Ponds and Pucks

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.

Today’s Detroit-Calgary game proved why the Red Wings are the President’s Trophy winners — they played a textbook game. If you are a pee-wee hockey coach, you should show your kids this game. The lessons were all there: how to play a 5 on 3; how to stop a fast break; how to rebound, pass, shoot; how to keep the other team off the board. Calgary had 15 shots on goal — not just in one period but over the entire game. The only mistake of the game was Hasek letting one get by him, but you can’t have it all. Detroit showed today why they are so damned good with their 3-1 win.

In other action, Anaheim beat Minnesota 2-1, and Ottawa overtook Pittsburgh 4-2. At the time of this writing, Vancouver and Dallas were tied 1-1 and just going into OT.

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

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

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

The NHL playoffs start tomorrow evening with 4 matchups (3 on in the Western Conference).  So today, we break down the 4 Eastern Conference matchups.

1) Buffalo vs 8) Islanders
Season Series:  Sabres win 3-1
Buffalo has had a miracle season, coming in with one of their highest point totals ever.  They have played their best hockey this season, setting a club record for wins.  Meanwhile, the Islanders - who have been running hot and cold all season - are coming off a season-ending win streak and are looking forward to the return of Rick DiPietro for this opening round matchup.  The Isles have a chance, albeit a slim one, to move forward if they can get some strong defense and keep Buffalo off the board.  The Sabres led the league in goals during the regular season, ending with 308 goals (20 more than the next highest team and significantly higher than the league average of 241 goals).  The Sabres, for their part, just need to keep playing the way they have all season if they want to walk into the next round.
My pick: Sabres in 5

2) Devils vs 7) Lightning
Season Series: Lightning win 3-1 (1 overtime win)
On paper, the Devils should win this one pretty easily.  The Southeastern conference is one of the weakest in the entire league and the Lightning are not a team that everyone is picking to go very far.  But here’s the thing with Tampa Bay: they have two of the best offensive players in the league with St. Louis and Lecavalier.  The Devils are a one-dimensional team this year, so if Tampa can light up Brodeur, they might actually have a chance.  I’ll pick them for the upset, just to make things interesting.
My pick: Lightning in 6

3) Thrashers vs 6) Rangers
Season Series: Atlanta wins 3-1
See above; the Southeastern Division is weak.  Atlanta and Tampa fought each other and no one else to get here.  The Rangers have a team that can get very hot and perform well.  They have quite a few future Hall-of-Famers on the team and they are playing like they want to go all the way.  But the team is old and streaky.  This will be their only playoff win this year.
My pick: Rangers in 6

4) Senators vs 5) Penguins
Season Series: Ottawa won 3-1 (2 Shootouts)
This is the series that EVERYONE is looking forward to.  Ignore the season series results, Ottawa is nowhere near as dominant as it would appear.  Sidney Crosby is one of the best hockey players ever and the team is well-prepared for a long series with a young team that can skate rings around everyone else.  As for Ottawa, Dany Heatley has come into his own since the fatal accident in Atlanta.  Everyone said that moving away from Atlanta would be good for him and they have been right.  Add him to Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson, players who have been the backbone to a dominant Senators team and they might be unbeatable.
I need to pick someone but this is a hard series to nail down.
My pick: Senators in 7

Technorati Tags: NHL, Stanley Cup, Playoffs, Hockey, Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Tampa Bay Lightning, Atlanta Thrashers, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins

The regular season ended last night, and the Islanders made sure it was an interesting end.  To recap the game, the Isles (who needed a win to make the playoffs) took a 2-0 lead.  They held it until the last 5 minutes when they gave up 1 goal and then with less than 1 second left, they gave up the game-tying goal.  That bit of sloppiness was what Islanders fans have seen most of the season.  They never seemed able to put what they needed together in order to maintain a lead.  They won in a shootout but they should never have let it get that far.  It was a disgrace and the way they finished the game is pathetic.  Here’s my observation on the Devils though.  Without Brodeur in goal, they don’t perform.  The team is very one-dimensional this year and that could lead to problems after the first round.

How did I do to finish off the regular season?  10-4 on Saturday, and 1-4 on Sunday to end at 18-16.

I was wrong about the NCAA Frozen Four as MSU beat BC 3-1.  I had wondered if goaltending would beat out offense and it clearly did.  Congratulations to the Spartans.

First round of the playoffs start on Wednesday, so tomorrow, I will break down the Eastern Division match-ups and on Wednesday, I will go through the West.

The Frozen Four semis were on last night, with ESPN2/ESPN 360 having all of the coverage.  And before I recap the games, I have two media comments.

1) Why couldn’t ESPN put these games on in HD?  As far as I can tell, none of the three games are going to be aired in HD and hockey looks so much better with the new technology.  Especially with the puck flying all over the place, it’s a lot better than the standard.
2) What exactly was Barry Melrose wearing?  His suit matched his tie matched his hair?

Maine vs MSU
Maine took a quick 1-0 lead by scoring before the first minute was over.  They then scored another goal pretty quickly and Michigan State looked done for pretty early.  Looks are deceiving though, because they came back to tie the game.  Jeff Lerg, the MSU goalie made some absolutely incredible saves to keep Maine scoreless after their first two and the offense capitalized on Maine’s goalie’s inability to match him save for save.  End of the game, MSU has won 4-2.  Lerg was the star of the game, and he’s only a sophomore.  Expect to see him in the NHL in a few years.

North Dakota vs Boston College
What the first game had in defense and goal-tending, this game had in offense.  Some great players and a lot of scoring.  I will admit, I was quite impressed with BC, especially with how much effort they put in at the end.  They took the game, but UND tried valiantly to make it close.  They lost it when they stopped skating on an empty-net shot that went wide.  BC hustled down and put the rebound in and that signaled the beginning of the end.

Saturday’s Final: BC vs. MSU.  My pick: BC

Last Night’s NHL action:
Buffalo 4, Boston 2
Rangers 3, Montreal 1
New Jersey 3, Philadelphia 2
Columbus 2, Dallas 1 (OT)
Pittsburgh 3, Ottawa 2
Islanders 5, Toronto 2 (Lucky socks?  We don’t need no lucky socks)
Nashville 4, St. Louis 1
Minnesota 3, Edmonton 0
Chicago 3, Detroit 2 (2-1 in Shootout)
Colorado 3, Vancouver 1
Phoenix 3, LA 2
San Jose 4, Calgary 3

I went 6-6 for the night.

Today’s Schedule
Friday:
Atlanta @ Carolina (My pick: Atlanta)
Florida @ Tampa Bay (My pick: Tampa Bay)
Anaheim @ Dallas (My pick: Anaheim)

Technorati Tags: NHL, NCAA, Frozen Four, Hockey, Michigan State, University of North Dakota, ESPN, Boston College, Maine, Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild, Edmonton Oilers, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, COlorado Avalanche, Vancouver Canucks, Phoenix Coyotes, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning

Welcome to Ponds & Pucks — 451 Press’ new blog for all things hockey.  This is an exciting time to start off, since the playoffs are just a few days away.

And that said, the New Jersey Devils have made sure that they will keep themselves on the back page.  They will be over 100 points for the season, but that hasn’t stopped them from firing their head coach.  Why?  “Hockey reasons.”  Yeah, right.  But I’m not going to make a big stink about it.  Want to know why?  Two words.  Martin Brodeur.  Is there a better goalie in the NHL?  For my money, no.  He has been too consistent, has kept the Devils in the top of the league, and even when they don’t take the cup, they are still the at the top of the list.  But I’ll open this up and invite people to offer their own opinions.  Who is the best goalie, either now or in the past?