Ponds and Pucks

Tampa Bay Lightning

Notable moves and changes: Acquired F Chris Gratton from the Panthers for picks. Signed D Brad Lukowich (was with the Islanders and New Jersey).
Starting goalie: Johan Holmqvist stole the starting role from Marc Denis last season and is slated to be this year’s starter, but there’s still a chance the Denis of a few seasons ago could show up and re-instate himself as #1.
Summary of last year: The Lightning fared marginally better than the previous season, but still look far from the Stanley Cup winners they were in 2004. While Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier had stellar seasons, Brad Richards was disappointing and the Lightning have not been the same in net since the departure of Nikolai Khabibulin.
Prediction for this year: Ah, drama — there’s never any shortage of it as long as head coach John Tortorella is around. When he isn’t publicly sparring with his own players, he’s cussing out the media on live TV. With the locally unpopular new ownership firmly installed (be honest, would you want Doug MacLean running your team?), Tortorella may find himself reined in. All this distracts from the fact the Lightning still do not have a reliable goaltender, and have done little to improve their defensive line, which was 28th in the league on the PK last season, despite the amazing play of Dan Boyle. Another lackluster season, and there may be wholesale changes in Tampa. The positives? The return of Chris Gratton and Brad Lukowich, and the always stunning play of Lecavlier and St. Louis. Keep these guys firing and the rest might not matter.

Tampa Bay Lightning, Chris Gratton, Brad Lukowich, Johan Holmqvist, Marc Denis, Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Nikolai Khabibulin, John Tortorella, Doug MacLean, Dan Boyle, Chris Gratton, Brad Lukowich

• Cost to buy the Tampa Bay Lightning: $206 million. Listening to John Tortorella slam the team’s previous owner? Priceless. (Fan590 audio link is here).
• Edmonton Oilers resign Brodziak and Roy. Craig Simpson’s out, Brodziak and Roy are in. Somehow I think they’re going to need a little more to get back into the playoffs.
• By the way, Simpson is now saying he’s leaving coaching because he realized he’d never be the next Scotty Bowman. There’s so many snarky comments I can make there I’m not even sure where to start…
• Staal brothers offered deal. And why not? Young men busted for drinking too much at a campground during a stag…. I know a lot of guys who call that “Saturday”.
• Hawks extend Savard’s stay. Good on ‘em. One of the best things to happen to the Hawks in years.
• Bruins sign their first round draft pick, Zach Hamill. The Bruins need this kid, both for their team and to keep their fans’ hopes alive.
• Hawks sign James Wisniewski. The Hawks on the other hand destroyed their fans’ hopes years ago…
• Coyotes ink Joel Perrault. Coyotes continue to be a mystery team… how will they do this year?
• CHL Schedule released. Colorado Eagles will begin their defense of the CHL championship title.
• Karel Pilar signs with Thrashers. Pilar’s been out of the NHL for nearly two years battling a heart condition.
• Chris Chelios testifies in murder trial. Nothing funny here. A former Cheli’s restaurant employee murdered two of his former co-workers, one right after Chelios spoke with her.
• Ducks’ Joe DiPenta thrills sick kids with Stanley Cup. Feel-good Cup story of the week.

Tampa Bay Lightning, John Tortorella, Edmonton Oilers, Zach Hamill, James Wisniewski, Coyotes, Joel Perrault, Colorado Eagles, Karel Pilar, Thrashers, Chris Chelios

Big news today is the sale of the Tampa Bay Lightning to Absolute Hockey Enterprises — a group that includes former Florida Panthers coach and former Columbus Blue Jackets GM Doug MacLean.

No one was more surprised than Lightning fans and the Tampa media. Unlike the public woes of teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators, there wasn’t the slightest indication the current Lightning owners were considering an offer, let alone selling the team.

Lightning fans went from shock to fear and anger quickly though — MacLean isn’t exactly a friendly face for Tampa fans. Never mind the Columbus Blue Jackets and the unfortunate legacy left there, Lightning fans endured years of MacLean at the helm of the state-rival Panthers, years when the Panthers benefitted from a well-stocked expansion draft and regularly came to town to wipe their feet on the Bolts.

It’s like Scotty Bowman buying the Colorado Avalanche. Glen Sather buying the Islanders — or worse, the Flames.

The Lightning/Panthers rivalry may not be a legendary one, but for a sports-happy state, it’s an intense one, and usually not terrible classy. Any one else remember the rats?

Despite all this, MacLean has been saying all the right things: there are no plans to move the team, there is (as yet) no indication MacLean intends to take over GM or coaching duties, and there are hopes there will be a budget increase, which has been a recent sticking point with the current ownership.

Then, I can’t help but wonder…. how much was Columbus paying MacLean if he’s able to buy a hockey team?

I will start by giving credit where credit is due.  Versus did a great job this weekend, showing so many games.  Call it bonus coverage all you want, I think they deserve a pat on the back.  I hope they continue the trend.

There is only one game on tonight, and it’s game 7.  Vancouver will skate at home against Dallas for all the marbles.  Puck drops at 9 ET.  This is the final game of the first round and we go to the next round, which I will break down tomorrow.

This weekend we saw New Jersey, San Jose, Detroit and Buffalo move on to the second round.  New Jersey put Tampa Bay away for the season which was not unexpected and San Jose was dominant in their series.  Neither series generated much news.  However, The Isles and the Flames went out with news clips:

• The Isles had a defenseman suspended under the league’s drug policy.
  Now, I don’t think that the loss of Sean Hill led to the defeat of the Isles in the series — the reality is that they were just completely outplayed.  But how stupid do you have to be to do anything that jeopardizes your team during the playoffs?  Hill had a 1 year contract, so he is now a free agent.  We won’t see him back in Isles Blue.
• The Flames Goalie got the gate
  We’ll start with See Above and move on from there.  Now granted, it’s Jamie McLennan who is the backup goalie, but you still need to make sure that you aren’t doing anything stupid.  The game got out of control, and everyone go frustrated.  I get that, it happens.  The game was lost 5-1.  But in the playoffs you need to play smarter.  It’s the playoffs.  It’s a disappointment.

Technorati Tags: Sean Hill, Jamie McLennan, NHL, Stanley Cup, Hockey, New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks, Detroit Red Wings

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.

The Rangers won their series last night, thus making them the first team to move to the second round.  Because of the re-seed, they will wait until a couple of other series end before learning their second round opponent.  My fiance is a Rangers fan (mainly so she can annoy me) and she was having a little fun with this.  It ruined my mood though.
Where did the Thrashers go wrong?  They were out-played in every aspect of the series.  Look back at Game 3, where they lost 7-0.  There are two things to see here — the first is that the Rangers scored 7 goals.  It’s not a goalie problem when the score is that high, it’s a total team problem.  The Rangers had 35 shots and outshot the Thrashers in every period — including a 9-3 final period.  The Rangers were clearly the better team, as much as it pains me to say it.

Add 1 to our overtime count as the Devils beat the Lightning 4-3.  Tampa Bay is holding their own much better than Atlanta did, against a tougher opponent as well.  The Thrashers and the Lightning were fighting for the top spot in the Southeast Division and we have to question if the right team won at the end of the day.  Tampa Bay had goals from both St. Louis and LeCavalier, and if they want to win the series, they will need some more production from them.

Buffalo beat the Islanders 4-2.  The Sabres still have to win 1 more game but they’ve won the series, having won both of the first 2 games in Uniondale.  The series will move back to Buffalo for game 5, and I predict the Sabres will win it.  The Sabres are looking amazing this year and have what it takes to go to the Conference finals if they play right.  Meanwhile, the Isles cannot seem to get past the first round of the playoffs.  It would appear that they are still missing one element, one piece, to get them to the next level.

San Jose beat Nashville 3-2.  The Sharks are one win away from moving on to the next round and I don’t think they’ll have much problem getting there.  The score was close but the game wasn’t really — San Jose has been outplaying the Predators in pretty much every way.

By the end of the weekend, we should see a few series wrapped up.

A note: I am on the West Coast tomorrow, so my post may go up a bit late.

Technorati Tags: NHL, Stanley Cup, Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devis, Tampa Bay Lightning, San Jose Sharks, Nashville Predators

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.

The NHL has a nice little list of the longest playoff games. If you scroll down to June 10, 1996, they list the only OT goal to ever win the Stanley Cup. That right there is a game that I’d love to relive. I wonder if anyone has video of it that they could post online? I also noticed the high amount of 1-0 games. My fiance, who I have gotten into hockey, hates games like that. She likes high-scoring games. I, on the other hand, love a good defensive battle. So here’s my discussion for the weekend:
Which do you prefer? Defensive low-scoring games or high-scoring shootouts?

Recapping the game one’s from last night:
Tampa Bay 3, New Jersey 5
Atlanta 3, Rangers 4
I caught a decent part of this game and the last minute and a half showed how good Lunqvist can be. He held up when the Rangers were down 2 skaters and were blasting at the net.
Detroit 4, Calgary 1
This one wasn’t a game.
Buffalo 4, Islanders 1
I’m calling shenanigens on this game, and predicting a comeback for my Isles in game 2. Why? Just ‘cuz

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