Ponds and Pucks

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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