NHL Playoffs

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:28 pm

So far it's been the Sens all over the Pens, outplaying them and out hitting Therrien's boys. Crosby, Malkin and CO seemed a bit overwhelmed.

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:01 am

Pens got waxed.

Dallas Vancouver is WIDE open. I LOVE playoff OT.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:18 am

Sudz wrote: Dallas Vancouver is WIDE open. I LOVE playoff OT.

These two teams are so evenly matched that all their four games during regular season ended in a one goal game. 'Nucks blow a two goal lead in the third as they stopped skating and the Stars were all over them tying the game 4-4. The Fins' line are playing great for DAL so far.

Man, this is now going to the 2nd OT.

I'll just join the chant 'You Suck, Turcooooo'....

lexbur · Post by **lexbur** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:58 am

Gary Bettman must be on some kind of radio tour this morning. I heard him on Mike & Mike talking about how Versus is now in 80 billion homes or whatever, so, thinking maybe I was missing something, I turned to Versus and got the usual black screen with the message, "NOT AUTHORIZED. For service on this channel please call this number and have your credit card ready."

Then, I got in my car to drive to work, and a local Cleveland sports radio guy had him on the phone, asking him about the league's TV exposure, or lack thereof, and he actually said, ' The NHL has NEVER been more accessible." That cracked me up. I wish the local guy would have pressed him a little more about that statement, but, whatever.

Oh well, I'm glad you guys are enjoying the playoffs. The NHL has alienated me to the point where I don't even have any interesting at all in watching the scraps NBC throws me on Saturday afternoons anymore.

GAME ON!!!

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:11 am

Of all the nights I fell asleep early in the chair ... UGH. Missed the four-OT classic. Hello, video clips on TSN.com and NHL.com!

Seventy-two saves for Luongo -- good Lord! What's Cheechoo's status? Anyone know? Cooke strained his groin for Vancouver; that's a tough injury to shake.

Ottawa looked very good last night. Swarming like insects on both ends of the rink.

This is SUCH a great time of the year. After reading the game stories, NHL blogs and news/notes each morning over coffee, I literally can't wait for the games to start that evening.

Take care,
PK

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:47 am

That knee on Cheechoo by Scott Hartnell looked pretty deliberate to me. Maybe there could be a suspension coming.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:14 am

Wow, that's the thing about OT's, not enough zzzzz. What a tight game it was. The sixth longest game ever and just about when I was ready for a 5th OT, the Sedin twins come through for the city. Players were dragging their feet in the end, this was a marathon.

Canucks not only started without B. Sopel, now they may go without M. Cooke and A. Burrows due to injury. Cooke is our energy guy and we really missed him in OT.

SJ & NAS was also a thriller. When I look at the replay, I think S. Hartnell was going for a direct hit on Cheechoo, although in slow motion it does show that he sticks his knee out. Tough call, but I don't think Hartnell had any bad intentions.

If this is an indication of what's going to happen in the West, we are in for a long playoffs guys.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:34 am

Tonight's games, courtesy of the always excellent Kukla's Korner blog:

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:42 am

Overdue, but classy move by the Wings:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/stor ... LHeadlines

A fitting salute to the greatest all-around hockey player of all time.

Take care,
PK

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:54 am

Nice addition of C. Simpson one of the assistant coaches in EDM for HNIC. He was insightful, very informative and along K. Hrudey they kept me up until the early hours of this morning.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:16 am

10spro wrote:Nice addition of C. Simpson one of the assistant coaches in EDM for HNIC. He was insightful, very informative and along K. Hrudey they kept me up until the early hours of this morning.

I just hope Simmer offers no advice for teams' power plays with the Telestrator. He is in charge of the Oil's PP, and it was HORRIBLE this year.

Surprised Simmer isn't working on Versus with his sister, Christine Simpson.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:17 am

Nice, insightful, sometimes funny recap/blog of the first night of the playoffs from The Hockey News. Glad this feature continues daily throughout the playoffs:

http://www.thehockeynews.com/en/news/ne ... News=24312

Take care,
PK

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:05 pm

Of course team behaviours would have been different had there been no shootout, but here is what the standings would have been in the NHL this year with no shootout (listed in order of the 2006-2007 standings):
Related Info

* NHL Playoff Payoff: Fantasy Stats breakdown

EAST
Buffalo 43-22-17 - 103 pts
New Jersey 39-24-19 - 97 pts
Atlanta 36-28-18 - 90 pts
Ottawa 46-25-11 - 103 pts
Pittsburgh 37-24-21 - 95 pts
NY Rangers 33-30-19 - 85 pts
Tampa Bay 34-33-15 - 83 pts
NY Islanders 32-30-20 - 84 pts
-----------------------
Toronto 36-31-15 - 87 pts
Montreal 36-34-12 - 84 pts
Carolina 40-34-8 - 88 pts
Florida 33-31-18 - 84 pts
Boston 26-41-15 - 67 pts
Washington 27-40-15 - 69 pts
Philadelphia 21-48-13 - 55 pts

WEST
Detroit 48-19-15 - 111 pts
Anaheim 44-20-18 - 106 pts
Vancouver 44-26-12 - 100 pts
Nashville 45-23-14 - 104 pts
San Jose 49-26-7 - 105 pts
Dallas 41-25-16 - 98 pts
Minnesota 38-26-18 - 94 pts
Calgary 40-29-13 - 93 pts
-------------------------
Colorado 39-31-12 - 90 pts
St. Louis 28-35-19 - 75 pts
Columbus 28-42-12 - 68 pts
Edmonton 29-43-10 - 68 pts
Chicago 25-42-15 - 65 pts
Los Angeles 23-41-18 - 64 pts
Phoenix 26-46-10 - 62 pts

The West pretty much remains the same, though San Jose would have home-ice advantage against Nashville in Round One. In the East, Ottawa would have taken the top seed from Buffalo by virtue of more wins, and Carolina and Toronto would have finished in the playoffs while Tampa Bay and the Islanders would have missed out. Of course, this is all a theoretical discussion because the shootout isn't going away, but it's interesting enough to find out what kind of impact shootout results have on the standings.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:15 pm

10spro wrote:Wow, that's the thing about OT's, not enough zzzzz. What a tight game it was. The sixth longest game ever and just about when I was ready for a 5th OT, the Sedin twins come through for the city. Players were dragging their feet in the end, this was a marathon.

.

I stayed up watching it. I only got 3 hours sleep. Well worth it Id say.

Nothing like OT hockey in the playoffs. You are just glued to the TV. Even though I was rooting for Vancouver I was actually a little dissapointed when it ended... I hoping to get in at least another period

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:20 pm

I laughed my a$$ off watching the Vancouver game, hearing the alternating "Tuuuurrcoooo" -> "You Suck!" chants. Pretty cool.

And you'll never guess how Sopel (I think it was him, whatever Canuck has back problems) hurt himself: Bending over to get a cracker!

The HNIC announcer said "we can't make this stuff up. The Canucks should invent a better story".

I also watched the hometown Sens destroy the Pens (and will be there on Saturday!). I like Crosby, but he look a tad frustrated. And what's with Chris Neil going roof daddy on Fleury? All in all, I'm impressed that most of the Sens scoring came from guys I never though would in the playoffs, like Neil, Kelly, and Mesazjros.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:31 pm

Forgot to mention: Radulov's second goal last night for Nashville was a beauty, wasn't it? Man, some skill.

Take care,
PK

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:31 pm

pk500 wrote:Forgot to mention: Radulov's second goal last night for Nashville was a beauty, wasn't it? Man, some skill.

Take care,
PK

That was a beauty PK, if anyone is interested, you can see on nhl.com

So the Wings are saying all the right thing so far. That they learned from last season, that they are a different team, deeper, more confident. Interesting that they drew another Alberta team, I'll be watching this one.

vader29 · Post by **vader29** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:54 pm

Well for those of us without Versus, Yahoo Sports is streaming some playoff games. Caught a couple periods of the Minnesota/Anaheim game last night and it streamed perfectly.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:17 pm

The Wings-Flames so far is listless, no hits, no emotions in the game. It's all DET and if it wasn't for Kiper the score could have easily been 6-0 by now.

P. Elias scored a beauty for NY, with S. Gomez doing all the work.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:26 pm

Switched back to the BUF-NYI's game and Sabres are so skilled with the puck, strong along the boards and that awesome speed. Lots of hits in this game, much more entertaining that the one in DET.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:55 am

R. Dipietro is cleared to play once again. Hope no one in the organization is rushing this decision. Doobie wasn't the problem yesterday and even with Rocky in goal BUF look too tough for NYI. NY needs to play physical against BUF, they tried, but Sabres are just too damn fast for them.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:55 am

Tonight's games:

Nice to see Syracuse-area native Tim Connolly back on the ice in the playoffs for the Sabres, laying a nice pass right to Campbell for his first goal.

Campbell was outstanding last night for Buffalo. The guy is one of the most underrated all-around defensemen in the NHL.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:57 am

Even if Detroit sweeps Calgary, I won't be convinced. The Flames stumbled into the playoffs and were pretty damn lucky to hold off the Avs.

We'll see how tough and skilled Detroit is when it has to play a powerful team in the second round. I don't think Detroit can stack up with San Jose, Nashville, Anaheim or Vancouver.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:07 am

Very heartwarming story about Giguere and the health issues of his infant son:

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/stor ... sptjiggy12

Take care,
PK

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 12:23 pm

Game two for DAL-VAN. We'll see how the teams play after the marathon on Wednesday. Canucks have recalled two players from the farm as they may play without four of their regulars tonight. They are all day to day except R. Kesler. Tough break for him as he breaks his finger in his first game back and will be gone for a month, this after working so hard the last 3 months due to hip surgery.

J. Cheechoo is also listed as day to day, but I doubt he can play tonight for the Sharks.