Ponds and Pucks

Detroit Red Wings

Notable moves and changes:Signed D Brian Rafalski (was with New Jersey). Signed F Dallas Drake.
Starting goalie: Dominik Hasek
Summary of last year: The rest of the league can only dream to have a team as consistently well-built as the Red Wings. It’s not like they don’t suffer their share of key player losses and injuries — it’s just they always seem to recover in fine fashion (how many teams could survive the loss of a Steve Yzerman with barely a misstep?). Last season they were yet again 1st in the Central Division, 1st in the Western Conference and 2nd overall. All this with a roster most would consider “too old” on many other teams (2 players in their 40s!). Yeah, they got to play the lowly Blues, Blue Jackets and Blackhawks 8 times each, but so did Nashville. Prediction for this year: It wasn’t tough for the Wings to get younger, but again, they did it smartly, bringing in steady veterans and keeping the core of the team intact. Rafalski’s camp injury has thrown the team into a bit of a loop, but with the Wings’ depth, they have little to worry about… especially since the weak Central Division around them hasn’t improved much.

Detroit Red Wings, Brian Rafalski, Dallas Drake, Dominik Hasek, Steve Yzerman

I had them losing in 7, but they lost in 6.  Pretty close.  Not very surprising.

Detroit never looked as good in this series as they had in the previous two. Anaheim, on the other hand, looked and played tight.  They skated well and they put the puck on net as needed.  They played a higher level of hockey, there’s really no debating it.

Now I’ll admit that I missed the third period last night.  After watching the first 2, I didn’t think that the Red Wings had a chance.  It turns out that I was right, but I’ll put it out there.

The Ducks showed that they were the far superior team.  At the end of this, there’s not a lot of breakdown to be done, it’s really just something to accept.

That and I’m really tired today.

Detroit, Anaheim, hockey, Red Wings, Ducks

I was not happy on Friday when there was no hockey, with the NHL electing instead to have a game on each Saturday and Sunday.  I was annoyed.  I was wrong.

The NHL got two great games on TV in front of national audiences this weekend.  Had the Sabres lost their series on Friday then Sunday would not have had a game on for people to watch.  The Senators would have been victorious before the weekend started and it would be a quieter weekend.  On the whole, I think the league did a great job and the games were great — which I suspect only raises the prestige of the league.

I do, however, have a gripe with NBC about Saturday’s coverage.

I was in Rochester over the weekend, so I watched the game in the Buffalo area.  For me, the game stayed on NBC.  For most of the country, however, when the Ottawa/Buffalo game went into overtime, they switched over to Versus because they wanted to cover the Preakness Stakes.  I’m all for that, since I am a huge horse racing fan.  But the Preakness wasn’t to be run for another hour.  What they wanted to do was offer the human interest stories about horses, jockeys, trainers and other assorted crap.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love horse racing and I wanted nothing more than to watch the race.  But I don’t need to hear from the jockey who lost a beloved second cousin to cancer and is dedicating the first quarter mile of the race to her.  Show me the race.  Before it starts, show me other races.  NBC chose to switch the overtime of a series-ending game to Versus instead of sticking with it.  That hurt because a lot of viewers don’t have Versus.  NBC made a big mistake here.

I am going to hold off on breaking down the Buffalo game until tomorrow, when I break down the series.  However, I will go through the Ducks/Red Wings game.  On Saturday, one of the NBC analysts asked “if Anaheim was favored to win without Chris Pronger, shouldn’t they be favored to win with him?”  This was an excellent point, but was he a deciding factor?  He had an assist in the game-tying goal but not in the game-winner.  So I’ll make this my first poll: Is Chris Pronger a key to Anaheim winning the series?  Vote below.

The Ducks managed to score in the final minute of the 3rd period to tie the game.  I was surprised by the goal, and my reasoning is simple: they were anything but crisp.  The Ducks were flailing about but managed in the end to put the puck in the net.  They got lucky.  If they want a chance to finish off this series, they need to work on pressing their advantage on man-up situations.

5-0
That’s it.  5-0
There’s really not much more that can be said about the game.  It was nothing short of complete and total domination.
Anaheim knew they lost and started getting punchy, which I guess I can understand.  But I don’t know how you let yourself lose that badly.  They were undisciplined and lethargic.  They gave up too many penalties and at the end of the day deserved to lose.
I really have no good commentary.  It wasn’t a game worth watching and it certainly didn’t match what I had expected for a playoff game.
Hopefully, tonight will be better.

Anaheim, NHL, Stanley Cup, Hockey, Detroit, Red Wings, Ducks, Playoffs

I will admit, I have watched absolutely no hockey this weekend.  The closest that I got was playing air hockey with my future niece.  I was, instead, off doing various wedding-related things for my October 21st date with destiny.

I did take a look at the recaps though, and have seen some of the highlights.  I will say this: offense wins games; defense wins championships.  In hockey, that translates to forwards win games but goalies win the Stanley Cup.  Without Dominik Hasek, the Red Wings would be nowhere near as dominant as they are, and they would not have a chance.  This is, of course, an obvious fact, but it lets me lead into the Venezia Trophy finalists whom I have ignored for too long.
The finalists:

• Martin Brodeur (NJD)
• Miika Kiprusoff (Cal)
• Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)
• Roberto Luongo (Van)

This is a great group to break down, and there are some top goalies here.  However, I have a quibble with Lundqvist being included.  One thing that I look for in this award is consistently top goalies and in my opinion that was not him.  He had a great end of the season, I won’t deny that, but overall, I don’t think he should be in the running.

Marty Brodeur has been nominated for this award 7 times in a row.  He deserves it too.  While we all call Hasek “the Dominator,” I am not sure that there has been a more dominant goalie than Brodeur in the league ever.  I’ll open it up, if anyone has a nominee.  Roy?  He’s a competitor but I don’t know if he beats Marty.

Luongo has been among the top goalies in the league for the first time ever.  His uneven play has hurt most of the teams he’s been on but this year he was exactly what his team needed.  I don’t know what happened to him to get him on the right path but whatever they were putting in his water worked.

Kiprusoff has been a consistently good goalie for a few years.  He has Stanley Cup experience and he has the ability to perform for his team when they need it.  His team was outclassed this year, but that shouldn’t discount his skill.  But he has no chance.  At the end of the day, it’s between Luongo and Brodeur.

Who should win:  Brodeur.  He is the best goalie in the league.
Who will win:  Lundqvist has some votes because people fell in love with him late.  But it won’t be enough to make a real dent.  Brodeur and Luongo will split the majority and Brodeur will win in the end.

Tonight, I will try to watch a hockey game.

hockey, wedding, Stanley Cup, Red Wings, Trophies, NHL

Red Wings/Ducks
Season Series Tied 2-2

This is another difficult one to pick.  Anaheim has coasted thus far, dominating their opponents.  Detroit, coming off of a first round that ran more like a clinic at times, ran into some problems in the second round.  Can they come back against a team that has been tight thus far?

Dominik Hasek is the key to this series.  If he plays as well as he has thus far, then Detroit will win the series.  If Pronger can get the puck past him, Anaheim will win it.  This series will test their endurance, as they will have to go 7 games to put it away.  But the Duck have the talent and I think they’ll be able to finish the Wings off in the end.

My pick: Anaheim in 7

No trophy update today, I will pick it up tomorrow.

Red Wings, Ducks, Anaheim, Detroit, hockey, NHL, Stanley Cup

So I came into the Conference Semis at 3-3-2.  How did I leave?  My picks are here, and let’s look at how I did.
Sabres/Rangers (Sabres in 6) — Right
Devils/Senators (Senators in 7) — Right team, wrong # of games
Red Wings/Sharks (Red Wings in 5) — Right team, wrong # of games
Ducks/Canucks[/tag] (Anaheim in 6) — Right team, wrong # of games
I walk out 4-3-5.  Not dreadful.

Detroit beat San Jose last night 2-0 to win their series in 6.  The big lesson that kids can take from it is in watching Dominik Hasek.  Except for one play, he knew where the puck was at all times and made sure to keep his body between the puck and the goal.  He flailed about like a beached whale at times and was far from pretty, but he shut the Sharks out.  We’d all rather an ugly win than a pretty loss.

Three stars of the second round:

1. Dany Heatley (Ott)
2. Dominik Hasek (Det)
3. Ryan Miller (Buf)

News Update
NHL & IIHF Agree on New Transfer Deal
Sidney Crosby voted top sports figure in Time.com Survey
Pharmacist makes bid for Edmonton Oilers

Trophy Update
Norris Trophy (Outstanding Defenseman)
The Finalists:

1. Nicklas Lidstrom (Det)
2. Scott Niedermayer (Ana)
3. Chris Pronger (Ana)

Three superb players got the nod here, and this may very well be the toughest category to decide on a winner for.  In their playoff series, all three have shown why they were nominated on a national stage.  And all three made amazing cases for themselves.
Who Should Win:  I think all three are deserving.  I will say that Lidstrom should win but it’s a real tossup.
Who Will Win: Lidstrom.  Niedermayer and Pronger will split the vote and eliminate each other.

Coming Attractions
This Friday, I will be starting a new feature, the weekly blog update.  Looking at hockey blogs across the web, I will give links to the top posts/stories of the week.
Conference Finals to be broken down tomorrow and Thursday.

Sabres, Rangers, Devils, Senators, Red Wings, Sharks, Ducks, Detroit, San Jose

The Senators beat the Devils last night, by 1 goal yet again.  This series has been pretty much decided by one goal over each game thus far.  But the Devils have not been able to get past the Senators at all.  New Jersey just cannot put together a game that will get past Ottawa because they are too weak a team.  Brodeur puts them in the driver’s seat but when he is up against the same quality day after day he starts to get into trouble.  Ottawa is stacked with goal scorers and they will put the puck in the net.  The Devils really cannot counter that.

Detroit insists on making things interesting.  Now, I will admit that I didn’t see all of this game because it started too late and I have to be up too early but I’m wishing that I had.  The Red Wings scored a goal with 5 seconds left in the second and then with 33 seconds left in the third to tie the game at 2.  They finally put the game away with 4 minutes left in the first OT period, beating the San Jose Sharks to tie the series at 2 games each.  Nabokov stopped 46 shots and that’s the main problem that he’s facing — his defense needs to keep Detroit from pounding the net.  If they can’t do that, then Detroit will eventually just overpower the Sharks and take the series.

Breaking down the Trophies
I will take these 1 per day, instead of as originally planned.  So today we look at the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year.
Finalists:

• Evgeni Malkin (Pit)
• Jordan Staal (Pit)
• Paul Stastny (Col)

Jordan Staal led the Penguins with a +16, and also led the three finalists.  However, he is also 3rd in points (under 50, for a center is troubling).  His teammate Evgeni Malkin leads the three, and all rookies with 85 points.  Stastny is safe as the middle for most categories.  He also has the advantage to not being on the same team as Sidney Crosby, who causes everyone to be overshadowed.
Who should win: Malkin
Who will Win: Stastny

Senators, Devils, New Jersey, Ottawa, Detroit, Red Wings, San Jose Sharks

On Sunday, NBC had some interesting coverage in between periods and the OT of the Rangers-Sabres game.  They talked about what food was brought in for the teams.  So all of you who want to be catering director for a hockey team, you got a bit of information on what to bring in when a hockey game goes into extra periods (bananas and sandwhiches in case you missed it).

New Jersey lost to the Senators last night with Brodeur playing well in goal.  Only him though; as the Devils played a sloppy and uncoordinated game.  If not for the amazing play of their goalie, they’d have been taken out of the game much earlier and would have lost by a lot more than 2 goals given up in the third.  The Devils cannot play another game like that if they want to survive.

One of the big questions that has been floating around since the series was announced was: how would Detroit perform in the Shark Tank?  Last night we got the answer.  They didn’t do too poorly.  Even though the Red Wings lost, they held a lead for almost 20 minutes.  They survived as they needed to do.  San Jose will make this a series and this may be an instant classic, but home ice will not be as potent here as some people thought.  However, as an aside, what is going on with the glass at the Tank?  It needed to be replaced all too often (more than 1x per game is too often).  That situation needs to be looked at.  It would also be nice if the games were a little earlier — not too much but maybe a half hour.  As it is, it’s hard for us on the east coast make it all the way through.

Rangers-Sabres & Anaheim-Vancouver tonight.  Enjoy.

Rangers, Sabres, New Jersey, Senators, Devils, Detroit, Red Wings, San Jose, hockey, NHL, Stanley Cup, playoffs

Good Morning.

It was a great weekend for hockey, and there were some outstanding games on this weekend.  Friday night started off with a second Buffalo win, and a Vancouver win in the second OT period (there was 1 final OT period in the first round that I never added, so let’s add 3 right now…but there were more this weekend).  New Jersey won on Saturday in 2 OT periods (total 5), and Detroit overtook San Jose.  Anaheim beat the Canucks on Sunday and the Rangers/tag] took out the [tag]Sabres in 2 OT (total 7).  So that’s the overall picture.]

Now here’s what you need to know:
Ryan Miller was amazing on Sunday.  Don’t let the loss fool you, he played amazingly.  He kept the Sabres in the game and was pushed beyond anything that you can imagine.  The Rangers had 46 shots on goal and with the exception of the second period, was at least even with or outshot the Sabres in EVERY period.  Buffalo was not on their game — they did not play as well as they had in the first two.  Now they can give up all 3 games at Madison Square Garden and still win the series if they want.  But if they do that, if they can’t win one game on the road in this series, then they will be facing serious problems in the next round.

Detroit is in trouble.  The series is tied 1-1 and game three is tonight at the Shark Pond.  But when you watch them play, it is clear that the dominance from the first series is somewhat lost.  I might have to rethink my pick for this round.  If the Red Wings want to get past the Sharks, they will need to perform much better than they have thus far.

Ottawa is one of the best teams in the league and they may have figured Martin Brodeur out.  If this is true, this series will be done soon.  If not, then I suspect that it’s only a matter of time.

The Anaheim/Vancouver series looks like it will be the best series of this round.

hockey, Buffalo, Vancouver, New Jersey, Detroit, San Jose, Anaheim, Canucks, Rangers/tag] took out the [tag]Sabres, Red Wings, Ottawa, NHL, Stanley Cup

I have been raving and raving about Detroit since the playoffs started, talking about how great they’ve been.  Well last night they were pretty weak.  Their 2-0 loss to the Sharks was more than just an opening game loss.  The crisp, disciplined, well-structured play that they had demonstrated in the opening round was lacking last night.  The Red Wings couldn’t stop the early onslaught that was the Sharks and they couldn’t break the conservative possession game that San Jose played late.  Detroit looked amazing in the first round but they lost some of their magic last night.

San Jose was the 5-seed in the playoffs, but don’t let that fool you.  They were only 5 points below Detroit, AND they had more wins (51-50) in the regular season.  They also had more regular season losses (26-19) but fewer overtime losses (13-5).  The Sharks have a real chance, and I’ll admit it right now, I might have missed it.

Ottawa and the Devils played an interesting little game, with Brodeur’s magic fading. 
Giving up 4 goals in the first period — that’s very un-Marty-like.  But I’ll be honest, let’s call this game an anomaly and see what happens in game 2.  I would be very surprised if they don’t rebound.  Ottawa may have led 4-1 after the first 20 minutes (and at no point did they trail), but they won’t be able to keep it up.  New Jersey (whom I have called a one-dimensional team in the past) will manage to put together a few more wins and the Marty Magic will come back.  This will be a series to watch though.

The Rangers skate against Buffalo again tonight, and the Ducks face off against Vancouver for game two.

And finally, my quote of the day comes from this past weekend.  I was in Tucson with my fiance and we were watching the Travel Channel (her favorite).  The program was about how goldfish were made and someone from the factory gave us this gem: “The best part is trying the finished product at the end.”  My only question is can you try the finished product at any other time?  If it were finished in the middle, why keep going?

Detroit, Sharks, Red Wings, San Jose, playoffs, Ottawa, Devils, New Jersey, NHL, Stanley Cup, Hockey

Buffalo vs New York Rangers
Season Series: Buffalo won 4-0
It’s very easy to look at the season series and say that the Sabres will dominate the upcoming playoff series. But as has been discussed here, Lundqvist only played in one game (which was lost 3-2 in OT). Kevin Weekes was the goalie in the other 3 games (as an aside, a new backup goalie needs to be something that the Rangers need to look for in the offseason). Weekes has shown that he can be dominated by a team of mites, so the fact that Buffalo owned him is not as impressive as one would think.
Here’s the reality of the series though — Henrik Lundqvist is the backbone of the Rangers and Buffalo is Just That Good. Lundqvist will keep his team in the series but Buffalo will win it.
My pick: Buffalo in 6

New Jersey vs Ottawa
Season Series: New Jersey won 3-1
In the Eastern Conference, no playoff team had fewer goals in the regular season. And no team had fewer goals against. In fact, at 216 goals, there are only 5 teams in the entire NHL that have fewer goals scored. Of course, with 201 goals allowed, they are the top team in the Eastern Conference in that category. Ottawa, on the other hand is #2 in the league in goals scored with 288. So it becomes a question of who gets to play their game — Ottawa or New Jersey. New Jersey needs to light the lamp if they want to be successful in this series. In all three of their victories, the Devils won by a single goal. In their only loss, they lost by 7. Does NJ have a chance here? Yes. Will they pull it off? No. Ottawa is just too good.
My Pick: Ottawa in 7

Detroit vs. San Jose
Season Series: San Jose won 3-1
Evgeni Nabokov vs. Dominik Hasek. What’s not to like about this series? This has the potential to be an amazing defensive series with two of the league’s best netminders facing off. Both teams are going to be looking for big defensive efforts and both teams will be looking to their offense to produce big numbers. In the first round, San Jose played will, but Detroit had a clinic going against the Flames. They are just too hot to be stopped.
My Pick: Detroit in 5

Anaheim vs. Vancouver
Season Series: Anaheim won 3-1 (1 OT Loss)
The Canucks just finished an intense 7 game series against Dallas which included 6 OT sessions, and the Ducks are nicely rested. They have a deep bench and some of the biggest names in hockey today suiting up in their locker room. The X-Factor here is how tired Vancouver is — will they be wired and riding momentum or will they be tired and ready to lay down. This one could go 7, but won’t.
My Pick: Anaheim in 6

I complained a bit yesterday about the times of today’s games. Well the NHL has corrected the error and now the games are on at 7PM & 10PM ET. I love these hockey double-headers.

Technorati Tags: San Jose Sharks, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Anaheim Ducks, Detroit Red Wings, Vancouver Canucks, Hockey, Stanley Cup, Playoffs, NHL

First, how did I do in the last round?
Wings/Flames (My Pick: Wings in 6) — Correct
Ducks/Wild (My Pick: Ducks in 5) — Correct
Canucks/Stars (My Pick: Stars in 7) — Right number of games, wrong team
Predators/Sharks (My Pick: Predators in 6) — Wrong
Sabres/Isles (My Pick: Sabres in 5) — Correct
Devils/Lightning (My Pick: Lightning in 6) — Wrong
Thrashers/Rangers (My Pick: Rangers in 6) — Right team, wrong number of games
Senators/Penguins (My Pick: Senators in 7) — Right team, wrong number of games
Let’s call it 3-3-2

Last night’s Stars/Canucks game had some nice play.  I particularly liked Joel Lundqvist’s goal in the first period — you could tell how much he had on that shot with the particularly loud clang that came off the pipe right before it went in.  That was, however, the last great moment for Dallas.  Vancouver took over and took the game.  There was a sea of white in the stands as their fans were waving towels and the level of support that they had makes me wish I lived in Canada.

Three stars for the first round:

1. Henrik Lundqvist (NYR) –  The Rangers took the Thrashers in 4 straight.  But they wouldn’t have been able to do it without their goalie who kept Atlanta under 3 goals per game in 3 out of 4 games.  The Rangers had a good (and sometimes great) offense, but it wouldn’t have meant anything if Lunqvist hadn’t been as superb as he was.
2. The Detroit Defense — In the 4 Detroit wins, the Flames scored 1 goal in each game.   But that’s not the incredible part.  Here’s the part to make you stand up and take notice, the number of shots taken by the Flames in each game: 20, 15, 24, 20 with the last one in 2 overtime periods.  Even in their 2 wins, the Flames only had 28 & 21 shots.  So Detroit gets credit for keeping them down and giving Hasek as much help as they could.
3. Joe Thornton (SJS) — This was a tough one.  I was looking through the Stars box scores looking for the key players and I kept coming back here.  Thornton had one key stat: 6 assists.  That’s what sold it for me.

The semi-finals start tomorrow night with two games at the same time.  This kills me, because the two game are Rangers/Sabres & Canucks/Ducks.  They can’t play the West Coast game any later than 7PM Eastern?  That’s 4PM local.  All I can do is hope that it’s a mistake on the web page.  I will break down the semi-finals tomorrow.  Until then, you stay classy, San Diego.

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.