After a few looooooong nights, the first round of first round games are through. I think it’s fair to say we’ve seen some pretty fantastic games so far, a few surprises and maybe even a fight or two. Not bad – the players seem to be getting off on the right feet so far. I’ve decided to break down the most significant events of Game Ones into the three categories: good, bad or ugly.
Good: NY Rangers. That was the best game I have seen so far and I’m pretty stoked the Rangers won. Yes, I know I picked the Caps to take the series – and I still think they will – but I knew the Rangers were going to come out swinging and play with a lot of heart. But if they are going to win another game they have to play better defense on A.O. Henrik Lundqvist was the only reason that Ovechkin didn’t score (although he did notch two assists). But besides not holding off Ovechkin to the best of their abilities (although he did get hit five times in the 1st alone), the Rangers played a fantastic game. Sean Avery was at his absolute worst; picking meaningless fights and complaining like it was his job – oh wait, that’s right, it is his job. Rumor has it that NY Captain Chris Drury will be back tomorrow… let’s hope so. I think the Caps will take game two.
Bad: Columbus Blue Jackets. I really hate watching the Red Wings play – but the only thing I hate more is watching them win. Especially when the opposing club is Columbus and they finally made it in to the playoffs. But it’s a little hard to feel bad for the Blue Jackets when they played as badly as they did last night. Chris Osgood didn’t have too many shots to take care of; he only made 20 saves. Chris Mason made 21 saves before giving up three goals in a five-shot stretch. Not the best record. I definitely am going to give Columbus the benefit of the doubt by saying they were just a little caught up in the emotion of playing their first-ever playoff game and got a bit too fancy. But I don’t think they will win a game until they get the series back to Columbus on Tuesday.
Ugly: Philadelphia Flyers. Did I really say that Philly would push it to seven games? I’m not going to retract that statement just yet… but if the Flyers keep playing the way they did on Monday night then I’ll be wrong. Not only did the Flyers play horribly but they were also kind of sore losers. In the last seven seconds of the game, Philadelphia forward Daniel Carcillo decided to be an ass and hit Pens forward Max Talbot on the head with his stick. Wait… I thought those jobs were left to Donald Brashear? Now the Flyers are the proud recipients of a $10,000 fine to the league because of Carcillo’s actions. I guess since Philly couldn’t really score goals they had to send a message some way… after leading the league in penalty minutes during the regular season, they continued the trend and took 35 penalty minutes. The Pens played some of their best, classic hockey and took contributions from their leading players: Sidney Crosby (whom I love more and more every day) had a goal and an assist; Jordan Staal had a goal, an assist and four shots on goal; Evgeni Malkin had an unassisted goal and an assist. Gotta love those Penguins, who I think will also take game two tonight in Pittsburgh. I might have to re-evaluate some things…
Good: New Jersey Devils. More specifically, Martin Brodeur. While I was unsure of his play going in to the series, Brodeur had no problem proving me wrong, stopping 18 of the 19 shots he faced. Cam Ward had an astonishing 39 shots fired his way – no small miracle the score was 4-1 in NJ’s favor. The key for the Hurricanes, who I picked to win and am starting to regret, is defense. Every single from Carolina has a negative +/- except Ray Whitney, Jussi Jokinen, Tim Conboy and Patrick Eaves. I still love Cam Ward and refuse to admit those goals were all his fault with ratings like that. Pretty sad. Once again, I think the Hurricanes will lose another game in NJ before getting the series back to Carolina.
Bad: St. Louis Blues. Bad luck that is – not bad hockey. There were 15 minor penalties and two misconducts during game one against Vancouver – and the Blues took just one more penalty than the Canucks. Each team had one power play goal; Vancouver’s was the game winning goal by Sami Salo. The key to the second game for the Blues will be discipline – no more sloppy penalties (although some of those calls were a bit of BS). St. Louis’ defense will also have to keep a better eye on those Sedin twins – Daniel had two points in game one and Henrik had one. I think Vancouver will take game two – but the series will turn around once it gets to St. Louis.
Ugly: San Jose Sharks. After winning the President’s Trophy, it’s a little unbelievable they could turn around and lose to the 8th seed in the West in the Tank. Pretty embarrassing, especially considering they were shut out. Anaheim goaltender Jonas Hiller played fantastic, turning aside all 35 shots on goal the Sharks fired. Rob Niedermayer uncharacteristically took three penalties. Evgeni Nabokov didn’t too fantastic; he faced only 17 shots but only blocked 15. San Jose will have to do better, and I think they will, Sunday on their home ice.
Good: The Chicago-Calgary game. In the first OT game of the playoff season, Martin Havlat with his two goals and the Blackhawks proved to be the heroes. Once again I am questioning my pick. Actually that’s a lie, I still think Chicago will win, but this series is looking like a 7-gamer. And a great one at that. The game was pretty clean with minimal penalties and was very evenly matched on shots – 25 for Calgary and 28 for Chicago. Calgary has to be a little better on defense; most of their players also had a minus rather than a plus like Chicago’s did. Game two is tomorrow in Chicago, and I’m counting on the Blackhawks to take that one as well… though it’s going to be much harder for them to win once the series gets back to Calgary.
Bad: Both Boston and Montreal. While the Bruins won game one, it was more by luck than anything else. After nearly blowing the lead in the second period, Boston was looking more and more weakened by Montreal into the third. Carey Price started out poorly (as usual lately) but got stronger as the game went on. There were far too many penalties and plenty of chippiness by the end of the third. Both teams need to bring a little more to the table to have a good game worth watching tomorrow in Boston. The good thing? Boston is proving me right, and I’m still going with Boston in 6. But the more I watch Price, the less I want him to lose. Too bad about that.
Get ready for game twos! Interesting fact: 70% of game two winners go on to win the series. If you only watch one game a day this weekend, here are the best bets:
Philadelphia at Pittsburgh tonight at 5pm
New York at Washington tomorrow at 11am (bring the Bloodies!)
Carolina at New Jersey Sunday at 5:30
May the best teams win!
