Ponds and Pucks

Tonight’s games:

NY Rangers at Pittsburgh Penguins - Rangers are 2-4-1, Pens are 4-3-0. Jordan Staal and Marc Staal will be playing against each other for the first time. Rangers recently lost Straka to injury and are in a 3-game losing skid, while the Pens are hoping to extend their winning streak to 3.

Atlanta Thrashers at Toronto Maple Leafs - Atlanta is 1-7-0, while Toronto is 3-4-2. Both teams have had disappointing starts, Atlanta’s coach was fired last week. The rest is too depressing to mention, between defensive woes and goaltending nightmares, winless streaks and goals against. Click the link if you really want to know. Or skip the whole thing and watch Family Guy instead.

Columbus Blue Jackets at Chicago Blackhawks - Columbus is 3-3-1, Chicago is (5-3-0). These division rivals have languished at the bottom of the league for years, so it’s nice to see some improvement on both sides. Chicago’s highly touted rookies Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane have made all the difference, and are both among team leaders for points. Columbus goalie Pascal Leclaire already has an amazing 3 shutouts this season, and Rick Nash is leading the team with 5 goals.

Anaheim Ducks at St. Louis Blues - Ducks are 4-5-1, Blues are 4-2-0. Blues are another Central division team that has taken off early in the season thanks to free agent signing Paul Kariya and to solid netminding from Manny Legace. The Ducks are struggling and currently mired in their longest season-opening road losing streak ever.

NY Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Jordan Staal, Marc Staal, Straka, Atlanta Thrashers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Columbus Blue Jackets, Chicago Blackhawks, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Pascal Leclaire, Rick Nash, Anaheim Ducks, St. Louis Blues, Paul Kariya, Manny Legace

Pittsburgh Penguins

Notable moves and changes:Signed D Darryl Sydor and F Petr Sykora.
Starting goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury
Summary of last year: It seems incredible now, but at the mid-point of the season, the Pens were languishing in the bottom half of the standings. Once the young guns hit their stride, they were off to the races, and finished second in the Atlantic.
Prediction for this year: What else is there to say? Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Ray Whitney, Fleury, and Sidney Crosby are all only going to get better (heaven help us all). There’s a nice mix of veteran leadership here too, with Sergei Gonchar, Gary Roberts and now Sydor and Sykora. With that playoff experience and that young talent, expect to see the Pens at the top of the Eastern Conferenced for years to come.

Pittsburgh Penguins, Darryl Sydor, Petr Sykora, Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Ray Whitney, Sidney Crosby, Sergei Gonchar, Gary Roberts

Many say this is the slowest time of year for the NHL, but I disagree. This is the time of year when something big is around the corner. The remaining free agents are being picked through and analyzed, coaches and GMs are looking to see where they need to bolster the team and making trades as necessary, and players are starting to prepare themselves for training camp. It can only get better from here!

To fill the time, Sportsnet.ca’s Alan Adams has an interesting look at which NHL records may never be broken, such as Glenn Hall’s astonishing 502 consecutive starts in net. I used to believe Wayne Gretzky’s 50 goals in 39 games could never be touched, but as I watch Sidney Crosby, and look at the Pittsburgh Penguins build a decent team around him, I’m starting to change my mind.

ESPN is debating whether Anaheim has the talent and skill to repeat their Cup win. Scott Niedermayer is obviously a huge factor, but in this NHL, I think it’s always tough to repeat. Teams treat you a lot differently after you’ve won a Cup. Every team rises to the occasion to play the defending Champions — there are no nights off when you play those teams languishing at the bottom of the league; everyone wants to prove they can beat you.

I don’t think it will be the Ducks this year. That said, I didn’t think it would be the Ducks last year, so take that with a grain of salt.

As we inch closer to training camp and the start of the season we’ll take a look at each of the teams and whether they’ve improved or reduced their Cup chances in the off-season. Stay tuned!

NHL, Glenn Hall, Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins, Scott Niedermayer

With a little Moody Blues to get us going, we start with 2 more teams advancing to the second round.

Ottawa 3, Pittsburgh 0
Ottawa wins the series 4-1. I will have more to say on this next week, but what it comes down to is the reality that you can’t deny — Ottawa is a great team and they will continue to be a great team. Pittsburgh is good and young, so this won’t be their last playoff run, but they met a team that is just better this year.

Anaheim 4, Minnesota 1
Anaheim takes the series 4-1. The Ducks are a powerful team and they pretty well bulldozed the Wild. Look for them to be a scary force for their next round.

We can also add 1 more OT period to our count from the Dallas-Vancouver game. The Stars won the game 1-0 in the first overtime.

What does this weekend hold?
Buffalo will try to finish the Islanders off tonight. If they lose tonight, they’ll get another chance on Sunday. Unfortunately for my Isles, Buffalo will win tonight at home. The series that I want to see is Buffalo-Ottawa right now.

Tampa Bay skates in New Jersey tonight and at home on Sunday. The series is tied 2-2 so the winner of tonight’s game has a huge advantage.

San Jose is in Nashville tonight and will try to finish off their series. The Sharks have been pretty dominant in this series and they should wrap it up tonight.

Eastern Conference:
Buffalo leads the Islanders 2-1
Tampa Bay leads New Jersey 2-1
Rangers lead Atlanta 2-0
Ottawa leads Pittsburgh 2-1

Western Conference
Detroit leads Calgary 2-0
Anaheim leads Minnesota 3-0
Vancouver leads Dallas 2-1
San Jose leads Nashville 2-1

Anaheim could sweep the series tonight, but I doubt it.

So here is my newest feature, the Overtime Count.
To date, there have been 7 overtime periods, and all have been in the Western Conference.

As we start looking at the end of the North American hockey seasons; last night, the AIHL started up their 2007 season with Melbourne dominating Adelaide 6-1. Canberra was also victorious, taking the win from the Brisbane Blue Toungues 5-2.

Finally, a mea culpa. Many thanks to Lyndsey who pointed out that it was Buffalo, not Detroit who won the President’s Cup, despite what I wrote in my previous posting. I have no good excuse except that I had a very long day including hitting two Napa Valley vineyards for wine tastings and a 2 hour drive. I will be more studious in the future and make sure to error-check myself.

Last night, the first games of the first round were played — and that makes for my favorite time of the year.  Playoff hockey is special, as shown by the Canucks-Stars game.  Henrick Sedin scored the game-winner with less than 2 minutes remaining in the 4th overtime period.  For those keeping time, that means that the game lasted almost 140 minutes; but it’s still only the 6th longest game in NHL history.  Roberto Luongo made his first playoff start one he’ll never forget and what I saw of the game (I will admit, I didn’t make it through the whole game) he was amazing (although giving up 4 goals is a point of concern.  He will need to get more consistent in the rest of this series or Dallas will own him).

In other OT games, San Jose overcame Nashville 5-4 in the second OT.  This is another series that looks like it will have a lot of offense, but also looks like it will be entertaining.

Ottawa routed Pittsburgh 6-3.  Don’t let this score fool you, it was never close, with Ottawa up 4-1 when I turned it off.  I also heard a most disturbing fact yesterday — the Penguins have 2 players under 20.  Which means they are making a whole lot more than I am.

Final game of the night was Minnesota at Anaheim, with Minnesota losing by 1 (2-1).  I saw none of this game, I will admit (and by the by, Versus, can you shift around a bit more to show highlights and live snippets from the other game).  This one remained pretty much tied until the 5 minute mark when Penner put the final goal of the game in the net.

Looking at all of these games, it seems clear that the West will be an exciting bracket this year.  Tonight, 3 Eastern Conference series kick off, and let’s see what kind of excitement they bring us.

One final note about tonight, Devils, Isles and Rangers all kick off series tonight.  This year is the first year that all three of those teams have been in the playoffs and had three different opening round opponents.

Technorati Tags: NHL, Hockey, Stanley Cup, Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks, Nashville Predators, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Sidney Crosby, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks

The NHL playoffs start tomorrow evening with 4 matchups (3 on in the Western Conference).  So today, we break down the 4 Eastern Conference matchups.

1) Buffalo vs 8) Islanders
Season Series:  Sabres win 3-1
Buffalo has had a miracle season, coming in with one of their highest point totals ever.  They have played their best hockey this season, setting a club record for wins.  Meanwhile, the Islanders - who have been running hot and cold all season - are coming off a season-ending win streak and are looking forward to the return of Rick DiPietro for this opening round matchup.  The Isles have a chance, albeit a slim one, to move forward if they can get some strong defense and keep Buffalo off the board.  The Sabres led the league in goals during the regular season, ending with 308 goals (20 more than the next highest team and significantly higher than the league average of 241 goals).  The Sabres, for their part, just need to keep playing the way they have all season if they want to walk into the next round.
My pick: Sabres in 5

2) Devils vs 7) Lightning
Season Series: Lightning win 3-1 (1 overtime win)
On paper, the Devils should win this one pretty easily.  The Southeastern conference is one of the weakest in the entire league and the Lightning are not a team that everyone is picking to go very far.  But here’s the thing with Tampa Bay: they have two of the best offensive players in the league with St. Louis and Lecavalier.  The Devils are a one-dimensional team this year, so if Tampa can light up Brodeur, they might actually have a chance.  I’ll pick them for the upset, just to make things interesting.
My pick: Lightning in 6

3) Thrashers vs 6) Rangers
Season Series: Atlanta wins 3-1
See above; the Southeastern Division is weak.  Atlanta and Tampa fought each other and no one else to get here.  The Rangers have a team that can get very hot and perform well.  They have quite a few future Hall-of-Famers on the team and they are playing like they want to go all the way.  But the team is old and streaky.  This will be their only playoff win this year.
My pick: Rangers in 6

4) Senators vs 5) Penguins
Season Series: Ottawa won 3-1 (2 Shootouts)
This is the series that EVERYONE is looking forward to.  Ignore the season series results, Ottawa is nowhere near as dominant as it would appear.  Sidney Crosby is one of the best hockey players ever and the team is well-prepared for a long series with a young team that can skate rings around everyone else.  As for Ottawa, Dany Heatley has come into his own since the fatal accident in Atlanta.  Everyone said that moving away from Atlanta would be good for him and they have been right.  Add him to Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson, players who have been the backbone to a dominant Senators team and they might be unbeatable.
I need to pick someone but this is a hard series to nail down.
My pick: Senators in 7

Technorati Tags: NHL, Stanley Cup, Playoffs, Hockey, Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Tampa Bay Lightning, Atlanta Thrashers, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh, who was (until very recently) considering leaving town, is in the playoffs and looking at possibly unseating the Devils and winning the East.  No matter who you are, this is a great story and one that you have to root for.

Pittsburgh hasn’t had a good season in a while.  I still remember when Mario Lemieux was given the team because the ownership at the time didn’t have the money to pay him what he was owed.  This is a team with one of the greatest turnarounds in a long time.

Here are their point totals for the past 4 seasons (from the Internet Hockey Database):
2000-2001: 96
2001-2002: 69
2002-2003: 65
2003-2004: 58
2005-2006: 58

So far this year, they have 101 points, and can get up to 105 (the final two games are at Ottawa and vs. the Rangers.  Let’s call it a split and give them 103 for their final total).  The last time they broke 100 was 1995-96.

The 2 seed gets them a matchup against Tampa Bay, the 4/5 against Ottawa.  In order to get there, they need to win both of their final games and they need the Devils to lose both of theirs in regulation (at Philadelphia and vs. the Islanders).

But no matter what happens, they should be proud of how much progress the team has made this year.  This is by far one of the best turnarounds in a long time.

Last night’s scores
Washington 3, Atlanta 2
San Jose 3, Anaheim 2

Tonight’s games
Boston @ Buffalo (My pick: Buffalo)
Buffalo is running for the President’s Cup.
Montreal @ Rangers (My pick: Rangers (it hurts to do it though))
The Rangers need 1 more point to clinch their playoff berth.
New Jersey @ Philadelphia (My pick: NJ)
New Jersey has everything to gain, Philadelphia has nothing to play for.
Dallas @ Columbus (My pick: Dallas)
Toronto @ Islanders (My pick: Isles)
The battle of lucky socks, Mark’s vs. mine.  If the Isles lose they are eliminated from the playoffs.
Pittsburgh @ Ottawa (My pick: Ottawa)
This could be a preview of the first round.
St. Louis @ Nashville (My pick: St. Louis)
Edmonton @ Minnesota (My pick: Minnesota)
Detroit @ Chicago (My pick: Detroit)
Colorado @ Vancouver (My pick: Colorado)
Los Angeles @ Phoenix (My pick: LA)
Calgary @ San Jose (My pick: Calgary)

Technorati Tags: NHL, Hockey, Washington Capitals, Atlanta Thrashers, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars, Columbus Blue Jackets, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Vancouver Canucks, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks