Ponds and Pucks

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.

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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

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.

7-0
Grumble.
7-0

I am an Islanders fan.  As such, I have certain duties and responsibilities.  One of them is despising the Rangers, which I think I do quite nicely.  And after last night’s debacle, I am in a sour mood.  I have no choice but to be.

I don’t know what Atlanta was thinking last night, but you can’t play like they did.  It’s the playoffs, every game counts, yadda yadda yadda.  Here’s the important truth — you CANNOT hand a game over.  If you lose, you need to stay competitive.  Game four of the series is tonight, and the Rangers will be playing with an incredible high when they skate tonight on home ice.  What does Atlanta need to overcome it?  They need to score early and often — they need 2 goals in the first ten minutes and they need to keep the Rangers off the board over the same time period.  All grumbles aside, the Rangers are a formidable team, and you can’t roll over and die for one game without expecting it to cost you in the future.

Anaheim couldn’t close the deal last night, and now they will have to wait until Thursday before they can end the series.  But here’s the thing about the game — the Wild won 4-1.  This was the first game in the series that was won by more than a single goal.  Does that mean anything for the fate of the series?  We’ll have to wait until Thursday to find out.

The rest of last night’s games:
Ottawa 2, Pittsburgh 1  (Ottawa leads the series 3-1)
Vancouver 2, Dallas 1 (Vancouver leads the series 3-1)
Calgary 3, Detroit 2 (Detroit leads the series 2-1)

Technorati Tags: Hockey, NHL, Stanley Cup, Anaheim Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers, New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars, Calgary Flames, Detroit Red Wings

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