Ponds and Pucks

Wow.
I am not sure that there is a whole lot more to say besides wow.
It’s just wow.
The Buffalo Sabres proved that they are a better hockey team, hands down.  They out-played the Rangers and won the series 4-2, winning both game 5 and game 6 to take the series 4-2.  But there is no question that the Rangers played as best they could and made sure that Buffalo had to work hard to get the win.
For those who missed Game 5, the Rangers had a 1-0 lead until the last 7 seconds of the game.  The Rangers iced the puck and had to take the faceoff in their own zone.  The Sabres scored to tie the game and then won it in OT.  Game 6 had a much different feel.  The Rangers took an early lead into the locker room after the first intermission but then came out for a disastrous middle frame.  After 2, Buffalo led 4-2.  They would eventually win 5-4.
The biggest mistake that the Rangers made in game 5 was icing the puck.  They compounded it by having Nylander take the faceoff against Chris Drury.  Out of 16 faceoffs that the two of them had met in during game 5, Drury had won 10 of them.  It’s important to remember that the Rangers had just iced the puck, so they couldn’t switch their 5 off (Isbister, Jagr, Tytuin and Girardi were the other 4 skaters).  But they needed to know that they should put someone else in the circle to take the faceoff.  Nylander had only won 35% of his faceoffs that day, and Drury was 4-10 against everyone but Nylander.  The smart move would have been to put someone else — anyone else in the circle.  The Rangers dropped the ball on that one.  However, it’s also important to point out that they had less than 10 seconds left in the game and they weren’t able to close it out.  They couldn’t keep the puck out of the net because Buffalo was just better.
Here’s your key stat for Game 6.  After 2 periods, Buffalo had a 2 goal lead.  In the regular season, they were 40-0 when taking a 2 goal lead into the 3rd period.  In the playoffs, they were 5-0.  They had a 2 goal lead in 45 games and had not lost any of them.  The Sabres are just that good.  In this game, Jagr was good.  Lundqvist was better.  Much better.  He took some risks, but they paid off.  On a fast break in the 3rd, he came out of goal and made the stop, with his defense backing him up.  But it wasn’t enough.  Final score, 5-4.
The New York fans were a class act.  At the end of the game, they started applauding their team.  You could hear the “Let’s Go Rangers” chants, and then the “Henrik” chants to follow.  The Rangers stood at center ice and saluted their fans.  Both the Rangers and their fans had an amazing year.

Ottawa has been voted the best place in Canada to live.  Is it because the Senators beat the Devils to move on to the Eastern Conference finals?  In another series where one team was just better, the Senators showed how good they were.  Heatley and Spezza led the team, with Ray Emery backing them up.  There’s no question that they are going to be a dominant team for a while.  But can they beat Buffalo?

Coach of the Year
Finalists:

• Lindy Ruff (Buf)
• Michel Therrien (Pit)
• Alain Vigneault (Van)

Who should win:  Yesterday?  Therrien.  Today?  Ruff.  The Sabres are good and Ruff has them playing at the top of their game.  It’s a toss-up as to which one of them will win.  There are great arguments for each.  Therrien took a team that had to leave practice early once a week for Bar Mitzvah lessons to the playoffs.  And got them home before curfew.  Ruff took a good team and got them to the top of the league.  There was great chemistry and they will be a fun team to watch for the rest of the year.
Who will win:  It’s a toss-up.  My bet is Therrien.  But hey, if it doesn’t work out for him with this award, I hear the local high school still has him up for “Most Likely to Succeed.”

Buffalo Sabres, Rangers, New York, Senators, Devils