Predator’s fire-bug Jordin Tootoo notched his first ever playoff goal, but the Wings were too strong as the Elder Statesman, Dominik Hasek, turned aside 19 shots to give the Wings a 1-0 series lead.
You Must Draw First Blood
Joe Pelletier provides us with this interesting statistic:
Since the NHL adopted the current conference-based playoff format in 1993-94, clubs winning Game 1 have gone on to win the series 133 of 195 times, or 68.2% (all series best-of-seven). For the Conference Quarter-Finals only, clubs winning Game 1 have won 74 of 104 series (71.2%).
Ovechkin’s Wheel of Fortune
Many fans may not know this, but Wheel of Fortune Host Pat Sajak is a die-hard
Washington Capitals fan. Sajak has actually been a hockey fan for many years and recently had the following to say about Alexander Ovechkin:
“I lived through Gretzky, and all those great Blackhawk players, but I’ve never seen anything like this guy,” Sajak said. “I’ve seen skilled players, but I’ve never seen anybody with that level of skill who is that willing to be physical and mix things up. He’s a combination of everything you like about hockey: he’s faster than anyone I’ve seen, he’s quicker than anyone I’ve seen, he’s got a longer reach than anyone I’ve seen. I said when Ted signed him for 13 years, ‘Hockey just may work here.’ I’m actually planning my
life around these playoffs.”
North Dakota Gets Ousted Again
You can call it a butt-kicking, a blowout or any combination of terms. Whichever you choose, it was another Boston College victory over North Dakota in the Frozen Four.
Things started bad and slowly got worse for North Dakota, as the Eagles ran off four first-period goals en route to a 6-1 victory in the opening game of the 2007 Frozen Four. The Eagles will face the winner of Thursday’s second semifinal between Michigan and Notre Dame in Saturday’s title game.
I should have known better than to pick North Dakota to win the NCAA Division I championship; this is the third straight year that Boston College has eliminated them in the national semifinal.
2008 NHL Trade Dealine – Bruins Edition
February 25, 2008 by Tyler
Filed under NHL Business
Jaci from Wicked Bruins Fan writes:
With the Bruins coming off an impressive 4-0-1 road trip, the GM Peter Chiarelli might not want to mess with team chemistry too much. On the other hand, there are some needs that could be addressed by tomorrow’s trade deadline that include acquiring a defenseman, a scorer or some extra depth.
Bruins Rumors
The Bruins haven’t been really mentioned much in rumors, that I can tell anyway. There was a rumor the Bruins were making a play for Marian Hossa in Atlanta with forward Phil Kessel going the other way. Chiarelli said in an interview with Rob Simpson before Saturday’s Lightning game that he won’t be trading Kessel. All I can think is back to last year when Brad Boyes was “reportedly” off the market.
Another player who has been mentioned is defenseman Aaron Ward. Ward will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. But I can’t see Chiarelli moving Ward as he has been a key component to the team this season.
That’s not to say Chiarelli won’t deal some minor players to get some depth for the rest of the season.
To keep updated on rumors, check here.
Chiarelli Speaks
Here are some quotes from the Bruins GM talking about the trade deadline and possible moves.
“Where I’m at, and from the information you pick up from other guys – and we’ve been in a couple of the larger discussions involving impact players – deals aren’t ready to go, unless someone steps up on the weekend,” Chiarelli said. – Boston Herald, today”There’s a possibility I won’t make a move. And I’m fine with that,” said Chiarelli. “I want to improve this team. But I also want our young guys to get that experience of the playoffs. And if you get in the playoffs, you never know what can happen.” – Boston Globe, today
“With us, I’m trying to get a little bit bigger up front,” said Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. “If I can’t, I can’t. We’ve got a couple of things we want to try and do and I’ve had a couple of discussions with guys.” – Canadian Press, February 18th
“I would say that if we want, the chances of us getting a top-six forward are no longer slim,” said Chiarelli. “You get more certainty about what they want. Prices are still high. But before, you had no clue. Teams weren’t willing to even discuss concepts.” – Boston Globe Blog, February 21st
“I envision the bulk of the trades occurring on deadline day,” said Chiarelli. “I don’t know if it will reach that number (44), though. If this is any indication, at the GM meetings last year we were significantly further along in deals.
“I think there’s two big trades and maybe one unrestricted free agent – (Peter) Forsberg – that kind of will start the domino effect. The prices for those guys are very high. They’re looking for players, young players, prospects, picks.” – Boston Herald, February 23rd
Bruins Deadline Movement
Before Bruins fans prepare for tomorrow, let’s take a look back to the team’s previous deadline deals.
2007- Acquired D Aaron Ward from NYR in exchange for D Paul Mara
- Acquired D Dennis Wideman from STL in exchange for C Brad Boyes- Acquired F Marty Reasoner, F Yan Stastny, and a draft pick* to EDM in exchange for W Sergei Samsonov
*draft pick became Milan Lucic- Claimed F Sandy McCarthy (NYR) off waivers
- Acquired C Brad Boyes from SJ in exchange for D Jeff Jillson (to BUF) for Curtis Brown (to SJ)
- Acquired D Andy Delmore from SJ in exchange for future considerations (probably a draft pick?)
There were also some deals made days before the deadline in past seasons.
Maybe not all deadline deals are a bad thing.
Other Deals
The Bruins have also shown they have been active as the trade deadline was coming. The same can’t be said this year, so perhaps the Bruins will be making a little noise today and tomorrow.
2007 (26 days before) – Acquired a 4th round draft pick from WSH in exchange for D Milan Jurcina2007 (24 days before) – Acquired F Brandon Bochenski from CHI in exchange for F Kris Versteeg and a conditional draft pick
2007 (17 days before) – Acquired D Andrew Ference and F Chuck Kobasew from CGY in exchange for D Brad Stuart, C Wayne Primeau and conditional draft pick
2004 (6 days before) – Acquired D Sergei Gonchar from WSH in exchange for D Shaone Morrisonn and two draft picks
2004 (5 days before) – Acquired F Michael Nylander from WSH in exchange for a draft pick and future considerations
The best out of those deals is the Ference/Kobsew trade by far.
The trade deadline expires in less than 24 hours from now.
Will the Bruins make some moves? Will they make team chemistry a priority? What are your expectations? Do you want them to make some trades?
Post your thoughts in the comments.
