How Long Can the Red Wings Stay Alive?

The Detroit Red Wings managed to salvage one game thus far in the Western Conference semi-finals. After trailing the series 3-0, the Red Wings knew that they needed to have a strong start in game four; and a strong start they had. The Red Wings jumped on the Sharks by scoring three first period goals. It seemed as if nothing could stop the Wings. Todd Bertuzzi spun around a San Jose defenseman and threw a puck upstairs, and Lidstrom was able to bat a puck out of mid-air for a goal, his second of the period. Although things seemed promising, the Sharks came swarming back, scoring the next 3 goals. It was knotted at 3 until the youngest player of the veteran laden team, Darren Helm, scored with a wrist shot to beat the out of position Niemi. Although the Wings opened up the game strong, they were not able to maintain this intensity. The Red Wings will have a tough time winning three straight games against this talented San Jose squad. If there was a team to do it, however, it would be the experienced Red Wings.

Nashville @ Vancouver: Game Five Preview

The Vancouver Canucks will find themselves in a situation tonight reminiscent of their first round series against the Chicago Blackhawks.  Vancouver went into game five of that series with home ice advantage at Rogers Arena, and a two game lead in the series up three games to one.  One would think that with all the momentum going their way they would wrap up the series in five games, however, we all know how that worked out.

Vancouver's current 3-1 series lead over Nasvhville is deceiving.  All of the games in the series have been one goal games except for game four which Vancouver won 4-2 thanks to an empty net goal.  Game two was settled in double overtime by a hard wrist shot by Nashville's Matt Halischuk that beat Roberto Luongo glove side.  Game three was also decided in overtime by Ryan Kesler's tip-in goal off of Mikael Samuelsson's shot half way through the first overtime period.

We'll see at 8:00 PM ET tonight if Vancouver has learned anything from their near fatal collapse with Chicago.  My prediction is that the Predators win tonight and bring the series back to Nasvhille for a game six.

Players to watch:

Ryan Kesler - Already has three goals and four assists this series; Nashville has been having a tough time stopping him.

Christian Ehrhoff - Registered five points (one goal, four assists) in the last two games as a defenseman.

Pekka Rinne - Averaged a .958 save percentage the first three games of this series.  He slipped up a bit in game four, but expect him to be on his game tonight.

History Will Not Repeat Itself; Bruins Clinch

Just last year the Bruins became only the third team in NHL history to blow a 3-game series lead. This year the Bruins did what was necessary to avenge last years crushing loss to the Flyers. When hearing about last season's downfall, Thomas said, "You have to ignore it to be able to do what we just did, winning the series." Thomas may have had a little more motivation than his teammates. Last year Finnish goaltender Tuuka Rask was elected the starter for the playoffs; Thomas did not see a minute. In game 4 Thomas shined only allowing one goal on 23 Flyer shots. Lucic opened the scoring at 12:02 on a tic-tac-toe play assisted by Nathan Horton and David Krejci. It would remain 1-0 Boston until a Marchand turnover gave the Flyers an odd-man rush. Marchand forced a pass to defender Dennis Seidenburg on a four on four that was picked off by Richards. Richards shoveled the puck to Kris Versteeg who would finish the play by roofing the puck on his backhand over the sprawling Thomas. The second period remained scoreless until a slapshot from Johnny Boychuk found its way through a screen and beat Bobrovsky over the left shoulder. The game was heavily favored in Boston's favor as Thomas didn't see many shots. It would remain tight until 15:03 into the third period. Nathan Horton intercepted a Flyer pass and sent Lucic in on a breakway. Lucic would not miss. TD Garden was sent into bedlam with the Wales trophy in sight. After the Lucic goal Jack Edwards proclaimed, " Summer time is coming to Philadelphia!" The Bruins added insult to injury by adding to more empty net goals by Marchand and Paille. The Bruins will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the next round.

Washington GM George McPhee "Expects" Coach Bruce Boudreau to be Back Next Year

One of my first thoughts as I reflected on how quickly Tampa Bay eliminated Washington in the second round, was that I would be surprised to see Washington Coach Bruce Boudreau behind the bench for the Capitals again next year.  Well, surprised I am.

In a recent press conference, Washington Capital's General Manager George McPhee said that he "expects" Boudreau to be back again next year.  It was clear throughout McPhee's talk with the media that he fully supports Coach Boudreau.

McPhee made a good point that "the playoffs don't go well for fifteen of the sixteen teams that get there," and he assured fans that the Washington Capital organization "will keep putting good teams on the ice."

Addressing doubts about Boudreau's playoff coaching ability, McPhee said that "There's no difference between a playoff coach and regular-season coach.  Either you're a good coach or you're not.  He's a good coach."

Many hockey fans learned to love Bruce Boudreau's intensity during the HBO 24/7 series following the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Ryan Kesler's Point Production Takes Pressure off of the Sedin Twins

Unfortunately for the Nashville Predators, Vancouver's Ryan Kesler has stepped his game up to a whole new level in the second round of the playoffs.  Kesler was the focus of a lot of scrutiny and criticism in the first round when the Chicago Blackhawks came back to force a game seven after being down three games to none.  Kesler currently sits in 6th in the NHL with eleven points (three goals, eight assists), just two points behind league leader Martin St Louis who has thirteen points (six goals, seven assists.)  At the completion of the first round, Kesler only had four assists, but has registered three goals, including two game winners, and four assists in just the first four games of the second round.

It's a good thing that Kesler has been hot lately, because Daniel and Henrik Sedin, who finished first and second in regular season points respectively, have combined for only one goal and four assists so far against Nashville.  That's how good teams win games; when the players you count on to score goals are struggling, other players must rise to the occasion and produce.

May 5, 2011 - Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images North America

It is interesting to note, despite a short four game series in the second round against the Washington Capitals, the top three league leaders in postseason points, Martin St Louis (six goals, seven assists), Vincent Lacavalier (five goals, seven assists) and Steve Downie (two goals, ten assists) are all members of the Tamps Bay Lightning.  On top of that, Dwayne Roloson leads the NHL in postseason save percentage (.941), goals against average (2.01) and wins (eight).  Tampa Bay is going to be a tough team to beat as the playoffs progress.

Will History Repeat Itself?

Will history begin to repeat itself tonight in the Boston Bruins vs. Philadelphia Flyers series?

God Bless America

This video speaks for itself, and can be appreciated regardless of which team you root for:

From Ryan Kesler's Twitter:

Break Out the Broom Sticks

The Boston Bruins will look to finish the job tonight when they square off against the Philidelphia Flyers in game 4. To the Bruins, this 3-0 series lead is all too familiar. Last season, the heavily favored Bruins took a 3-0 series lead. We all know how that turned out. Head coach Claude Julien jokingly told the Boston Globe, "I don’t think there are too many people who aren’t aware of it." Post-season hero Nathan Horton refuses to allow last season's dreadful end to effect them. Horton, who was on the Florida Panthers at this time last year, told the Boston Globe, "Whatever happened last year was last year. It doesn't mean anything to us now." These strong words by Horton has given the Boston faithful some hope. Hope that their season will not crumble before their eyes like last year. The Bruins will not let the Flyers back into the series and will finish them tonight. Final Score: Boston 4- Philidelphia 2.

Players to Watch:

1. Tim Thomas- Boasts a .935 save percentage in the playoffs thus far.

2. Chris Kelly- Kelly has had a knack for scoring goals at the right time this playoffs.

3. Daniel Briere- In 10 games played this post-season, he has recorded 7 goals.

Canucks Stun Nashville with 4-2 Victory

The Vancouver Canucks have taken a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Nashville Predators. Christian Ehrhoff opened up the scoring at 15:04 on a slap shot from the point. The goal was argued by Rinne because a Vancouver forward seemed to make contact with Rinne as the shot was taken, which would have resulted in a goalie interference penalty. Upon further review however, no contact was made, 1-0 Vancouver. It didn't take long for Nashville to even the score; just four minutes later Joel Ward put home a rebound right in front of Luongo, and the game was tied at 1. With 11 minutes left in the second period, Christian Ehrhoff through a pass through the slot that missed Torres and wound up on Ryan Kesler's stick. When the pass reached Kesler, his stick broke, which sent the puck sliding toward Alexander Edler. Edler wound up and took a clapper from the point which found its way through Rinne. It seems that Rinne has had trouble with shots from the point; Vancouver has done a good job of getting traffic in front of him. The Predators headed into the dressing room down a goal and desperate. It would only take 3:27 for their desperation to vanish. After gathering the puck along the sideboard, David Legwand proceeded to the corner and threw a pass to Cody Franson. Franson let a rocket of a snapshot go, which hit the net with a loud thump. The shot was so fast that no one new that it found its way past Luongo. After a few seconds of confusion, the referee pointed towards the net to signal a goal. Ryan Kesler, however, was not going to sit back and let Nashville back into the game. With 12:32 left in the third period, Kesler collected the puck at the redline, sprinted into the offensive zone, and danced his way through two Nashville defenders. He then cranked a wristshot over the right shoulder of Rinne, good night louise. The Canucks would then score on an empty net opportunity to ice the cake. The Canucks now head back to Vancouver with a secure 3-1 series lead. If I were Vancouver, however, I would not be so content. "You know what," said Nashville defenceman Weber. "We're a resilient group in here. It's a tough position to put ourselves in, but it's definitely not over by any means."

First Round Recap

Today is the first day of Senior Projects, and, therefore, the official start of this blog.

Here are just some of the many first round moments I found memorable.  Clearly these select clips do not do justice to a great first round of the 2011 NHL playoffs.

Controversial for obvious reasons:

Classic:

Hands down the prettiest goal scored in the playoffs thus far from Bobby Ryan of the Anaheim Ducks:

Boston's Tim Thomas established himself as one of the league's best during the regular season, and he continues to be excellent in the postseason.  The following 2 vs. 1 save summarizes just how good he has been:

Part of what makes playoff hockey so much fun is the hostile atmosphere created in the arenas by their respective fans.  The following two videos show the fans having some fun during the Ranger vs. Capital series.  Washington, however, got the last laugh as they went on to beat New York and advance to the second round, only to be promptly eliminated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in just four games.

Alex Ovechkin working his magic against the Rangers:

The overtime hockey so far has been phenomenal, but no overtime goal has been more dramatic than the blast from Alex Burrows that eliminated the Chicago Blackhawks in game seven in Vancouver.  Chicago forced a game seven after being down in the series 3-0.  It was starting to look like they were going to take the series from Vancouver the way Philadelphia did against Boston last year.  

I'm not too sure that this first round series clinching goal justified a celebration like they won the Stanley Cup, but emotions were running high and it was a huge goal none the less.

Another huge game 7 overtime goal came from a bullet off the stick of Nathan Horton.  I was fortunate enough to attend game 1 of the series in Boston.  The game ended with a lot of disgruntled fans, expressed with remarks such as "I want to punch a baby seal," "if I had any hair left, I would pull it out, but I'm bald as $***," "you're seven feet tall, kill somebody (referencing Zdeno Chara)," and "I want to shake a baby."  The fans got their way in the end, however, thanks to Horton.

PK Subban's goal that sent game seven of this series into overtime to begin with:

Hockey fans even got treated to a penalty shot in game six of the Vancouver vs. Chicago series.  Michael Frolik scores off of a nice deke.  Cory Schneider, who got the controversial start over Roberto Luongo, gets inured on the play and Luongo is forced to come in and finish the game after all.

Roloson Playoff MVP?

Dwayne Roloson has greeted the 2010-2011 playoffs like an old friend. The old friend being the 2005-2006 NHL playoffs. In 05-06, Roloson lead the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup. He boasted a .927 save percentage and 2.33 goals against average. Although he was injured in game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals, his play during the 05-06 playoffs has not been forgotten by anyone, including Dwayne. He is driven to bring the Lightning to the Stanley Cup, and his game shows it. So far he has a .941 save percentage and a 2.01 goals against average. To clue you in on how impressive these stats are, Tim Thomas, who set the record for regular season save percentage, had a .938. If Roloson is able to continue the streak he is on, look for some awards to go his way.

Will Nashville Tie the Series Tonight?

At 8:30pm tonight the Nashville Predators will look to even the Western Conference semi-finals at two. After splitting the first two games in Vancouver, Nashville returned on a supreme high. Not only did the Predators defeat the number one seeded Canucks, they stole a home game from them. After a crushing overtime loss, Vancouver came out with a vengeance, out shooting Nashville 47-30. A shot and a slight defection by Ryan Kesler managed to solve Pekka Rinne, who was brilliant all night. To some, Vancouver must not only win, but win quickly. With San Jose's commanding 3-0 series lead, it would be disadvantageous to endure a long and tiresome series. The Canucks, however, are not concerned with the length of the series. In response to this, Henrik Sedin told the Vancouver Sun, "I don't know what people are thinking if they think there is pressure to finish series 4-0 or 4-1. It's a tough league, so I don't think we care if it's 4-zip or 4-3 as long as we move on." Clearly Sedin is in the right state of mind, and is taking the series game by game. Although Vancouver is keeping calm and cool, I'm going to give this game to the Predators. I don't see them losing both of their home games. I'm sure they will come out prepared and will take it to the Canucks. Of course it will take a heroic effort by Rinne, but we all know he's capable. Final score of the game tonight: Nashville 3- Vancouver 1.

Players to watch:

Pekka Rinne - 44 save performance last game.

Chris Higgins- Lone goal in game 1 gave Vancouver the victory.

Ryan Kesler - After going scoreless in the first 9 games, he has now found his scoring touch.