2008 Finals or 2009?

-Alaina Scarano-Isbouts

Anyone starting to lose a bit of interest in the Conference Finals yet?  You aren’t the only one.  Fans from Chicago to Pittsburgh to Carolina to Detroit are probably thinking the same thing… “Wait a minute, this seems a bit familiar…”  And it isn’t that much fun.

Ok, so maybe I’m exaggerating a bit.  Last year it was Dallas who made it to the Western finals against Detroit.  And last year it was the Flyers who made it to the Eastern conference finals against Pittsburgh.  But all the same, things are starting to look a little too familiar to everyone else around the league.  Last year, it was both Detroit and Pittsburgh who conquered in the conference finals and moved on to the Stanley Cup Finals.

I hate to discredit the Canes and the Hawks, but it looks as if this year, it is going to be another rematch for the Cup.  And to be honest, I can’t imagine anything more boring.  One of the most amazing things about the playoffs is watching a team scratch and crawl through the playoffs to get there — not watching the same two teams as the season before trying again.  If it were just one team, that would be one thing.  Pittsburgh versus Chicago?  Fantastic.  Detroit versus Carolina?  Not bad either.  Carolina versus Chicago?  Incredible.  But I don’t much care for the road we are going down.

It’s not uncommon for a team to make it to the Finals two years in a row.  The Dallas Stars did it in 99-00 and the NJ Devils did it in 00-01, although neither team won the cup twice.  In 1985 and 1987, the Edmonton Oilers and the Philadelphia Flyers faced each other with the same coaches and the Oilers winning both times.  Back in 77 and 78, the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens faced each other in the cup finals both years, with Montreal winning both times.  It also happened with the St. Louis Blues and Canadiens in 68 and 69.

The bottom line is that while it’s looking like both Detroit and Pittsburgh will make it to the finals, that’s probably the worst thing that could happen for the NHL and its viewers right now.  People are finally starting to pay attention to hockey again, and the only thanks these new fans get is the exact same series they watched last year.  The worst bit of all?  It’s Detroit again.  At least the Penguins are fun to watch; with such young players they still manage to grow and change each year.  The only difference this year is that Marian Hossa has switched sides.

The only chance for a great cup finals series is if the Pens win it this time.  They have the chance to re-write history to an extent.

Hockeytown vs. Hawkeytown?

-Alaina Scarano-Isbouts

• 1926-49: This is apparently what was called “The Early Years.”  The Wings were founded in 1921 and didn’t waste much time — making a Stanley Cup playoff appearance in 1929.
• 1950-66: Apparently this is “The Gordie Howe Era.” Obviously named because this was when Goride Howe peaked.  He started with the NHL (and the Wings) in 1946 and carried his team to the playoffs a few times.  But the Wings didn’t return to greatness until 1950, then reaching the finals nine different times between these 16 years and winning it four times.
• 1967-82: And here we have the “Dead Wings Era.” By the way I got all of these clever names from Wikipedia.  While I, and many others like me, still refer to them as the Dead Wings, apparently this term actually refers to a distinct era where the Wings, for lack of a better term, sucked.  During this time period, there were 14 different head coaches.  It was during this era in which poor old Howe retired.
• 1983-03: These are the Wings that I’ve known, “The Yzerman Era.”  1983 is when the Wings drafted youngster Steve Yzerman 1st overall, who later became captain and will of course be inducted into the Hall of Fame now that he is retired.  Yzerman retired in 2006.
• 1994-04: This overlaps with the “Yzerman Era,” but this is loosely labeled as “The Russian Five and The Return to Glory.”  This was the era in which the Wings and Avalanche rivalry began; when Scotty Bowman became one of the most loved/hated men in the NHL; and when the Wings started to scare me.

Now, the Wings are in a new era.  With Mike Babcock heading the team and the Wings winning the Cup last season, all seems to be in place for a continuing run in the “New Era” for the Wings.  Right?

Wrong.

Here’s the problem: in case you haven’t heard, there’s a bit of a recession going on.  And, also in the news, there seems to have been some trouble in the auto industry.  Unfortunately, this affects Detroit.  A lot.  Detroit had the honor of being named “America’s Most Miserable City” by Forbes Magazine in 2008.  With the second highest unemployment rate among the top 150 metropolitan cities in the country, the highest rate of violent crimes, and having been hit even harder in the past year by the automotive bankruptcies, it’s no small miracle the Joe isn’t selling out anymore.

Now I’m not trying to write this piece to make fun of Detroit and its economic situation.  But I am trying to call attention to what I believe could be the start of a significant shift in the Detroit Red Wings era.

Perhaps the most valuable thing in the entire city of Detroit is the Red Wings.  As 2008’s #4 most valuable team in the NHL, the Wings are valued at $303 million.  This is largely due to the fact that the Wings are remarkable at winning without a large payroll; their ability to draft talent and keep it within their system is enviable across the entire league.  But with certain big-name core players coming up on retirement (Nicklas Lidstrom is nearly 40 and Chris Chelios is 108), soon the torch will be passed entirely over to the newer players.  The problem is that people are fleeing Detroit.  The population has actually decreased over the past few years, while most major cities have increased.  Things aren’t looking up.

Now there has been some tongue-in-cheek name calling of Chicago: Hawkeytown.  Chicago is slowly turning in to what Detroit used to be.  They are catching on to the philosophy of drafting talent rather than buying it and rookies are slowly taking over.  The likes of Jonathan Toews, Martin Havlat, Patrick Kane, Kris Versteeg (and more!) make it hard for any veteran to skate around these players.

The Blackhawks, like the Wings, were founded in 1926 and are part of the Original Six.  They even made their first playoff appearance in 1927, only their second year in the league.  But unlike the Wings, the Hawks have only made their way to the Stanley Cup Finals 10 times; winning only three times — the last of which was 1961.  Things weren’t going so well for the Blackhawks, and thing were only going to get worse.  Then-owner Bill Wirtz upped ticket prices despite the team losing and then forbade home games from being televised locally — if you wanted to see the Blackhawks play (and lose) you had to buy a ticket.  Rock bottom came in 2004, when the Hawks were named the worst franchise in all of professional sports by ESPN.  Great little morale booster, right?

Well,  then something changed.  Bill Wirtz died.  His son, Rocky Wirtz, has taken over ownership of the team and has drastically altered his father’s policies, making the franchise more welcome to fans and actually turning a profit.  Wirtz went out and bought himself the perfect new defensive coach, Joel Quenneville; signed the youngsters Kane and Toews (the oldest player on the team is now Nikolai Khabibulin, 36); started televising Hawks games locally; and actually finished with a winning record for the first time in the past six seasons.  Fittingly, Chicago hosted the Wings in the 2009 Winter Classic.  While Detroit won, the shift in fan relations was huge.  It was the first Blackhawks event held for fans in years, and it’s been noticeable ever since.  Even Scotty Bowman realized the shift and has since signed with Chicago to be part of the coaching staff.  The people of Chicago are starting to actually pay attention to their hockey team.  Chicago is taking the most important page of Detroit’s book and using it for themselves — and it’s working brilliantly.

While Chicago isn’t yet in the top 10 of most profitable NHL teams, they are right outside at 14th. Team value is placed at $205 million — and their value went up 14% in just one year (Detroit’s only improved 3%).  Chicago as a city isn’t facing hard times like Detroit – they are faring like any other large city in a recession.  But because of new construction and IT jobs sprouting up, Chicago — like Denver — is expected to be one of the first cities out of this economic turmoil.  It’s not a bad place to be living right now.

With Detroit now facing Chicago in the Western Conference Finals, fans in Chicago are especially perking up.  The Central Division is rapidly becoming the competitor that the Northwest Division used to be, with four out of five teams making the playoffs this season alone.  Detroit won the season series 4-2.  The interesting part is that Detroit won the first four (two were shootouts) and Chicago won the last two.  The last part of the season is when Chicago really found their footing and made a great drive to finish 4th in the conference. Here’s hoping that the transformation keeps going and Chicago can take the conference title.

If things keep heading on this slippery slope for Detroit, while the Blackhawks keep on their climb to the top, we could be looking at a new recipient of the title Hockeytown.  It’s going to be an interesting shift in the NHL, as it happens every decade or so (remember where the Penguins and Capitals were just a few years ago in 2002?).  It’s the beginning of a new era for Chicago, for Detroit, and for NHL teams everywhere that compete with these two amazing teams.

Note: For those interested in the Avalanche’s worth — we are in the top 10.

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.

Ahh, the playoffs.  While it is the best time of the hockey season, it is also the time of the year when you can throw out the window everything you think you know.  No predictions are guaranteed.  No players are even guaranteed.  Injuries are undisclosed.  It’s a time when everyone is reminded why they really, really love this game.  In fact, here are the five things I love about hockey because of the 2009 post-season so far.

#5 – Ovechkin versus Crosby

Who would have thought we’d see this?  Sure, I picked each team to advance (and so did most people, I’m sure), but all the same it’s exciting as hell to watch these two international superstars battle for their teams.  The excitement came to an all time high on Monday, as both Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby notched hat tricks.  Ovechkin scored his late in the 3rd to dash any hopes the Pens had of winning the game in OT.  Washington is now up 2-0 in the series, but I’m sure it will be an entirely different game when the Pens get home ice back tonight for game 3 (5pm mountain).  This series has it all: the superstars, a hot rivalry, two incredible and young goaltenders, passion, scoring and even a few veterans who could be playing for their last shot at the cup (read: Bill Guerin and Sergei Fedorov).  As Markus Naslund proved, anyone can be in the middle of their last season – not just Joe Sakic.  Ovechkin and Crosby have brought enough fans to the game already, now hopefully they can help bring their sport to center stage (or ice).  I just hope this is a 7 game series… can you imagine anything more exciting? This just could be the playoff series to end all playoff series.

4 – Every second counts (also, don’t make plans for after a playoff game)

And no, I didn’t steal that from the NHL playoff commercials on TV.  This is something I have been preaching to my friends and family for as long as we have been going to Avs games (as my brother AJ can attest to).  One of my biggest pet peeves is when people leave hockey games early.  Every second really does count in hockey, as the fans of New Jersey and Carolina can attest to.  There has already been one OT game in the second round (Anaheim 4, Detroit 3) and no doubt there will be more to come. That feeling of sudden death is better than a first kiss — hands sweaty, nervous, sometimes pacing up and down the living room, wondering who is going to make the first move — your team or your enemy’s?  And just to put my two-cents in on the whole playoff OT debate, no the NHL should not change the overtime format.  The playoff sudden-death, full-period full-strength format is one of the best things about the playoffs.  How would you feel if your team was eliminated on a shootout goal?  Not very good.  Keep OT the way it is, long and strong.  And keep them coming!

3 – The Wings are down to the 8th seed

I love it.  Let’s hope Anaheim can keep it up.  Or keep them down.  I don’t care how they do it and how many overtimes it takes Todd Marchant to score.  Just keep doing it.  Now I’m sorry if I’ve offended anyone out there with my hatred for the Wings, but it comes down to two facts:  1. I’m an Avs fan.  2.  Enough already!  I’d love to see some other teams play for a change.  The Wings had the cup last year, the playoffs every year for the past I-don’t-even-want-to-know-how-long, and even got to take part in the Winter Classic.  Let’s watch Anaheim.  Let’s watch Carolina.  Let’s watch Boston.  Anyone else, please.

PS – Just saw a nasty little remark on a Red Wings blog regarding the Anaheim series: “Skate to throat, bitches.”  Wow.  Probably came from the guy I met in Detroit back in 2004 with the Red Wings tattoo down his entire leg.  Wearing shorts.  In Detroit.  On Valentine’s Day.

2 – All bets are off

No one can predict what is going to happen.  Anaheim is ousted the winners of the President’s Trophy in the first round.  The Caps aren’t starting their star goaltender, Jose Theodore, but instead a rookie who hardly speaks English – and it turns out Simeon Varlamov is the best decision they’ve made.  Evgeni Malkin is scoreless this round.  And while even without the playoffs, it’s the time of year for decision making: Marcus Naslund is retiring. The Phoenix Coyotes have an offer to be purchased by Jim Balsillie, who wants to move them to Ontario (where the Coyotes used to play as the Winnipeg Jets).  It really is the time of year when anything can happen, and people can say what the will, but all you can do now is sit back and watch.

1 – The beards are back.  

The rivalry continues.

-Alaina Scarano-Isbouts

I’m sure I’ve lost plenty of credibility after my round 1 matchups, but I’m giving round 2 a shot anyway.

Here’s a recap of my round 1 picks and who advanced:

Boston v. Montreal – Boston in 6 – actual was Boston in 4

Washington v. New York – Washington in 6 – actual was Washington in 7

NJ v. Carolina – Carolina in 7 – actual was Carolina in 7

Pittsburgh v. Philadelphia – Pittsburgh in 7 – actual was Pittsburgh in 6

San Jose v. Anaheim – San Jose in 5 – actual was Anaheim in 6

Detroit v. Columbus – Detroit in 6 – actual was Detroit in 4

Vancouver v. St. Louis – St. Louis in 6 – actual was Vancouver in 4

Chicago v. Calgary – Chicago in 6 – actual was Chicago in 6

So actually I only guessed wrong in two teams… let’s see if I can do a better job here.  This time, let’s preview the western conference first since they were decided much earlier – no series in the West went to 7.

Detroit (2) v. Anaheim (8):  Well I’m not going to pretend that I saw this coming, because I posted my no-love for Anaheim on the internet.  But I do have to say that I feel much differently now.  While I didn’t think that Anaheim had the power to get past San Jose, I now have much more faith in them.  They didn’t just beat San Jose – it was a 6 game series in which Anaheim outscored 19-10.  Jonas Hiller has played fantastically, even getting a shutout against the President-Trophy-winning 1st round opponent.  In this series, Anaheim proved that they not only have the necessary goaltender — or the necessary scoring power — but they also have the physical power needed to overthrow a top seed.  This is not to say that Detroit doesn’t have those same power points; after all, they were able to sweep Columbus and score at least 4 goals in each game.  But if there is going to be an upset in the West — and there will be — this will be the series.  I mean, someone has to beat the Red Wings at some point, right?  Detroit proved, once again, what I claimed about them back on April 13th – that they aren’t even fun to watch.  Let’s hope this series proves me wrong (at least in that aspect).  Both teams will be well-rested coming in to this series, and I think Anaheim wants it more.  They have the momentum after beating the big guns at home and I think they’ll keep it going.  My drastic pick will be Anaheim in 7.

Vancouver (3) v. Chicago (4):  Can’t believe that Vancouver made it.  I really thought the big 1st round collapse of a western team would be the Canucks, not San Jose.  If Chicago’s young and powerful defensemen can shut down the ever-annoying Sedin twins, they might have a shot.  If Chicago’s young and powerful forwards can get past Roberto Luongo’s 0.962 save percentage, they might have a shot.  If Chicago’s Bulin Wall stays strong the way he did for the 03-04 Tampa Bay Lightening, they might have a shot.  There’s a great chance that Vancouver is going to come in to this series with a little too much ease, coming off of a sweep.  But they need to remember: the season series was split.  Chicago won the first two meetings and Vancouver took the last two, and this Chicago team isn’t afraid to get down and dirty and play physical with players such as Adam Burish, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Kris Versteeg — who have all showed they aren’t afraid to drop the gloves when needed.  On top of which Chicago was able to score a total of 21 goals in the first round – and Vancouver was able to win with only 11.  There’s no doubt that this Vancouver team is older, wiser and has more experience than the Hawks, but I think youth will ultimately rule in this series.  I’ll take Chicago in 6 for two upsets in the western conference.

Boston (1) v. Carolina (6): This will be the first post-season meet-up between these teams since 1999. My husband was already telling me he could see NJ going all the way to the finals as Jussi Jokinen turned it all around for the Canes.  I don’t want to say that Carolina got lucky in this series.  After all, Carolina and New Jersey faced each other 11 different times since December 4th and they knew what to expect from one another.  But when the whole series ended up coming down to the last 1:20 of game 7, I think luck can’t be completely thrown out of the equation.  The bottom line here is that Boston finished 1st in the East and for a fantastic reason – they are an amazing team this season and have a ton of faith in their goaltender, Tim Thomas, who only let in 6 goals in the first round.  And on top of it all, Boston swept Carolina in the regular season series.  I think this is going to be a great series, of course.    I’ll go with Boston in 6 for this one.  Sorry, Carolina.

Washington (2) v. Pittsburgh (4):  This is what we call “the money series.”  If you aren’t even a hockey fan, this is still a series you’d want to watch.  Washington fans hate Sidney Crosby (and Evgeni Malkin) and Pittsburgh fans hate Alex Ovechkin. I’m going to take a lot of heat from my Rangers-fan-friends for this, but it’s almost worth NY bowing out in the 1st round to see this match-up. Ovechkin and Crosby will get to renew their mutual hatred of one another (check out the highlights of the individual series here).   While this will be the first post-season meet-up between these teams since 2001, there was plenty of meetings during the regular season; the Caps won three of the four meetings during the regular season and the last game was determined by a shootout. The bottom line here is I really don’t want to have to pick between these two teams here.  But if I had to… I think I’d say Washington has the edge.  They now have a fantastic goaltender in Simeon Varlamov, who they should have a lot of faith in.  They have the perfect balance if young talent and mature veterans.  I know Bill Guerin is in Pittsburgh but… I think I’d take Sergei Fedorov over him.  I’ll say Washington in 7.

There are no games until Friday, but as Barry Melrose said last night, “There are no days off during hockey season.”  Click here for the full upcoming round 2 schedule.  The hockey is only going to get better from here and there isn’t a game you’ll want to miss out of these match-ups.

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!

Well all, it’s that time of year — playoffs. Round 1 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin on Wednesday night.  Get ready to hear of every possible story line; rookies and old-timers ready to fight for the death for the chance of a life time — to win Lord Stanley’s Cup.  Here’s my take on what this year’s playoffs have to offer and who will make it out alive.

Eastern Conference

Boston v. Montreal: What a great series for old rivalries.  The two Original Six teams have faced each other many, many times since the modest beginnings of the NHL. Boston, after having missed the President’s Trophy by just one point, has the home ice advantage but the more fickle fans.  I’m going to bet this will be a rough-and-tumble series, but the ultimate battle will be between Tim Thomas and Carey Price.  I’m going to go with Boston in 6 for this series.

Washington v. NY Rangers: My Eastern wish has been granted.  I really can’t wait to see what Sean Avery is going to whine about against Alex Ovechkin.  Although Ovechkin just earned the Maurice Richard trophy for scoring the most goals this season (his third season to score over 50, ending this season with 56), occasionally Avery’s stick does hit something else besides the back of Tim Thomas’ head.  Avery had 5 points last year in two rounds of the playoffs and also had a rule named after him in the NHL rule book during the first round.  There’s nothing more Rangers fans hate than people scoring on them — ever go to the Garden to hear the chant, “Crosby needs a tampon?”  As an Avs fan, it’s going to be especially interesting to see how Jose Theodore is going to handle this post-season.  After being a hero during Colorado’s first round against Minnesota last year, Theodore got sick just before the Avs faced Detroit for the first time but played anyway – only for Colorado to endure an embarrassing sweep.  Theodore let in 14 goals in four games.  I think if anyone can take Washington down a notch it’s the Rangers — but I’ve got to give AO & Co the respect they deserve here and pick Washington in 6.

New Jersey v. Carolina: The thing I’m liking best about this match up is the difference in goaltenders.  Established veteran and future Hall-of-Famer Martin Brodeur will face youngster but Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Cam Ward.  These two teams have played each other many times in the playoffs; the 4th time since 2001.  It is definitely not going to be the most exciting series in the East, although I’m going to take a bit of a risk here and call an upset.  Carolina in 7.

Pittsburgh v. Philadelphia: Another fantastic rivalry to watch.  This statewide playoff series will start in Pittsburgh, where the Pens have earned home ice advantage by just one win.  This is going to be a great series; both teams are very evenly matched.  Both teams finished with 99 points.  Both teams scored 264 goals this season (although contributions from Philly may have been more spread out).   The Pens let in 239 goals and the Flyers just 238.  The numbers are too good to lie, and this series will be far too good to miss.  I think these teams will have a very physical series and the Flyers will push it to 7 games — with the Pens moving on to the 2nd round.

Western Conference

San Jose v. Anaheim: Another statewide series, although with much less history than the Pennsylvania series.  Anaheim hasn’t been playing very consistently for the past month; they dropped from being a shoe-in for home ice advantage to finishing in 8th.  Not very impressive, and this is the wrong time of the season for inconsistency.  San Jose is a powerful, powerful team; every year they show the promise of a finals-driving club and then nearly every season they don’t make it past the 2nd round.  The difference this year is that Anaheim doesn’t have the power to make it past the Sharks.  My bet — and call it safe if you will — is San Jose in 5.

Detroit v. Columbus: I hate to be the one writing this.  I’d love to pick Columbus, but I’m afraid I just can’t do that.  It was spectacular to watch the Blue Jackets fight their way in to the playoffs, especially in the newly-competitive Central Conference.  But the fact of the matter is the Red Wings are proving to be what I hate most about them: fast and so good they aren’t even fun to watch.  This is the classic underdog story.  Everyone will be rooting for Rick Nash and his Jackets, but it will take a miracle for them to beat Detroit.  A miracle, I fear, that won’t be happening this year.  Detroit in 6.  I hope I’m wrong.

Vancouver v. St. Louis: I was extremely surprised by Vancouver surpassing Calgary at the last minute to take the Northwest Division Title, and I am now being aware of the chance that Vancouver could surprise me again. But against most people’s bets, St. Louis clawed their way in to the playoffs and made it up to 6th, no less.  Roberto Luongo has been fantastic, but it’s going to take more than that this season against St. Louis.  It’s going to take heart, which is something I rarely see from the Canucks.  I’m going with the underdog here – St. Louis in 6.

Chicago v. Calgary: This is going to be a fantastic series, one not to be missed in the West.  These two clubs play the same sort of hockey — they are fast, physical and love to score.  It’s all about the youngsters for the Blackhawks, who swept the Flames in the season series.  The veterans of Calgary may be big and quite frankly a bit scary, but that’s nothing compared to the young talent in Chicago.  I’m going to say Chicago in 6.

There is NOTHING I love more than playoffs hockey (except maybe opening night at the Pepsi Center).  It’s going to be a great post-season filled with quite a few teams I never thought I’d see here.  I hope everyone is as excited about this as I am.  I’m going to be doing one live blog during each round.  Vote below for which game should be blogged LIVE!

Eleven games last night in the NHL, and most teams have now played 81.  The season is ending for some… but not for all.  Read on to see who isn’t polishing their golf clubs yet.

Nashville 4, Detroit 3 SO: Of course we all know Detroit is in, and Nashville isn’t quitting yet.  The Preds are now tied for 8th place with St. Louis with one game remaining for Tennessee and two left for the Blues.  For things to work out for Jason Arnott and the Preds, they will have to win their last game against the struggling Wild.  The game for those who didn’t catch it was actually pretty fantastic.  J.P. Dumont scored with one minute remaining in the 3rd to force overtime and Arnott finally got the puck past Chris Osgood during the 4th round of the shootout.  I love seeing Detroit lose.

Washington 4, Tampa Bay 2: Jose Theodore was back and just in time to have the honor of playing his 500th NHL game.  Alex Ovechkin was pointless in his third straight game and the rest of the Caps seemed pretty cautions as well as they beat down Tampa Bay – who just can’t seem to catch a break.

Pittsburgh 6, NY Islanders 1: Please don’t make me recap this game. I am starting to hate the Islanders.

New Jersey 3, Ottawa 2: Martin Brodeur played much better this game and was named the 2nd star of the game.  With this win, the Devils clinched the Atlantic Division title for the third time in four years.

Florida 3, Atlanta 2: It took quite a bit of math and scrolling through multiple sheets of standings for me to figure out that the Panthers now eliminated from the playoffs.  But if you decided to read the recap on NHL.com you would have read it in the first sentence.  But either way it’s the same — the Panthers are officially out of the race despite winning their game tonight.  Montreal and the NY Rangers both hold the tiebreakers over Florida, Montreal having won the series against Florida during the regular season and NY having more wins.  Kind of sad after how hard they worked, but if they can’t win it they can’t win it.

Buffalo 5, Carolina 1: More playoff hopes dashed.  Buffalo is officially out, despite Ryan Miller having one hell of a game.  Buffalo knew they had to win tonight to keep their playoff hopes alive and played like it.  But it was once again NY who polished things off for the Sabres.

NY Rangers 2, Philadelphia 1: Hands down, best game of the night.  With one goal, Ryan Callahan secured his team’s postseason dreams and shattered those of Florida and Buffalo.  Henrik Lundqvist had one of the best games of his season, turning aside 37 shots and only letting in a power play goal from Danny Briere.  I am liking the Rangers more and more each time I see them play… with the standings the way they are tonight they would face the Caps and that would be one hell of a season.  I’d love to see what Sean Avery could do with A.O.

Boston 5, Montreal 4 SO: What a great game to watch as there is a great chance they will meet again in the first round.  By forcing overtime and earning a point the Montreal Canadiens clinched a playoff spot.  The eastern conference is now closed for business.

Dallas 3, Colorado 2 SO: Is there anything more depressing than a shootout during the 81st game of the season between two teams not going to the playoffs?  Of course the twist of the knife is that one of the teams — make that the losing team — is the Avs. TJ Hensick was the only one to miss a shootout attempt after one of my favorites, John-Michael Liles, forced overtime.  Last game for the Avs is Sunday against St. Louis, which is a must-win for the Blues.

Vancouver 1, Los Angeles 0: Roberto Luongo earned the 8th shutout of the season, but he only had to stop 20 shots.  I don’t know if it was defense on the part of the Canucks or if the Kings just didn’t feel like playing — but they didn’t even get as many shots during the game as Calgary did in the first period against the Canucks on Tuesday night.  Remember when the Kings were actually looking pretty good in the beginning of the season?  The Northwest Division Title is still up for grabs.  Vancouver could win it by winning their last game and Calgary losing both of their last two which are both against Edmonton.  I think the Flames will overtake the Canucks.

Phoenix 4, San Jose 1: If I didn’t know any better while watching that game, I’d say that the Sharks were playing for a playoff spot — not competing for the President’s Trophy.  The Sharks can’t be overtaken in the West, but they can be beaten in the East for the trophy if Boston wins their last two and the Sharks tank their last one (again).  Young goalie Al Montoya had a fantastic game and ruined the Sharks’ last game in their own tank until the first round.  Too bad Phoenix wasn’t playing like this all season… or was it just a lucky game?  San Jose’s shootout against the Avs makes me think something has to change in the Shark’s locker room.

Well these recaps seem to be getting shorter as the season ends.  There are still spots to be had in the West, and with St. Louis, Nashville and and now Anaheim all fighting for them there are still plenty of exciting games left.

**Avs Update: Joe Sakic is done for the season. His injury has gotten the best of him and he won’t be returning this weekend.  It’s quite possible that he’s going to announce his retirement after the Cup finals… Wow what a recap that will be.  I’m not going to speculate at all on what will happen because anything is possible.

See you tomorrow hockey fans!

Anyone check out ESPN’s “10 Burning Questions” online yet? While the questions are great, and they are questions I think any hockey fan has asked herself (or himself) in the few games since the All-Star break, I’ve got burning question number 11: anyone see a trend in these answers? Scott Burnside and E.J. Hradek are quite clearly taking the easy way out and answering these questions with what they’d like to see happen.

For the first question, Burnside and Hradek both agree that the Pens will advance into the playoffs. While I don’t necessarily disagree with that, Burnside’s genius reasoning is “any team with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin shouldn’t miss the playoffs.” Wow, he really studied the stats there, didn’t he? Now it’s true that any team with Crosby and Malkin shouldn’t miss the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t. Any team with those two skaters should never be shut out – but that’s happened a few times this year, hasn’t it?

And that’s just the East. In the West, we learn that Wild and the Stars will advance. Burnside’s reasoning here? “…just because I picked Dallas to win the Stanley Cup during the preseason.” Again, nice. Thanks for answering my burning question, Burnside. I very much doubt Turco is going anywhere past the first round.

Even more disturbing in the NHL today, the Red Wings are expected to announce their new deal with Henrik Zetterberg. Ready for this one? Twelve years, $72 million total. While I can make my peace with the $72 mil (coming out to $6 mil a season) would anyone really want to commit to twelve more years of Zetterberg? Everyone who knows me knows I hate the Red Wings, but I can admit Zetterberg is a key player. But the man is 28, and in this day and age we are seeing less players get to age 40 on the ice (take the hint Chelios). They better hope in Detroit they don’t end up having a Rick-DiPietro-type-situation up north.

Most upsetting of all, with last night’s loss to San Jose, our beloved Avalanche now have a losing record. Sitting in 5^th place in the Northwest conference and four spots out of 8^th in the West, the Avs are 23-24-1 for a sad, sad 47 points. Just how sad is 47 points? We are still behind Vancouver by 4 points and Vancouver is on a 6 game losing streak which could be extended to 7 if they don’t shape up against Nashville tonight. Not that I care if Vancouver doesn’t shape up – they are right behind Vancouver on my list of most annoying clubs. The only good news is that the West is still looking remarkably competitive. If the Avs manage to catch up to Vancouver with just three wins, we could potentially swing back into the playoff picture as the 8^th seed.

What do the Avs need to do to ensure we see the first round? Consistency. Granato should put Raycroft in the net and stick with him; no more of this Raycroft-for-a-few-Budaj-for-a-few line up. It just isn’t working. It’s definitely been hard with us managing to catch the injury bug again, but we could be coming to the end of that stretch. The bad news is Sakic and Stastny will be out at least a few more weeks, and Foote is still out as well. The good news is Laperriere has been activated off IR, and we’ve still got strong scoring skaters like Hejduk, Arnason and Svatos. While I’m betting that the Avs make it up to 6^th or 7^th for a post-season run, it could be anyone’s guess what’s next in Colorado… but that’s another day and another blog entry.

See you next time hockey fans!

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