Ponds and Pucks

I can’t believe we’re talking about this again.

The NHL has suspended Mattias Ohlund four games for his vicious two-handed slash on Mikko Koivu. See for yourself here:

We could sit here and debate the length of the suspension and the rise of violence in the NHL today, especially among Philadelphia Flyer type players (I kid, I kid), but something else got me thinking.

When Ohlund slashed Koivu, breaking the bone, Koivu was the leading scorer of the Minnesota Wild. Vancouver is a mere 3 points behind Minnesota in the thus far disappointing Northwest Division. The teams plays again on Wednesday.

Koivu is out for a week, so when the teams play again, Vancouver will have an advantage.

So thanks to a Vancouver player’s dirty work, both teams will be missing players, but the Wild will feel it most of all. Even with the suspension, Vancouver comes out ahead after the slash.

If a team is essentially rewarded for dirty play, why stop?

Should players who go after players of teams in their own division face a stricter suspension?

When the Flyer’s Jesse Boulerice injured the Canuck’s Ryan Kessler, it did the Flyers no favors. But if Koivu were out for an extended time and the Wild lost a few games from it, who would benefit more than a team that plays them eight times a year?

(This could turn into another argument against playing the teams in your division a thousand times a season and not seeing half the league for three years, but I promise I won’t go there. Today anyway).

Now, I know, one team’s players shouldn’t be more important than another team’s and it’s tough to get the suspensions warranted for half the stuff we see anyway, and we don’t want to take the intensity out of the divisional rivalries that we do have. I’m not talking about fighting injuries or those injuries that happen during the regular course of play. Just the really brutal obvious stuff.

I can’t get past the fact that a Vancouver player willfully injured another team’s player — I mean the slash broke the bone — and even with a suspension, they come out ahead for the next matchup. I mean, they give up Ohlund, but the other team loses the play Koivu. I’d make that trade a hundred times.

Wouldn’t you?

Mattias Ohlund, Mikko Koivu, Philadelphia Flyer, Minnesota Wild, Jesse Boulerice, Ryan Kessler

San Jose 4 - Calgary 1 — so much for the battle of the goalies. Nabokov nearly posted his second shutout in as many games, and Kiprusoff experienced his first yanking at the hands of Mike Keenan this season. Kipper was far from the problem, however. The rest of the Flames didn’t seem ready for the game, with [tag]Eric Goddard/[tag] having the best night of them all. Goddard got into two fights and had a goal called back. Battle of Alberta has more.

Vancouver 1 - Carolina 3 — Vancouver saw their road unbeaten string end and Carolina just keeps rolling. The win brings Carolina to 5-1-3, enough to be one of the better teams in the league without bringing attention to how good they are. Well, Vancouver knows now. More Canucks analysis at Canucks Hockey Blog.

Boston 1 - Montreal 6 — Ouch. I really thought the Bruins were going to do it this time. It looked like all the stars were aligning for them. But instead Montreal had 6 different goal scorers and broke the Bruins four-game winning streak, and kept the strange curse the Habs hold over the Bruins intact. A Theory Of Ice.

So it looks like all the games last night that were supposed to be interesting matchups turned out to be one-sided blow outs. I actually was relieved to turn the TV over to CSI: Miami, where the episode suspiciously featured the death of a Florida athlete named “Doug McClain.” I know the Tampa Bay Lightning’s new owner is Doug MacLean and is best known for his (lack of) coaching abilities, but….

San Jose, Calgary, Nabokov, Kiprusoff, Mike Keenan, Vancouver, Carolina, Boston, Montreal, Bruins

FanNation has posted a “shortlist” for the next Atlanta Thrashers head coach.

It looks like pretty much every other list floating around the hockey rumor-sphere — it begins with and highlights Pat Quinn and the works its way to the oft-discussed choice of Brad McCrimmon. But there’s a couple of other names in there too.

My money’s on Quinn, not because he’s the best choice, but because he’s a name, and one players respect. I’d still love to see McCrimmon get it though.

***

While the rest of the city of Boston is celebrating the Red Sox and their trip to the World Series, some die-hard hockey fans are still rubbing their hands in glee at the Bruins/Habs game tonight.

The Bruins are going into the legendary match-up with the upper hand for the first time in….. well, a really long time. To Bruins fans a chance to beat their Montreal nemesis is the ultimate bonus to Boston’s strongest start in years.

Finally acquiring a number one goaltender in Manny Fernandez has likely been a huge reason for such a great start. Oh wait, Tim Thomas has been the one manning the pipes? Go figure…

***

Games tonight:

Vancouver at Carolina - Vancouver is 4-4-0, Carolina is 4-1-3. Ryan Kesler broke out against the Blue Jackets with 2 goals the other night, while Justin Williams is leading the ‘Canes with 11 points.

Boston at Montreal - Boston is on a 4 game winning streak, Montreal broke a 3 game losing streak on Saturday when they beat Buffalo. Boston’s D has been particularly strong, allowing only an average of 2.14 goals a game. Montreal’s defense got a boost from free agent signing Roman Hamrlik as he potted a goal and two assists on Saturday.

San Jose at Calgary - San Jose is 4-3-1 (4-1-1 when Roenick plays, 0-2-0 when he doesn’t), Calgary is 4-2-2. Nabokov is coming off a shutout Saturday and has two career shutouts against the Flames. Flames beat their provincial rivals the Oilers on Saturday and are riding Jarome Iginla’s 5 game point streak.

Atlanta Thrashers, Pat Quinn, Brad McCrimmon, Red Sox, World Series, Manny Fernandez, Tim Thomas, Ryan Kesler, Justin Williams, Roman Hamrlik, Nabokov, Jarome Iginla

Vancouver Canucks

Notable moves and changes: Signed F Brad Isbister.
Starting goalie:Roberto Luongo
Summary of last year: What a difference the right goalie makes. The acquisition of Luongo brought the Canucks from missing the playoffs in 2005-2006 to finishing 1st in their division last season. They capped that by making it to the second round of the playoffs.
Prediction for this year: So far the hockey Gods are not smiling on Vancouver. After just one intrasquad game, Canucks fans got to hear about not one, not even two, but three injuries to key players. Luongo seems to have recovered from a scary puck to the neck, Trevor Linden’s groin pull is not serious, but Sami Salo’s broken wrist will take him out of the lineup for a month, minimum. One can either look at this as a positive (”Hey, we got the injuries out of the way early!”) or as an omen (”If we can’t make it out of camp with a full lineup, how can we play a whole season?”). It does seem to be prophetic for the Canucks — if they can’t stay healthy, this isn’t going to be much of a season, especially in a division as difficult as the Northwest. If they remain off the IR, they will make a lot of noise in west.

Vancouver Canucks, Brad Isbister, Roberto Luongo, Trevor Linden, Sami Salo

Anaheim knocked the Canucks out last night in the second OT period.  What is the biggest stat of this game?  Vancouver had a total of 27 shots on goal.  The Ducks had 63.  Vancouver didn’t have double-digit shots in any frame.  Luongo was amazing in this game, keeping a weak Vancouver defense in the game but the loss was inevitable.  You cannot let the opposition put EVERY shot on net and still expect miracles from your goalie.  Defense wins championships, and for proof, look at last night’s results.

It appears that Bill Guerin will be out for the next Sharks/Red Wings game on Saturday.  He took a puck to the face and might have to be a scratch.  Thus far this series, Guerin has had a whopping 0 points and is skating at -2 (all from game 2 of the series; he is at 0 for the rest of the games) so it’s easy to think that this isn’t a big loss.  But his 36 regular season goals tied him for 16th both overall and among forwards.  I will grant that this isn’t a huge loss right now, because he has not performed, but Billy was a good player this year and he’s due to find his groove.  Add to that the fact that the replacement will most likely not be as high-quality as Guerin so this is not a good thing for the Sharks.

End of Season Awards
The Frank J. Selke Trophy (Outstanding Defensive Forward)
The Finalists:

• Rod Brind’Amour (Car)
• Samuel Pahlsson (Ana)
• Jay Pandolfo (NJD)

Brind’Amour is a mainstay in this category and it’s a shame that he won’t win it.  It’s between Pahlsson and Pandolfo this year because these are two of the best defensive teams in the league.  The Devils are weak on offense but it’s become clear that they are a defensive juggernaut.  Anaheim has proven the same thing this season.  Surprisingly, both are in the negative and neither had a great season scoring-wise.
Who should win: Brind’Amour
Who will win: Pandolfo

Anaheim, Canucks, Vancouver, Ducks, Sharks, Red Wings, NHL, Stanley Cup, Playoffs, Hockey

I would never believe that the Rangers were going to make a real series out of their match-up with Buffalo, but their win last night tied the series.  These past two games, they have been absolutely electric and played amazingly well.  They need to win game 5 if they want to win the series, but they have fought and earned an absolutely amazing end to their season if it ends this week.  The Sabres were 28-10-3 at home this year in the regular season and they won the first two games of the series at home as well.  But what they need to do is take a breather and get their act back together. They have not looked nearly as good these past 2 games as they did the first 2 of the series.  Can they win?  Yes.  But they need to win tomorrow night or they’re going to be in a lot of trouble.  If the Rangers go back to Madison Square Garden ready to clinch the series, and if Lundqvist continues to play like the Goalie Gods have endowed him with magical powers, then we could see Jagr, Shannahan and Co. in the Eastern finals against the Senators instead of a “Battle of the Border.”

The Ducks overtook the Canucks in overtime to take a 3-1 series lead.  Vancouver has not played as well as they had been in the first series and the question is whether or not they are just out-classed.  They need to start kicking their game up a bit, and even though this game went into OT, they need to find a way to get the puck into the Anaheim net or they’ll be on the golf course by Monday.

The NHL released its list of finalists for the various trophies yesterday.  Tomorrow and Friday, I will break down the finalists and give you my picks for who will win each trophy.

Devils/Senators and Red Wings/Sharks tonight.  Both the Devils and the Red Wings need to win tonight in order to even things up, but the Red Wings need to win if they have a chance at moving on to the next round.

Happy Wednesday.

Rangers, Buffalo, Sabres, Ducks, Canucks, Vancouver, Anaheim, NHL

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

The NHL Stanley Cup playoffs started with a bang, but only for one team in each game. The New York Rangers just couldn’t put anything together as the Sabres dominated the game from start to finish. Lundqvist gave up 3 goals in the second period, all within 4:30. Buffalo, of course, won the game 5-2.

The Rangers were only one goal better than Vancouver, who lost to Anaheim 5-1. The Canucks started the game off with their only goal, but then Anaheim took over. Andy McDonald got a hat trick in the effort, along with an assist to give him 4 points for the game.  There was no question that the Ducks pretty well dominated the game.  They owned the Canucks and at the end of the day, they shut down the team which had gotten only 1 day off.  Versus showed a little stat comparing the first rounds of these two teams and if Anaheim continues to dominate, it will be interesting to see if anyone points to the differences in their first rounds as a reason.  For me, the interesting stat was that Anaheim had only trailed for about a half hour in their first round series.  Last night, they trailed for just over 2 minutes.  If they can keep this up, they’ll waltz their way into the Cup finals.

Detroit/San Jose & Senators/Devils tonight; both games are on at the same time.

NHL, Stanley Cup, playoffs, New York Rangers, Sabres, Buffalo, Vancouver, Anaheim, Canucks, Ducks

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

Yesterday I broke down the Eastern playoffs, so today is time for the West.  This is the more competitive division, so look for more upsets here.

1) Red Wings vs 8) Flames
Season Series: Tied 2-2
Detroit is the top seed in the west and has won the Central division … so what else is new? 
Can they capitalize on this to move on to the second round?  They might be in trouble because Calgary is one of the better teams out there.  With Jarome Iginla running their offense, they might be able to take anything that the Wings can dish out.  But at the end of the day, the Wings will move on.
My pick: Red Wings in 6

2) Ducks vs 7) Wild
Season Series: Tied 2-2 (1 Shootout)
The Wild are good, there’s no question about it.  But this is the Ducks’ series to win.  At the end of the day, their lines are put together better than just about any other team.  Forget that the season series was tied, this one ends in 5.
My pick: Ducks in 5

3) Canucks vs 6) Stars
Season Series: Tied 2-2 (1 Shootout)
Are you seeing a trend with these season series?  You should.
Here’s an interesting side note for this one.  The final score for all 4 games was 2-1, and the home team won them all.  That’s where the Canucks will get their advantage.  But I don’t think it will be enough. Dallas will win one in Vancouver and take the series.
My pick: Dallas in 7

4) Predators vs 5) Sharks
Season Series: Nashville 3-1 (1 Shootout)
This was the only season series that wasn’t tied.  But the two teams have almost identical records (Nashville  51-23-8, San Jose 51-26-5)  In my mind, this series comes down to a battle of two players: Paul Kariya and Joe Thornton.  Kariya will win it.
My pick: Nashville in 6

As an aside, I watched the first two episodes of “Thank God You’re Here” the other day.  Episode 1 — David Allen Grier is very gray
Episode 2 — His hair is black
I understand wanting him to look younger, but they could have spaced it a bit better.

Technorati Tags: NHL, Hockey, Playoffs, Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars, Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild, Detroit Red Wings, Calgary Flames