Somewhat live #2

Ok. 2-0 to the Pens at the end of the third. Empty net goal.

My questions are a two:
1. Why on earth didn't Renney [Rangers Coach] call the timeout when the Pens got the 2 minute minor with over two minutes to go?
2. Why did Jagr get that amount of ice time in the end? He took down the tempo of their play instead of increased it.

Sure, now there will be two games in New York. If the Rangers doesn't win the first one, this will be over before the upcoming week is.

Henrik Lundqvist was phenomenal in net. But the Rangers defense was horrible. The offense was even worse with slow anticipated attacks. There's no spark in the Rangers there and that will cost them dearly, unless they change alot until Tuesday.

No, Renney. Back to basic. Get a lot of people in front of goal, shoot like madmen and go for the rebounds. In defense, players like Roszival, Backman and Mara need to step up. Don't let the Pens offensive guys get anywhere near Lundqvist. It should just be one attempt of that and one attempt only. Then Pens forwards should be lying there on the ice.

Look at Gill, Gonchar and Whitney. They're not letting anyone near Fleury (who was amazing this night). Try, and you will face the consequences before you know it.

Like they say on Broadway: "It ain't over until the fat lady sings." Unless Renney, Avery, Jagr, Shanahan and all the other Blueshirts get their act together, that lady will be warming up her throat on Thursday.

Somewhat live

After half of the game, the Penguins are up by one. 1-0. But it could, and should be way more. The Rangers are allowing the Pens to do whatever they like. Sometimes the Rangers go on the attack. But for the most of the time, the play is around King Henrik Lundqvist.

Lundqvist has made a handfull of saves when yours truly was absolutely certain that it would be a goal. He has moved from side to side, taken a few in his glove just for fun and then anther few slides.

At the end of the second period, the Rangers are on the PP. But Fleury has acted as a stone wall so far. And there's still a 1-0 lead for the Pens.

Stay tuned, after the game things will be summed up

Losing grip?

It is said that being up 3-0 in hockey is the worst lead you can have. Ask the Rangers today, they'd probably agree. When "Brodway Sean" Avery scored the 3-0-goal in the beginning of the second period no-one could have thought of an ending like this. But, 08:13 into the same period, Jarkko Ruutu scored, 3-1. And just 14(!) seconds later, Pascal Dupuis scored 3-2.
And things got worse. Much worse. 04:40 into the third, Marian Hossa made it 3-3 and just 20 seconds later, Petr Sykora scored the 4-3 goal. At that point I thought (and probably numerous Rangers fans with me) the game was over. But, having just passed the half period mark, Scott Gomez tied things up. With just about two minutes to go, I began to wonder. Could the Rangers turn things around? Would they have the energy to kill the game? And all of a sudden, the game was dead. Killer? Sidney Crosby. 5-4, Penguins.

I'd never thought that there would be that many goals. It was a great match, speed and skill in the attacks. Add to that solid hits and good refereeing. Next round, tomorrow @ The Garden. If things go my way, there will be some live blogging that time.

There was one more Conference Semi Final being played last night, out in the West. The Shars vs. The Stars. In The Shark Tank, it was the Stars who put themselves in the drivers seat. Being outshot 18-27, their victory was somewhat unfair. But if you don't score goals, you don't win matches. After two, the Stars were in the lead, 2-1, after goals from Mike Modano and Brenden Morrow (Sharks goal by Milan Michalek). In the third, Jonathan Cheecho tied things up and the match went into OT. There, Brenden Morrow scored his second of the night, giving the victory to the Texas team.
Tough luck for the Sharks, who needed that victory. You don't want to loose a playoff game at home, and the Stars should have gained a lot of momentum from this. However, "all" it takes from the Sharks is a victory in Dallas. Impossible? I think not.

Tonights games might not be that well covered, we'll see. But tomorrow I'll be back with the Rangers again. If everything goes as planned.

"The Cup Changes Everything"

Game on!

It was a fierce battle in Montreal last night. The Flyers looked to be in control. At the half-game mark, the Flyers were up, 2-0 after goals from Umberger and Dowd. But the Canadiens pulled themselves together, scoring two goals in the second half of the second period, thus making it a tie game. A nice snapshot from Andrei Kostitsyn made it 1-2 and Alexei Kovalev scored a shorthanded tip-in making it 2-2. After just 19 seconds in the third, Jeoffry Lupul made it 3-2 Flyers and with just 19 seconds to go, Kovalev scored in PP. And 48 seconds in to first OT, Tom Kostopolous scored the winner after banging in a rebound of his on first shot.

1-0 Canadiens, and things are off to a start I'd been expecting. What I didn't expect, was that the Flyers would control the game the way they did in the first half of the match. Now, the Canadiens has a bit of a momentum going on, having made that comeback.

We also got to see the same amount of goals between the Red Wings and the Avs last night. And it was the home team who scored the most, 4-3 Red Wings. But this one didn't go to OT. When Johan Franzen made it 4-1 in the beginning of the second period, many thought the game was over. But the Avs battled and scored two before the end of the period. The Wings was the better team, though, outshooting the Avs: 36-21. The result did not reflect the game. The Wings should have won this by a wider margin. Except for the amazing save by Osgood with seconds to go, the Avs weren't really close to tie it up. 1-0 Wings.

SO Close...

I feel really sorry for the Washington Capitals, their fans and the whole city of Washington D.C. today. They were so close. So very close. In the first, the Flyers dominated but in the second and third, the Caps really were the better team. But Martin Biron in the Flyers' net acted calm and stayed in total focus throughout the match.
After 04:15 in the first OT period, Tony Poti got called for a tripping. A devestating call, it would turn out to be. The Flyers gained momentum and applied the pressure. And ther result came: After 06:06, with less than ten seconds to go in power play, Jeoffry Lupul scored the winner.
I feel sorry for Poti, but at the same time it was a call that the ref could not look away from. My grandmother would have made that call.

But the Caps didn't go down with a crash. They stood up right until the end, and in a few days they will realise that they've done one amazing season. And in a few days, some of these players might feel for revenge and play in the World Championships in Canada. I really hope Backstrom feels that way. And, for the sake of the tournament, I really hope Ovechkin and Semin also feels that way.

There was another decider being played last night. The Sharks took fully advantage of their home is in the Shark Tank. Winning 5-3 over the Flames took the Sharks to the Conference Semi Finals. Most notable was that one of the scratches in match no. 6, Jeremy Roenick, had a good night with two assists.

Here are the Conference Semi Finals and my predictions about them:
Montreal Canadiens vs. Philadelphia Flyers 4-2
Comment: I've stated earlier that the Canadiens will go through to the Conference Finals. And I do stand firm at my prediction. The key will be the goalies and I think Carey Price will be the bigger man here. The Flyers might win a match or two, but the Canadiens are stronger in the long run.

New York Rangers vs Pittsburgh Penguins 3-4
Comment: This could go either way, but I've stated that it would be the Canadiens vs. Penguins in the Conference Finals and I do stand firm here. But the Rangers is a reat team and will for sure pose a threat to the Pens. Keyman for the Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist.

Detroit Red Wings vs. Colorado Avalanche 4-1
Comment: No no no, there's only one way out of this. The Wings will win this. The only question is if it takes four, five or six games to do so.

San José Sharks vs. Dallas Stars 3-4
Comment: This could go either way, but the Stars do have a stronger team if you see to all lines. That will make the difference here.

NHL - You gotta love it

Capitals...

They just wouldn't give up. Down 3-2 in matches and 2-0 in match No. 6. Some would just give in and think: "F*ck it..." What did the Caps do? They decided that they had had enough. 2-0 soon became 2-1 (Niklas Backstrom) and. one minute from the buzzer in the second period, 2-2 (Alexandr Semin). In the third period, the Capitals created the most and Alexander The Great (who else?) scored twice to give the Capitals a well earned 4-2 victory. Speaking to Swedish media after match No. 5, rookie Swede Niklas Backstrom came with some nice quotes:
- This is far from over.
- We're getting the hang of it now.
- We'll never give up.
That's just some of the quotes the evermore cocky Swede said. True enough, everything became reality last night. And tonight the decider will be played. In hockey-crazy Washington D.C.
And charging down the Verizon Center, I can not see the Caps failing to win this.

And, Montreal Canadiens got their act together last night. They absolutely demolished the poor Boston Bruins, 5-0(!). There was just one team on the ice. OK, the Bruins had some chances but the amazing Carey (I might have called him Corey earlier....sorry!) Price had simply decided not to let a single puck pass him. I honestly think that's the way it goes. Some nights he just says to his team-mates: "Nah, guys. Focus on offense tonight. I got it."
Habs to Eastern Conference Semi Finals.

Duck Hunting

Last years Stanley Cup Champions, the Anaheim Ducks, are out of the playoffs. The Dallas Stars won the deciding match, 4-1 and clinched the series 4-2. The Stars now face the Red Wings, who beat Nashville last night. This means that we have three out of four teams in the West waiting for the Quarterfinals (Conference Semi Finals): The Avalanche (who will face either the Sharks or the Flames), the Stars and the Wings.

In the East, things are more complicated. There is a 3-3 tie between the Bruins and the Canadiens. The winner there (which will be decided tonight) will face the New York Rangers. And the Flyers and the Capitals have only played five ganes, with Flyers in the lead 3-2. The winner there will face the Pittsburgh Penguins. Should the Caps win tonight, the deciding game will be played tomorrow night.

Back to the West. I'm getting more and more impressed of some of the Swedes in Dallas. Loui Eriksson and Joel Lundqvist had a great game last night, creating many chances and ending up with one point each. Eriksson scored the 3-1-goal and Lundqvist had an assist with his opening pass to Brad Richards. Niklas Grossman also had an assist in the game. He had an opening pass to Stephane Robidas, who in turn passed it on to Stu Barnes. That meant 2-1.
NHL.com has a slogan saying: "The Cup Changes Everything". That really is the case for the Stars. Now they're flying over the ice. But I have put up a finger of warning for them. Look out, Red Wings. This will be a true clash of the titans. I belive that the winner here will also win the Conference Final, ending up in the Stanley Cup final. We'll see.

Red Wings and Rangers

Both teams are through to the second round of the playoffs. The Rangers beat the Devils in The Rock last night and the Red Wings just knocked the Predators out of the playoffs with a comfortable 3-0 win. Lidstrom, Hudler and Rafalski scored, with Lidstroms goal being a BP dump towards net. The puck took a weird bounce and ended up behind a rather surprised Ellis in net. The Rangers looks to face either the Bruins or the Canadiens. And the Wings will face either the Stars or the Ducks.

NHL playoffs, there's nothing like it.

The Avery-rule....

or Rule 75.

That's the newest of rules in the NHL. A player is not allowed to disturb the goalkeeper with his hands or stick. This is something we've seen between the Rangers and the Devils. Mr. Avery did sort of a "not touching - can't get mad"-thing in front of Marty Brodeur, preventing the Devils man to see just about anything. The ref couldn't do anything. Now he can.
This kind of behaviour is now under the name of "Unsportsmanship conduct" and will render a two minute minor.

Rangers up, 2-1 in matches.

I know I haven't been fair to you. No predictions has yet been made. I will now do them, a bit late. But better late than never. I will name the teams in the conference finals with one outsider on each coast.

West: Detroit Red Wings vs. Dallas Stars
Outsider: San José Sharks
Why? The Wings is an awesome team, although they lost last night. The Stars made exactly the right moves at deadline and will be there. Look out for Thornton and co, though.

East: Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Outsider: New York Rangers
Why? Just look at the final table of the conference. Two outstanding teams. I really can't find a contender besides those two. The only thing stopping these team will be themselves. The Rangers is an outsider named mostly because I had to find one.

Summing up the regular season....

Almost. There are a few matchest to be played but now we know who's going to the playoffs, and who's not. Well, we knew all about that in the West a few days ago. Now we know everything about the East as well. I have to congratulate the Flyers. They did take a spot. I was convinced that they wouldn't. My prediction (on March 27th) was the following teams:


"East:
1. Canadiens
2. Penguins
3. Hurricanes
4. Devils
5. Senators
6. Rangers
7. Capitals
8. Flyers"

And these are the Lucky Eight, who are actually going to play.
1. Canadiens
2. Penguins
3. Capitals
4. Devils
5. Rangers
6. Senators
7. Bruins
8. Flyers

So, I missed out on one team. The Hurricanes did not have what it took to take them to the playoffs. I had them as an outsider for the Cup. Anyways, these things happen. Will the Flyers step up and be a contender? It COULD happen. But i doubt it. After the last matches in the regular season, I will make my predictions and picks for the Cup. Tune in!

Bye bye, Canucks

We'll get to them later on
But now: Henrik Lundqvist is a man for the history books! With his 10th (!!) shut out of the season, he has now accomplished something that's hasn't been done since the 1920's, within the Rangers organisation. So: Congratulations, Henrik Lundqvist! And congratulations, Blueshirts! They're in the playoffs once again, after beating the Islanders 3-0.

More congratulations: Detroit Red Wings won the Presidents Trophy last night. Well done!

Vancouver Canucks.... What to say? Last night, something I stated a week ago, became reality. The Canucks won't be in the playoffs. They've only got them selves to blame. They had it all in their own hands. But if you don't win matches, you won't go to the playoffs. Enough said.

In the East, the pressure is now all on the Flyers. The Caps won last night. I stand firm with my prediction: It will be the Caps, not the Flyers, in the playoffs. But the Bruins might also miss out.
Right now it looks like this:
7. Bruins 80 matches - 92 points
8. Caps 81 matches - 91 points
---------------------------------------
9. Flyers 80 matches - 90 points

Back to the West. On March 27th I wrote:
"Since I'm here to predict, I will give you my two cents on the outcome in both Conferences.
Teams going to the playoffs in the West:
1. Red Wings
2. Sharks
3. Wild
4. Ducks
5. Flames
6. Stars
7. Avalanche
8. Predators"

And these are the teams who actually have clinched the eight spots:
1. Red Wings
2. Sharks
3. Wild
4. Ducks
5. Stars
6. Avalanche
7. Flames
8. Predators

Sure, the standings differs a bit. But I'm satisfied. How things will end in the East is a question for the future. Stay tuned!

Blowing....

....chances. It's not what you want to do when you're fighting for the playoff fun. The Flyers did just that last night. Well, it wasn't as much blowing the chances as it were some amazing goaltending by Marc Andre Fleury. He made some incredible saves, going from one side to the other. The Washington Capitals might want to thank Fleury for their chance for the playoffs now. He was the difference in Mellon Arena. 4-2, Penguins.
The Caps are just one point behind the Flyers with two games to go. The thriller continues.

At the same time, the Devils beat the Bruins, 3-2 after SO. Zach Parise ended the Shootout with a nice top shelf backhand, beating Tim Thomas on his glove side. It was an amazing shot. At the other end of the ice, Marty Brodeur made some outstanding saves.
The Bruins might also loose out on the playoffs. But they got one point last night. That point might prove to be vital.

In the West, the Blackhawks destroyed the Wings, 6-2. If it weren't for some nice saves by substitute goaltender Chris Osgood, the Blackhawks could have gone away with a lot more than that. This win gives the Illinois team a chance for the playoffs. But it's a small chance, they're three points behind with four points left to play for. Miracles have happened before, though.

Ouch, Sens.....

0-3 to the Canadiens. At home. That one has got to hurt. Although it looks like the Sens are going to make the playoffs, that loss must have been bitter. But they had the chance in ten (!) powerplays last night (the eleventh two minute minor for the Canadiens came at 19:57 of the third, so we're not "counting" it). That sort of inefficiency is what makes you loose matches, and in the long run: It doesn't give you a chance to play with the big boys.
Nothing is done yet, though. There are two matches left. And this will be a photo finish. For the Canadiens this must just have added more fuel to the tank. They're in good form and are just looking forward to the playoffs right now. Corey Price has really shown that the trade of Huet (to the Caps) wasn't a mistake. He stopped all 32 shots last night.

In the West, the Avalanche clinched their playoff spot, by beating the Canucks, 4-2. It was a game neither team could afford to loose. Sorry, Canucks. But things aren't looking good now, are they? The Avs' win was much thanks to returning Super Swede, Peter Forsberg. He had an assist at the 2-2 goal, and scored the game winner, 3-2, himself. The result means that the Flames almost has clinched their playoff spot. They're four points clear of the Canucks, since they beat the Oilers last night, 3-2.

Back to the East, the Caps has not given up their chase for a much desired spot in the playoffs. Last night they beat the Hurricanes, 4-1. Rookie Swede got an assist at the last goal, scored by - yes, it's him again - Alexander Ovechkin. The Caps are really putting the pressure on the Flyers. They're one point behind, but they have played one more match than the Pennsylvania based team, who are playing the Penguins (away) tonight. If they loose that one, there will be hell to pay. Because the Caps are in a good form. And the pressure is all on the Flyers. And on the Bruins, actually. They have the same amount of points as the Flyers (91, compared to the Caps at 90 pts). The Bruins are playing the Devils (away, in "The Rock"). I'm really looking forward to those clashes.

To be continued....tomorrow.

The rollercoaster

Having lost to Pittsburgh, the day before yesterday, the Rangers had to win last night. Against....Pittsburgh. And so they did. Jaromir Jagr did well scoring one and getting one assist in the 2-1 OT victory. Much to the delight of his former fans, I imagine.....

Thanks to the victory, the Rangers passed Ottawa. A team which has lost all form during the last week or so. If things go really bad, the Sens might miss out on the playoffs. Not likely, though. The Sens have some decent matches left, which aren't going to be easy. Canadiens (at home), The Maple Leafs (away) and the Bruins (at home). I belive they will make it, and I've stated that they will do so in my prediction for the playoffs. But wouldn't it be a great big shocker if they didn't?

In the West, the playoffs teams are gathering. The following teams have in fact already clinched a playoffs spot:
Red Wings (clinched division), Sharks (clinched division), Wild, Ducks & Stars. The big guns are loading. I can't wait for the showdowns.

In the East, only two teams have yet clinched their spots, and those are two division winners. The Penguins and the Canadiens. I'm impressed by both teams, especially the Pens. Their long term goal to give the younger players a chance is paying off. Well, it's not like Average Joe, 20 years old, is playing for the Pens. I mean, they do have Sid the Kid and Malkin. Let's not forget Fleury, Talbot, Kennedy and Staal. If they all stay with the Penguins, this team could actually build a dynasty for years to come. But I'm afraid that the salary cap might be a problem. We'll see. But this year, the Pens will be a contender. They have a nice mix and a nice game.

I have to comment the Rangers as well. They sort of clinched the playoff spot last night. But at least one more point is needed. They WILL make it.