Hockey at its Best

Three teams will be calling it a season tonight, then it's on to conference finals.

-Alaina Scarano-Isbouts

Today and tomorrow, three teams will be eliminated from the playoffs.  Of course this is the nature of the playoffs — as long as one team wins, the other one loses and their season is over.  To me, game 7s are the epitome of hockey.  They are fast paced, they get dirty, and usually only one goal makes the entire difference.  Expect at least one of these games to go in to overtime — and my money is on the Caps – Pens game.  Read on for previews of all the lucky, and maybe not so lucky, game 7 players.

Tonight’s Game 7: The  Penguins go to Washington

Who is having more fun right now – Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin?  While both teams are obviously tied at three games a piece, I’m thinking that Ovechkin will be the one out celebrating tonight.  Ovechkin is loving all the attention right now, and he openly admitted to watching himself on television and highlight reels when he’s at home.  And why shouldn’t he?  He’s the most interesting man in hockey right now, and arguably the most talented one.  If I were Crosby I’d definitely be nervous… although Crosby hasn’t been so bad himself.  After scoring a hat trick last week and finally getting some contributions from Evgeni Malkin and even taking the lead in the series for a game.

Of course, no matter how much we wish otherwise, this game 7 is about more than these two superstars.  The Caps are 2-5 in their game 7 history, while the Pens are are 5-4.  I think this game is going to be like the rest of the series — fast paced and unpredictable.  More attention will also be placed on the goaltenders, Marc-Andre Fleury has been brilliant for Pittsburgh; but even more remarkable has been the young and silent Simeon Varlamov (in case you haven’t heard, it’s Var-LA-mov!), who hasn’t seen the bench since Jose Theodore choked in the first round against NY.

Most players today will be treating this game like every other game… but we all know that this one is different.  Tonight, someone will be headed back home for good.  I don’t even know who I am going to root for tonight.  I picked the Caps but both teams are so good I just want to savor their last game against each other for the season… Mmmmm so good.

Tomorrow night’s Game 7s: The Ducks head to old Hockeytown, The Bruins host Hurricanes

First game up tomorrow night is the Anaheim – Detroit game.  This is going to either be an exhilarating underdog tale or a complete heartbreaker.  I never thought I’d really be rooting for Anaheim; after they won the cup in 2007 and no one in Anaheim seemed to give a tiny rats a**.  It was a tad annoying that the cup went to Anaheim at all, as my experience has shown that there aren’t too many people in California that care about hockey.  But since 2007 my experiences have changed and I now am really pulling for the Ducks.  Of course it is all in the Ducks’ favor that they are playing the Wings – and we all know there is nothing I hate more than the Detroit Red Wings.

One interesting thing about last night’s game in Anaheim was the brawl at the end.  A small fight started at the end of the game and by the time the clock showed 0:00, everyone on the ice was involved in separate altercations, including Pavel Datsyuk!!! Datsyuk has only played for the Wings and has won the Lady Byng trophy three consecutive seasons in a row (06-08).  While he is a good player, I find him boring to watch.  The Ducks know how to keep a game — and a series — exciting.  The team will be looking to Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger for big contributions and LOTS of energy.  The Ducks moved the puck really well last night — and let’s hope they can do it again tomorrow.  It’s the only thing they can do to get the puck away from the fast and furious forwards of Detroit.  The only other way?  Get physical.  While Detroit used to be the dirtiest team in the NHL, they don’t hold that crown anymore.  They are a simply a fast team that can score — and unfortunately, it’s quite a lethal combination.

An hour after the Anaheim game starts at 5pm mountain comes the Bruins and Canes showdown in Boston.  I don’t know if I should write anything about this at all because I didn’t give the Canes ANY credit, and picked Boston in 5.  Big-time Boston center Marc Savard will be back in the line up tomorrow night after leaving game 6 early after a collision with Chad LaRose.

Now we know Carolina wants it – bad.  They were brilliant in the last few minutes of the series against New Jersey and fought H-A-R-D.  Expect them to do the same in tomorrow’s game as well.  But I still think Boston as the edge.  They didn’t finish 1st in the East for no reason at all… and while I am surprised this series has even gone to 7 games, it’s all a matter of heart over skill.  This one will be a fight -to-the-death, every-second-counts sort of game.  But then again, isn’t that how they all are during this time of the playoffs?

I wish I could say I will be live-blogging the game tonight, but the fact of the matter is that when I stare at my computer the whole time I occasionally don’t get to see the fantastic plays.  But I can promise that I will be back online tonight right after the game with the full recap of who moved on and who moved out.