Battle Playoff Predictions Part Deux

Posted on April 14, 2010 by Derek

Okay, I’ll chime in with mine now and me and Derek can compare them after the playoffs end 🙂

East
(1) Capitals over (8) Canadiens in 5 games – this does have the potential for disaster with Theodore facing his former mates but I think the Caps’ll step up their game and the Habs are just too inconsistent to trust – witness losses to the Isles, Canes and Leafs down the stretch with the playoffs on the line.

(7) Flyers over (2) Devils in 6 games – gotta be consistent and go with my initial prediction, although if the Devils are a championship team they’ll take it in 5. If not, it’s time to blow the soft defense up and scale back Marty’s workload once and for all.

(3) Sabres over (6) Bruins in 7 games – I would pick the upset here if not for one thing…I just can’t see Ryan Miller losing in the first round with the year he’s had.

(4) Penguins over (5) Senators in 5 games – While I don’t see the Pens making three straight playoff runs (or the Wings for that matter) I can’t pick them to lose with a one-legged opponent handed to them bound and gagged.

(1) Capitals over (7) Flyers in 5 games – Where I’ll be cursing the Devils’ loss even more
(3) Sabres over (4) Penguins in 6 games – Miller gets revenge for the Olympic loss to Crosby

(1) Capitals over (3) Sabres in 7 games – Another hard-luck loss for Buffalo a la 2006 against Carolina

West
(1) Sharks over (8) Avs in 4 games – sorry, even with the Sharks playoff idiosyncrasices I see the Avs going the way of regular season overachievers Columbus and St. Louis last year.

(2) Hawks over (7) Predators in 7 games – division matchup in the first round with a defensive-minded team against an offensive juggernaut with questionable goaltending and a banged-up d. Potential for a surprise here, but I believe in Niemi enough to give the Hawks a slight edge.

(3) Canucks over (6) Kings in 5 games – I was gonna pick an upset out of spite for Luongo until I looked at the stats and realized the Nucks offense is more than the Sedin twins while the Kings don’t have a lot of big-time scorers other than Kopitar.

(5) Wings over (4) Coyotes in 6 games – as much as I’d love to see an ‘upset’, the Wings are on a roll right now and have at least one last strike in them.

(1) Sharks over (5) Wings in 7 games – if the Sharks are ever going to turn from minnows to men, now’s the time with an older Wings team drained from two straight long playoffs and a mad stretch run just to clinch a playoff berth.
(3) Canucks over (2) Hawks in 6 games – another revenge series with an improved Canucks team taking advantage of a beat-up Hawks defense.

(3) Canucks over (1) Sharks in 7 games – why do I look at this Sharks team and see a ’03 Senators-type finish at the end?

Stanley Cup Finals: Capitals over Canucks in 7 games…deeper team wins in the end. While it’s hard for me to imagine Theodore holding up all the way through, it was already hard for me to imagine him not having a regulation loss since January. Funny, I was one game from picking the same final as Derek 😛

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Battle Playoff Predictions

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Derek

It’s that fun time of year once again. Finally after a grueling 82-game season that also featured a thrilling Vancouver Olympics with Canada edging USA on Sidney Crosby’s sudden death winner, sixteen teams are left to vie for Lord Stanley.

Gone are the Rangers, Anaheim and Calgary. In are mainstays Detroit and the Devils. Is this the Spring San Jose conquers their demons? Can the Ovie-Backstrom Caps win their first Cup? What about playoff hockey finally returning to the Desert for the traditional White Out dating back to Winnipeg? Meaningful hockey also returns to LA and Colorado where two upstarts try to put a dent in playoff brackets. Exciting stuff. Is this the year the Cup returns to Canada? The Sedins hope to deliver. Montreal hopes Halak can carry them to a monumental upset. Do the Hawks have enough goaltending to win the franchise’s first championship since Bobby Hull starred in 1961? Can Rinne’s Preds play spoiler and win their first series? Are Miller’s Sabres being overlooked or is Tuukka Rask ready for primetime? Is Kovalchuk enough to bring Cup No.4 back to Jersey? Or will the Devils’ best team since its last winner under Pat Burns go belly up against the hated Flyers? Can the Crosby-Malkin Pens repeat? Who will surprise? Who will disappoint? Who is this year’s hero?

All these questions will get answered beginning tomorrow. We’ll take our best crack at it.

BATTLE PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS

EAST

Conference Quarters:

(1) Capitals over (8) Canadiens in 6  

Analysis: Halak steals a game or two but too much firepower.

(2) Devils over (7) Flyers in 7         

Analysis: Tempted to take Philly but Devs have too much to lose.

(3) Sabres over (6) Bruins in 6          

Analysis: Won’t be easy versus Rask but Vanek heating up and Miller.

(4) Penguins over (5) Senators in 5    

Analysis: If Fleury struggles and Elliott performs, this could get interesting.

Conference Semis:

(1) Capitals over (4) Penguins in 6   

Analysis: Depth proves the difference.

(3) Sabres over (2) Devils in 7   

Analysis: Teams are very similar but think Myers and Miller deliver.

Conference Final:

(3) Sabres over (1) Capitals in 6     

Analysis: Goaltending, defense, grit and better coaching wins out.

WEST

Conference Quarters:

(1) Sharks over (8) Avalanche in 5  

Analysis: Too much scoring, depth, experience and so much at stake.

(2) Blackhawks over (7) Predators in 7

Analysis: Rinne/underrated offense scare but home ice/balance boost Hawks.

(3) Canucks over (Kings) in 7         

Analysis: Dangerous opponent but can’t go against Sedins and Kesler.

(5) Red Wings over (4) Coyotes in 6

Analysis: Bryzgalov gives ‘Yotes chance but Wings hot and prove too much.

Conference Semis:

(5) Red Wings over (1) Sharks in 7

Analysis: Potential for lots of scoring. Will Shark D be exposed?

(3) Canucks over (2) Blackhawks in 6

Analysis: Teams very even. Pressure’s on Louie to deliver.

Conference Final:

(3) Canucks over (5) Red Wings in 6

Analysis: A toss-up. Which goalie steps up? Samuelsson haunts former ‘mates.

Stanley Cup: A delicious match-up between two Cup starved cities. Think of the storylines. Olympic rematch between Miller and Luongo. Canada versus USA again. Third time post-lockout. It would be a nightmare for NBC but how can you ignore the star power of The Sedins? This would be good for the sport. A battle between three seeds who’ve been the butt of jokes forever. One gets to end it.

(3) Canucks over (3) Sabres in 6          

Analysis: Hard to go against Vancouver’s firepower. Miller would have to steal series. This is the most talented Canuck team since ’94. They’ll struggle to get past first round but ultimately, they are the best team. Can Alain Vigneault and Louie deliver? That’s what we’re playing. The time is right. 1-2-3-4 Presssssuuuureee!!!!! Billy Joel would be proud.

Fun Stuff

Stanley Cup Champion-Vancouver Canucks
Conn Smythe-Henrik Sedin, Canucks
Leading Scorer-Henrik Sedin, Canucks
Top Finisher-Thomas Vanek, Sabres
Best Goalie-Ryan Miller, Sabres
Best Defenseman-Tyler Myers, Sabres
Breakout Star-Ryan Kesler, Canucks
Rookie Under Radar-Colin Wilson, Predators
Best Coach-Lindy Ruff, Sabres/Mike Babcock, Red Wings
Coach You Can’t Trust-Bruce Boudreau, Capitals
Scary-Evgeni Nabokov, Sharks
Jinx-Marian Hossa, Blackhawks
Disappearing Act-Joe Thornton, Sharks
Hot Seat-Roberto Luongo, Canucks/Jacques Lemaire, Devils

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Devils’ 2009-10 regular season wrapup and playoff thoughts

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Derek

With three Stanley Cups since 1995, nine division titles and eleven 100-point seasons the Devils have maintained a standard of excellence and high expectations every year. Thirteen consecutive playoff appearances, four division crowns in five years and another Jennings Trophy for being the best defensive team in the league in 2009-10 are all nice of course – but around here, that’s not good enough. While there may not be any Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer or Claude Lemieux around anymore the goal is the same for this franchise, to win the Stanley Cup. To do that you need sixteen hard-fought playoff wins.
It is in this area where the team has come up short since the lockout. I don’t really count the forgettable 2003-04 season where we lost to the Flyers in a five-game series (our only playoff loss to Philly up to this point), for the team was clearly distracted by the news of then-coach Pat Burns coming down with cancer as well as the uncertainty surrounding captain Stevens, who would later retire due to aftereffects of a concussion suffered during the 2003 Cup run.
Since the lockout though, the team has come up woefully short in the playoffs. If our sweep of the Rangers in 2006 provided a measure of satisfaction after three prior playoff losses to our bitter rivals, our quick ouster at the hands of the Hurricanes and then-rookie Cam Ward was an abrupt ending to a season where we’d found our stride after a slow start with fifteen straight wins that led us to a surprising division title and first-round playoff sweep. 2006-07 provided another quiet second-round ouster, this time at the hands of the Senators.
Even those playoff losses were nothing compared to the embarassment of the last two seasons though, both under then-coach Brent Sutter. In 2007-08 the Devils scraped together a 99-point season but were utterly dominated by their rivals all year long, particularly the Islanders and Rangers. In the Rangers’ case it was Sean Avery and ex-Devil Scott Gomez leading the way (along with Henrik Lundqvist) for their incredible eleven wins in thirteen tries against the Devils including a five-game ouster where the Devils failed to win once at the Rock in its inaugural playoffs. Last year even managed to top that one for heartbreak though, as the Devils dropped a seven-game series to the Hurricanes in spectacular fashion, losing Game 4 in Carolina with .2 seconds left in regulation then turning a lead to a loss in Game 7 with just 1:20 left.
So going into this year’s playoffs, the big question remains: Does this year’s team have the stuff to succeed where our most recent ones have failed? Sure there have been changes…for one, the return of coach Jacques Lemaire, who was the architect of the team’s initial rise to power from 1993-98. Departing veterans like John Madden and Brian Gionta were replaced on the roster by younger players such as Nicklas Bergfors and Rod Pelley while the core – led by goaltender Martin Brodeur, captain Jamie Langenbrunner and star winger Zach Parise – remained intact.
Early in the season injuries forced further tweaks to the lineup. Veterans such as Rob Niedermayer and Dean McAmmond were brought in and became regulars. More rookies such as Mark Fraser and Vladimir Zharkov got significant playing time. Preseason afterthought Andy Greene became the breakout performer of the year, going from healthy scratch at the start of the season to becoming a legit top four defenseman and the team’s leading point-getter from the blueline by the end of it. Through it all, the Devils maintained a blistering pace, going 32-11-1 for 65 points in 44 games.
Pretty much all seasons hit a bump in the road at some point and from mid-January on the Devils found themselves caught in quicksand. Their longest winning streak the rest of the season would be a paltry two games, and the team only accomplished that feat once in a two-month stretch that blanketed the Olympic break. In many ways, the Olympics proved to be the highlight of the winter for Devil fans on the ice as Langenbrunner and Parise’s performances for Team USA led them to the brink of a gold medal, only to be turned back by Sidney Crosby and Canada in overtime of the gold medal game.
While the team continued to struggle, GM Lou Lamoriello made a strong statement with his early February trade of Bergfors, defenseman Johnny Oduya, prospect Patrice Cormier and a first-round pick for star sniper Ilya Kovalchuk and former Devil Anssi Salmela. Acquiring Kovalchuk – a splashy move seldom made by the GM in recent years – sent a message loud and clear that the Devils were in it to win it, as they say.
Although the Devils continued to struggle for weeks after, the Kovalchuk trade energized the fanbase nonetheless as we sold out nine of our final twelve home games. For his part, Kovalchuk didn’t dissapoint in the regular season, putting up ten goals and 27 points in 27 games with a +9 and doing everything to fit in. Maybe he hasn’t quite put up the gaudy offensive numbers he has in the past yet, but a lot of skaters would kill to have that kind of ‘off’ third of a season.
With Kovalchuk in tow and most of the veterans who had been on IR (such as defenseman Paul Martin and gritty winger David Clarkson) set to return, Lamoriello made one final tweak at the deadline, acquiring Martin Skoula from the Leafs for a fifth-round pick, which was an odd but happy turn of events after Skoula had been dumped by the Penguins to the Leafs just the day before. Perhaps GM Brian Burke was doing mentor Lou a favor, as Skoula proved to be the best deadline d-man acquisition in years. Not surprisingly, Skoula had played under Lemaire before and unlike other failed imports like Brad Lukowich and Nicklas Havelid, he made a positive contribution, shoring up the d-core by replacing Fraser in the lineup and becoming a steady presence alongside Martin.
Yet even with all the pieces now in place the team continued to run in place, perhaps either still caught up in the winter malaise, struggling to find chemistry with the new and returning players trying to find their niche with Lemaire’s constant line shuffling or a combination of both. Despite wins like a dominant 5-2 showing against the Penguins on St. Patrick’s Day where the team wore throwback green jerseys in front of an electric sellout crowd came losses like a drab Alberta trip, losing big to Sutter’s Flames and then getting shutout by the worst team in the league in Edmonton two days later. Not to mention all the late blown points in games against Boston, the Rangers and Blackhawks in an eight-day span.
Despite the team’s struggles, their dominant early start kept the Devils in good position throughout and our perfect 6-0 record against the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins proved to be decisive in the race for the division title, once the team started to pick things up down the stretch at last. New Jersey won four of its last five games and once again resembled their early-season juggernaut on its way to clinching first home ice for the first-round, then the division and eventually the second seed in the Eastern Conference.
Our reward in the first round? A showdown with the rival Flyers, a team we went 1-4-1 against in the 2009-10 regular season, including a 5-1 whipping in Philly just two weeks ago in the teams’ last meeting of the year – until Wednesday. True, home-ice was important for us during the regular season as evidenced by our 27-10-4 record (which was 26-6-4 after October), but it hasn’t been a factor at all in the last few playoffs. Despite selling out every playoff game ever played at the Rock, the team’s record has been just 2-5 in those two series at home and our season had ended three straight times in New Jersey.
And don’t be fooled by the fact the Flyers finished 15 points behind us, they have talent. I should know, I erroneously picked them to win the division two years running. While they’ve always had goaltending questions and went through a coaching change early in the season, losing your first two goalies to injury would cripple just about anyone. Yet, one-time and now current Flyer Brian Boucher has had a bit of a revival down the stretch, playing a series of good games including the sudden-death shootout win yesterday that put the Flyers in the playoffs after they struggled mightily for most of March and early April.
Just two years ago the Flyers were in the Conference Finals with Martin Biron in net for crying out loud, and their only playoff defeats the last two seasons have come at the hands of the Penguins. Philly has a talented group of forwards led by centers Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. As a team they scored fourteen more goals than us this year, as we finished tied for 19th (with the Rangers and Islanders ironically enough) among 30 teams in scoring. And oh yes, they added star defenseman Chris Pronger during the offseason, who along with Dwayne Roloson led a ragtag Oilers team to within one game of the Cup in 2006, then played a starring role in Anaheim’s championship the very next season.
Perhaps I’ve been painting a bleak picture in the last three paragraphs. I’m not going to lie, this is the series I didn’t want. Not that I think we can’t beat them, if this team plays the way it did the last five games of the year and early in the season I’ll take our chances. Regular season success doesn’t always lead to the same once the playoffs begin and our team has improved since many of the early-season tilts. Plus to be honest, maybe this team needs to feel threatened and not take anything for granted. And our key player – Brodeur – looks better going into the playoffs than he has in recent seasons.
However, having a star defenseman helps a great deal in the postseason and we don’t currently have that guy (whereas the Flyers do in Pronger), despite the fact Martin and Greene are capable players. Plus they play a physical style, sometimes edgy and often over it. Admittedly I’m most paranoid about one well-placed elbow by Pronger on one of our stars ending our postseason. Or one cheap shot by a guy such as Daniel Carcillo. I’m not entirely sure we have the size to contend with them, although Clarkson’s return and having guys like Colin White and Bryce Salvador on defense can help somewhat with that element of the Flyers’ game.
As much as I want to pick the Devils to win, and think that if we do somehow get past this series that it could be a very long playoff run (think at least deep into the third round), I just can’t help but have an impending feeling of doom and think that bad things will happen in threes. Not to mention Lemaire still makes me nervous. I’ll pick Flyers in six games, this time mercifully losing our final game away from the Prudential Center. Hopefully I’m just as wrong about the Flyers winning this series as I was about them winning the division.
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Devils win strange finale to capture second seed, now take on Philly

Posted on April 12, 2010 by Derek

Before the start of the second period in last night’s Devils-Sabres contest which decided the #2 and #3 seeds everyone heard that the Flyers beat the Rangers in a shootout and despite all the fear around Devils Nation of what that meant if the Devils won (a showdown with the Flyers themselves) there was still the roar of approval you’d expect from a Ranger loss. Apparently even the Devils themselves knew, since they were watching the shootout in between periods. Personally I would have banned the TV from being on in the locker room if I were Jacques Lemaire. Even goaltender Martin Brodeur admitted he felt funny thinking about it the rest of the night, saying ‘if I move one arm we’re playing Boston and if I move the other we’re playing Philly’.

Be that as it may, the two teams played a spirited game even though the Sabres were resting starting goalie Ryan Miller and have other players mending from injuries while the Devils sat Colin White and Pierre Luc-Letourneau Leblond, who had played the team’s last seven games. If both teams tried to play it halfway with their lineup choices, even the fans had conflicted feelings. My fellow season ticket holder next to me admitted he didn’t want to face the Flyers, was rooting steadfast against the Rangers but wasn’t going to root against the Devils during the game.

Personally I wanted the second seed (and wouldn’t worry about who we played until after the final buzzer) and was glad that Brodeur played, especially since a last-ditch win would get me a fantasy championship as it worked out. Lemaire did sit White a day after being talked out of doing so by the veteran defenseman. Which tells me that there was more to the Jaime Langenbrunner benching a couple weeks back than merely a ‘rest’ day since he didn’t give the captain the chance to talk him out of it, but I digress.

After a mostly bleh first period, the second period got off to a good start for the Sabres when Thomas Vanek scored at 1:10, giving a suddenly hot Sabre his fifth goal in two games. Then things took a strange turn as the audio system at the Rock went silent for at least fifteen minutes shortly after Vanek’s goal. When Travis Zajac scored his 25th of the year at 6:27, there was no announcement so one fan in 208 eventually did his best Kevin Clark impression and gave us the scoring and time of the goal so convincingly it was actually funny, though one of the assists did eventually get changed from Langenbrunner to Paul Martin, with Ilya Kovalchuk getting the primary assist.

With the sound down, we provided our own entertaininment, with this same fan humming the chicken dance – the one where ‘The Rangers Suck’ goes in the chorus during one of the stoppages in play. Finally after some initial odd hiccups the audio did work again and the goal announcement took place very belatedly, but you have to wonder if this building is having so many problems (including Lightninggate in January) after just 2.5 years, how bad will it get when it’s 20-30 years old?!

Now that we no longer had to do the PA’s job, we settled in to watch an entertaining third period where the Devils outshot the Sabres 14-7 in part due to late penalties by Steve Montador and Mike Grier which gave us a short five-on-three and allowed us to spend the last two and a half minutes on the power play. Making matters worse for Buffalo, they needed to win in regulation to get the two seed so having a five-on-three against them put a crimp in plans to pull Lalime for the extra attacker.

Finally when the Sabres were only one man down, coach Lindy Ruff signaled Lalime to the bench in the final seconds but he wasn’t looking over there – perhaps forgetting about the odd situation at hand. When he finally did realize he needed to get off the ice he skated like mad to the bench, and his skate clipped the ref with both falling to the ice. Langenbrunner got possession of the puck and fired in an odd empty-net power play goal with just three seconds left to clinch the win, the second seed and my fantasy league title with Zach Parise and Brian Rolston getting assists on the play.

In an upcoming blog or two I’ll preview the playoffs and give a quasi-season recap. For now, it’s back to work and eventually rest after a long weekend.

BoNY Three Stars:

  1. Travis Zajac (goal, +1)
  2. Thomas Vanek (goal, +1)
  3. Jamie Langenbrunner (goal, +1)
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Playoff Matchups All Set, Round 1 sched released

Posted on April 12, 2010 by Derek

Before I move on and go out, with the season almost done with just the Ducks and Oilers finishing up the final game in period three, the playoff match-ups are all set. A quick glance at both conferences:

EASTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERS

(1) Washington Capitals vs (8) Montreal Canadiens

(2) New Jersey Devils vs (7) Philadelphia Flyers

(3) Buffalo Sabres vs (6) Boston Bruins

(4) Pittsburgh Penguins vs (5) Ottawa Senators

WESTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERS

(1) San Jose Sharks vs (8) Colorado Avalanche

(2) Chicago Blackhawks vs (7) Nashville Predators

(3) Vancouver Canucks (6) Los Angeles Kings

(4) Phoenix Coyotes vs (5) Detroit Red Wings

Some intriguing first round series include the heated I-95 rivalry renewed between the Devils and Flyers. Plus an classic Adams throwback with the Sabres battling the Bruins who I’m sure our Buffalo blogger is fearing the worst based on the past. The Sens meet the Pens for a third time in four years but minus Alex Kovalev. Can an unpredictable Hab team with Halak in net scare the loaded Caps? Out West, you got the ever dreaded upstart Avs challenging the Sharks. The Canucks versus Kings promises to be entertaining. Could be a lot of fireworks. How will the Hawks fare against an overlooked Pred team? And can the surprising ‘Yotes best the Wings? We’ll have our picks in a couple of days.

Looks like the NHL has already announced the playoff schedule. So, here ya go:

2010 EASTERN CONFERENCE QUARTER-FINALS

SERIES A TIME (ET) #1 Washington vs. #8 Montreal

Thursday, April 15, 2010 7 p.m. Montreal at Washington

Saturday, April 17, 2010 7 p.m. Montreal at Washington

Monday, April 19, 2010 7 p.m. Washington at Montreal

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 7 p.m. Washington at Montreal

*Friday, April 23, 2010 7 p.m. Montreal at Washington

*Monday, April 26, 2010 7 p.m. Washington at Montreal

*Wednesday, April 28, 2010 TBD Montreal at Washington

SERIES B TIME (ET) #2 New Jersey vs. #7 Philadelphia


Wednesday, April 14, 2010 7:30 p.m. Philadelphia at New Jersey


Friday, April 16, 2010 7:30 p.m. Philadelphia at New Jersey


Sunday, April 18, 2010 6 p.m. New Jersey at Philadelphia


Tuesday, April 20, 2010 7:30 p.m. New Jersey at Philadelphia


*Thursday, April 22, 2010 7 p.m. Philadelphia at New Jersey


*Sunday, April 25, 2010 TBD New Jersey at Philadelphia


*Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7:30 p.m. Philadelphia at New Jersey

SERIES C TIME (ET) #3 Buffalo vs. #6 Boston


Thursday, April 15, 2010 7 p.m. Boston at Buffalo


Saturday, April 17, 2010 1 p.m. Boston at Buffalo


Monday, April 19, 2010 7 p.m. Buffalo at Boston


Wednesday, April 21, 2010 7 p.m. Buffalo at Boston


*Friday, April 23, 2010 7 p.m. Boston at Buffalo


*Monday, April 26, 2010 7 p.m. Buffalo at Boston


*Wednesday, April 28, 2010 7 p.m. Boston at Buffalo

SERIES D TIME (ET) #4 Pittsburgh vs. #5 Ottawa

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 7 p.m. Ottawa at Pittsburgh

Friday, April 16, 2010 7 p.m. Ottawa at Pittsburgh

Sunday, April 18, 2010 6:30 p.m. Pittsburgh at Ottawa

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 7 p.m. Pittsburgh at Ottawa

*Thursday, April 22, 2010 7 p.m. Ottawa at Pittsburgh

*Saturday, April 24, 2010 7 p.m. Pittsburgh at Ottawa

*Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7 p.m. Ottawa at Pittsburgh

2010 WESTERN CONFERENCE QUARTER-FINALS

SERIES E TIME (ET) #1 San Jose vs. #8 Colorado

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 10:30 p.m. Colorado at San Jose

Friday, April 16, 2010 10:30 p.m. Colorado at San Jose

Sunday, April 18, 2010 9:30 p.m. San Jose at Colorado

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 10 p.m. San Jose at Colorado

*Thursday, April 22, 2010 10:30 p.m. Colorado at San Jose

*Saturday, April 24, 2010 TBD San Jose at Colorado

*Monday, April 26, 2010 TBD Colorado at San Jose

SERIES F TIME (ET) #2 Chicago vs. #7 Nashville

Friday, April 16, 2010 8:30 p.m. Nashville at Chicago

Sunday, April 18, 2010 8:30 p.m. Nashville at Chicago

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 9 p.m. Chicago at Nashville

Thursday, April 22, 2010 8:30 p.m. Chicago at Nashville

*Saturday, April 24, 2010 3 p.m. Nashville at Chicago

*Monday, April 26, 2010 TBD Chicago at Nashville

*Wednesday, April 28, 2010 TBD Nashville at Chicago

SERIES G TIME (ET) #3 Vancouver vs. #6 Los Angeles

Thursday, April 15, 2010 10 p.m. Los Angeles at Vancouver

Saturday, April 17, 2010 10 p.m. Los Angeles at Vancouver

Monday, April 19, 2010 10 p.m. Vancouver at Los Angeles

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 10 p.m. Vancouver at Los Angeles

*Friday, April 23, 2010 10 p.m. Los Angeles at Vancouver

*Sunday, April 25, 2010 TBD Vancouver at Los Angeles

*Tuesday, April 27, 2010 TBD Los Angeles at Vancouver

SERIES H TIME (ET) #4 Phoenix vs. #5 Detroit

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 10 p.m. Detroit at Phoenix

Friday, April 16, 2010 10 p.m. Detroit at Phoenix

Sunday, April 18, 2010 3 p.m. Phoenix at Detroit

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 6:30 p.m. Phoenix at Detroit

*Friday, April 23, 2010 10 p.m. Detroit at Phoenix

*Sunday, April 25, 2010 2 p.m. Phoenix at Detroit

*Tuesday, April 27, 2010 TBD Detroit at Phoenix

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End Of Road: Flyers outshoot Rangers to make playoffs

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Derek

It would be easy to get on the league for how Game 82 ended between hated rivals. Yes, finally a stinking shootout decided the playoffs at Wachovia Center where the Flyers took advantage in outshooting the Rangers to a 2-1 come from behind win before screaming black and orange. By winning, Philly avoided embarrassment and finished seventh in the East by virtue of more wins than Montreal, who draws Washington. That might be bad news for the Caps. It also could be alarming news for the Devils. If the Flyers play like today, they could be extremely difficult. The Sabres will play old Adams nemesis Boston and Pittsburgh meets Ottawa. The Rangers won’t play anyone. The end of the road finally came.

Make no mistake, Peter Laviolette’s guys deserved the win that allowed them to edge our guys 88-87 in the standings. They severely outplayed the Rangers most of the day. If not for Henrik Lundqvist, who was brilliant in defeat making 46 saves, it never reaches a glorified skill competition. Enough can’t be said about how well Henrik played. He made some great stops, including two in a row from in tight with one stone job on eventual hero Claude Giroux. It’s a shame that Henke’s best wasn’t enough to lift his team into a fifth consecutive postseason. At the end of what feels like an empty day, you really feel for Mr. Lundqvist. Without him, our team would’ve sucked. Kudos to King Henrik on a great season. You did yourself proud.

The Flyers outshot the Rangers in all three periods of regulation, nearly doubling us in shots (45-23) when it reached sudden death. If only a dumb league would’ve allowed a game of this magnitude to be decided legitimately. Not saying it changes the outcome. But even some Flyers have to admit how cheesy this was. But hey. That’s how the rules are. Both teams knew it and the more skilled home team cashed in even with Brian Boucher manning the net. Speaking of which, can you imagine if it’s Flyers-Devils a decade later with Bouch trying to conquer Martin Brodeur? Now that would be quite a storyline.

Philly came out aggressively sustaining their forecheck to generate plenty of shots and quality chances on Lundqvist, who was up to the challenge. In a role reversal from the other night, it was the Flyers who dominated outshooting the Blueshirts 18-4. However, they trailed after one due to Jody Shelley’s goal. Yes. In our biggest game of the season, our tough guy who plays on the fourth line scored the only goal. How does that happen? Rather than get into it, the goal itself was off hard work in the corners from Brandon Prust and Artem Anisimov, who worked the puck to Michal Rozsival at the right point. Rozy fired with Shelley redirecting it past Boucher for a 1-0 lead 3:27 into the contest. The goal marked the first time in Shelley’s career (538 games) that he scored in consecutive games.

Already with the fans on them, the Flyers picked it up. While they didn’t score on a Brandon Dubinsky hook, it helped them control the tempo. Most of the period was spent in the Ranger zone. The strategy was apparent. Work the puck down low and then back to the points and get shots through with traffic. Something they did all day. Flyer captain Mike Richards came oh so close to tying it when off an Anders Eriksson turnover, his high offering drew crossbar. For the game, Philadelphia hit three posts. To put it mildly, Lundqvist saw shots from all angles. He held up his end of the bargain. Unfortunately, the rest of the team couldn’t as they just never mustered a consistent attack. The Flyers came with speed through the neutral zone and gained our zone too easily. They also won more puck battles.

That was the kind of day it was. Still leading 1-0, the Rangers got a chance to go up by more when Daniel Briere took an undisciplined minor in the offensive zone, tripping up Marc Staal. However, the Flyer PK dominated the next two minutes hardly allowing any set up time while also attacking shorthanded when possible. In fact, the Rangers went over 13 minutes without a shot. Similar to the Flyers who went over 17 Friday. Despite the offensive struggles, somehow they led after one.

The second was more evenly played with our club getting off to a better start. The fourth line of Shelley, Anisimov and Prust continued to assert themselves. By far they were our best line during a home stretch that saw the team finish 7-1-2 falling a little short of their mantra. If only the Rangers had played like this all season. Our guys got some early pressure on Boucher, who held up well. Though he saw a lot less rubber, Bouch was strong finishing with 24 saves. Give him credit. Too bad they didn’t challenge him as much.

Play was more chippy which you’d expect. Finally, Aaron Voros accepted Ian Laperriere’s challenge at center ice fighting to a well earned draw to taps of sticks from both sides. Kerry Fraser, who officiated his final game of a long career helped break it up. I know he’s gotten beaten up a lot over the years but congrats to a classy guy on a great career. Even if he missed a few Flyer infractions, it’s not why the Rangers lost. For the most part, they let the players play. Philly is the more physical team and it definitely benefited the guys in black and orange. It’s games like this where heart and soul guys like Ryan Callahan and Sean Avery are missed. It certainly couldn’t have hurt our chances. But hey, it is what it is. You play with what you got. We’ve seen guys like Voros, Prust and Shelley step up along with P.A. Parenteau, who had a game to forget. It was his second penalty that led to the only Flyer goal in the third.

For 40 minutes, our goalie was a brick wall stopping everything in his path. Even a high hard labeler by Simon Gagne off the rush and a Chris Pronger halitzer with players in front. He was magnificent. Between that, you also saw more edge with Rozsival not putting up with Briere’s antics near the bench. Nice to see. I’ve said it before and will stand by it. Rozy played with more purpose the second half. Unless you can get a good return this summer, keep him. It’s Wade Redden that must go. Even if I saw him try today, he’s still the weakest link. There were still a couple of instances where he got beat. Eriksson was better. How sad is that?

The Rangers maintained their one-goal lead thru two despite a 30-13 Flyer SOG edge. One of the keys was special teams. An area they excelled at Friday. However, that wasn’t the case this afternoon with Parenteau’s second penalty handing the Flyers a fourth power play. Even though they got through the first three, you just can’t hand a skilled bunch like them four. Yeah. The interference on PA was iffy and behind the play. But that’s how they call it. Meanwhile, high sticks were let go along with crosschecks with most coming from the home side. Be that as it may, Philly finally got it tied thanks to Matt Carle, who hustled to a Briere rebound and roofed a backhand over Lundqvist at 6:54. Prior to the goal, PK tandem Anisimov and Brian Boyle, who was okay in his return had a chance to clear it down. Instead, Artie tried to thread the needle to Boyle for a shorthanded bid. Trouble was the Flyers were back and quickly intercepted it and went the other way. Our guys never recovered. Sometimes, simple is better. Anisimov’s mistake proved costly, allowing the hosts to tie it 1-1 with 13:06 left in regulation.

Forced to come out of their shell, the Rangers got Anisimov’s line out and as usual, they had a strong shift. In fact, with under 10 minutes remaining, Shelley nearly had his second but his backhand stuff was held by Boucher. How wild would that have been? It just wasn’t meant to be. I called for Olli Jokinen and Vinny Prospal to step up. Neither distinguished themselves with a Brandon Dubinsky perfect set up during a four-on-four fired over the net by Prospal with Boucher down and out. Those are the ones you have to bury. Anisimov also got an opportunity after Shelley forced a turnover but his high riser sailed over the top.

Meanwhile, the Flyers fired from everywhere with even pest Daniel Carcillo trying a couple from the right circle which went wide. Jeff Carter also got some great chances but was thwarted time and again by Lundqvist, including late in the second. Lundqvist also robbed Simon Gagne with his team still up with the attacking Flyer finisher narrowly missing a putback which caused the red light to go on. It was that sorta chaos all game for our poor goalie. In the third, he turned aside 14 of 15 shots with only Carle’s power play goal rebound beating him.

The overtime was dreadful. It had to be by far the worst four-on-four ever. Neither team went for it, almost resigned to the gimmick. In fact, the only quality chance belonged to the Blueshirts when Erik Christensen managed to slip a puck to Gaborik, who cut in from the left side but his low shot was kicked out by Boucher late in OT. Each team had two shots before the dreaded shootout decided a playoff spot. The worst case scenario. A total embarrassment. I don’t even care that we lost because getting in that way is for sissys. Besides, I have been consistent in not wanting this team to make it due to Jazzy Jim, who had his minions repeatedly send letters begging us to pay 68 a pop for the first round. It’s exactly why rooting for this team is so tough. We will always support the players. But the gross mismanagement by Dolan and butt buddy Sather has infuriated the fanbase. The continued increase for a team that even if they’d made it is shameless because it would’ve taken a miracle for them to beat the Caps. That’s why I can’t be that upset. Had we won, the only salvation would’ve been ending the Flyers’ season.

As for the skill comp, Briere came in and beat Lundqvist in Round One with a nice forehand deke to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. After Boucher denied Christensen, Henrik snuffed out Richards giving Parenteau a chance to redeem himself. He did by sneaking one off Boucher’s stick upstairs tying it 1-1 at the end of two rounds. But Giroux came in with speed before stopping and surprising Lundqvist five-hole to put all the pressure on Jokinen. It was one Henrik probably should’ve had but what can you do? Jokinen, who’s been a waste went to his forehand backhand trying for Boucher’s five-hole but the Flyer goalie wasn’t biting, easily turning it aside before pumping his fists and being mobbed by excited teammates.

While Philly celebrated, a bunch of disappointed and angry Rangers including Lundqvist and Jokinen slamming their sticks skated off with their heads down. Who could blame them? It was a garbage way to decide the final playoff spot. But that’s the breaks. Bottom line. They didn’t play good enough. For the first time since the Dark Ages pre-lockout, it will be a long summer for the organization. There should be a lot of soul searching. Especially with how they ran the operation off the ice, disrespecting one of the most loyal fanbases in the league. At least we won’t have to hear Joe Micheletti, Don LaGreca or Al Trautwig or John Giannone spin anymore.

It was a long and frustrating season for Ranger fans. I made a lot of new friends in the Twitter Universe and saw how much passion they had. This team has a way of ripping your heart(s) out. I’m not feeling that way but know a lot of others are. There will be a lot of quick reaction with some of it overreaction on what must happen. To my favorite fans in the world, take a breath. Go outside to a park or beach. Look around and see what’s out there. Would they have realistically beaten the Caps? Come on. This is for the best.

A final thought on 2009-10. For over a dozen years, I’ve had the privilege of being able to go watch our heroes at MSG. Even if it has morphed into Mediocre Square, it’s always been fun. From my very first game- an OT win over Detroit on my birthday to Gretzky’s last one to Rozsival’s triple OT blast in our biggest series this decade to Messier, Richter, Leetch, Graves, Howell and Bathgate, it’s always been the same. A blast with some of the best fans who make it fun no matter what. I’ve been lucky to have such a great Dad and be able to sit next to him for games with my brother and Mike there as well. We’ve met a lot of great people in Sec.411 including legendary Anthony who holds court with Steve Somers and was there in enemy territory today. He’ll be a father soon. Congrats! I can’t say enough about our section and the Garden Faithful. Ya ‘ll rock. I’m not sure if I’ll be back. Thanks for the memories.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Brian Boucher, Phi (24 saves incl.19/19 in 2nd and 3rd, 2/3 in shootout to get Flyers in playoffs)
2nd Star-Jody Shelley, NYR (2nd as Ranger-1st time in career scored in consecutive games)
1st Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (season high 46 saves incl.18/18 in 1st and 30/30 thru 2)

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Do or Die: Rangers-Flyers II

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Derek

One game to decide it all. One which should’ve been on the Ovechkin/Crosby network that’s airing a meaningless game between the Caps and Bruins. Regardless, it doesn’t get much better than an intense old time Patrick rivalry. Rangers-Flyers is as good as it gets.

With it all on the line, one team makes it while the other goes home. Who wants it? Forget the crowd which will be chaotic as most Philly ones are. It comes down to the players. Can our guys really deliver the knockout blow in enemy territory against a bitter rival much was expected from? They’ve earned this showdown by going 7-1-1 to make up seven points in two weeks. Do they want to go all the way and leave every Ranger fan who’s had their share of heartache in this tumultuous season with a good taste in our mouths? The other night was electric and worth the price of admission. They left it all out there and came out on top to reach Game 82.

Win and it will be extra sweet. Lose and it will be another disappointment even if we’ve gotten used to it. They’ll have to do it minus Ryan Callahan, who gets replaced by Brian Boyle who should give the PK a boost. Plus he can help on the forecheck. Looks like Chris Drury will have two bangers in Boyle and Aaron Voros to work with. Voros has played well and Dru came through Friday. These are the kind of games he steps up in. The Rangers will need big games from Marian Gaborik, Henrik Lundqvist and Marc Staal along with repeat performances from Shelley, Anisimov, Prust and Brandon Dubinsky and Erik Christensen. A strong game from Rozsival would boost their chances. They’ll also need Olli Jokinen and Vinny Prospal to do more than donn their jerseys. It won’t be easy. The Flyers boast more weapons. Keeping them on defense and off the power play should benefit us.

The drop of the puck is a little over an hour away. Do or die.

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Devils clinch Atlantic Division in emphatic fashion

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Derek

In the end, after all the injuries during the first half of the season and inconsistencies of the second half, the Devils found themselves in a familiar position after their 81st game of the season last night – standing as Atlantic Division champions. Our dominant 7-1 win over Martin Biron and the last-place Isles coupled with the Penguins’ surprising 1-0 loss in Atlanta was enough to give New Jersey its ninth division crown in thirteen seasons as well as our twelfth 100+ point season.
While I did not think Pittsburgh would lose in Atlanta (or Long Island today) with the division on the line, I do admit feeling confident in our result when I saw Biron in net. Just like some players – think Alexei Morozov against us way back when – do well against certain teams, others somehow struggle against the same team time after time. Biron’s a prime example since he’s always had a checkered history against the Devils with an 8-15-2-2 record, 3.21 GAA and .894 save percentage in twenty-seven decisions, including last night.
Even though Biron would give up a couple of bad goals, I’m not sure anyone – even ex-mate Scott Clemmensen who’s been so good against us this year – would have denied the Devils last night. From the opening faceoff to the final buzzer they came charged and ready to play. Danius Zubrus got the party started at 10:54 with his tenth goal of the year, throwing one on net that bounced off a diving Islander defenseman as he was trying (unsuccessfully) to keep Zach Parise away from the net. Parise and Paul Martin got the assists on Zubrus’s goal, which was reviewed for a moment even though it looked obvious from a cursory replay that there was no way Parise could have kicked the puck in and in fact didn’t even touch it.

Parise would get a goal of his own at 14:18 – his 38th, which came as so many of the others have before, on a nifty turnaround deflection just in front of the crease with Colin White and Travis Zajac getting the assists on that goal. Just ninety seconds later, Biron coughed up a bad goal to Dean McAmmond, who wristed one that trickled through the goaltender’s pads and gave McAmmond his eighth goal of the year off of assists from Rod Pelley and Mike Mottau. Even in the period’s final seconds the Devils intensely attacked the net trying to get a fourth goal…that showed me we were ready to play on this night.

Of course, even on a good night the power play’s usually a concern and we clunked our first two chances with the man advantage but finally in the second period we had something of a breakthrough with not one, but two goals on the PP. First, Patrik Elias put home his 18th goal at 11:16 off of assists from Ilya Kovalchuk and Andy Greene, a goal that was intially credited to Parise but he didn’t touch the puck after all. Showing that everyone wanted in on the fun, even Brian Rolston unleashed a rocket from the blueline at 19:11 for his 20th goal, which seems hard to believe considering his utter lack of production since November. Kovalchuk and Zajac assisted on that goal, which put the Devils up five and left no doubt about the outcome, at least the one in New Jersey.

Surprisingly the Penguins were down to Atlanta by this point and seeing that score during the second intermission drew a nice cheer from the crowd. Their game was just a little behind ours though, so I was wondering what would happen afterward, would the Devils show the game on the jumbotron or anything if it was still going on after our buzzer? In the end that would prove to be a moot point anyway and for now, I was still enjoying the goal rush. Kovalchuk wristed one home – his 41th overall and 10th as a Devil – at 8:47 from Greene and Zajac to make it 6-0. We were even winning the fights as Rod Pelley and Pierre Luc-Letourneau Leblond‘s wins on seperate bouts in the second and third respectively gave the crowd even more to cheer about.

During the entire night, there were only two blemishes…one was seeing our mercenary t-shirt guy Cameron return after he hadn’t been around this year. In prior seasons he got paid good money – up to two grand a game to act like a nut and throw sweaty t-shirts. On one occasion last night he actually wiped his t-shirt with sweat before handing it to a fan, which was gross enough (and not a first either) but what really ticked me off was seeing him come towards our section in the uppers and start throwing t-shirts during a Devils power play! It’s one thing to do that act when there’s a commercial and play is stopped but to actually do it during play and see fans react to it annoyed me no end. Especially since I could have gotten one of the non-sweaty t-shirts which went just over my head if I wasn’t actually trying to watch a hockey game at a hockey game.

On a more benign note, the only other slight imperfection was when Matt Moulson scored on an Islanders power play with just 6:50 left to spoil the shutout. Granted, Martin Brodeur has more than enough goose eggs by this point to hold the NHL record, but personally I could have used another one for my fantasy team which is in second place by a single point with one day to go in a rotisserie-league season. That shutout would have put me in a dead heat with the leader on the final day – oh well. Elias would score the final goal of the night at 18:24 with assists from Martin and Parise.

Showing how much of a team effort last night’s win was, all eighteen of our skaters had ten minutes or more of icetime and twelve registered points. Only Kovalchuk and Martin had more than twenty minutes of icetime last night and on each of the seven goals there were multiple assists. We outshot the Islanders in every period and by a 37-19 total for the game in another dominant performance that showed the Devils are determined to be ready for the playoffs. Really you have to say our last four games (despite the loss to Clemmensen) were all good performances and it’s been quite a while since you could make that case for that long a stretch of games.

One cherry was left to put on top of last night’s sundae as the Penguins were still trailing with about four minutes left with the last score update I saw. Me and my friend stayed for the three stars and interview with Kovalchuk on-ice since we had an hour before our train arrived at Broad Street, so on our way out we heard a commotion and one fan screamed that the Penguins lost and we were division champs so we all cheered and clapped on our way down the escalators. Even with all our division titles this is the first one I’d seen them clinch officially at home since the last few times they’ve won the division while on the road and before 2003-04 I didn’t go to a lot of games every year. What a way to top off the start of Fan Appreciation weekend!

Last night the Devils gave away a team poster, tonight they’ll give away a mini-Brodeur stick to commemorate the shutout record as well as other ‘random’ raffle prizes. Of course the majority of them went to the lower bowls but surprisingly the uppers got a decent number of the good prizes during the second intermission including an autographed Parise stick. To date the only thing I’ve ever ‘won’ at a Devils game was a copy of Role Models – the unrated version, which I never have gotten around to watching. But hey I’ll take another banner, for now anyway.

Our real challenges still lie ahead and our seeding and matchup isn’t finalized yet. Any kind of point for us today against the Sabres (supposedly with Patrick Lalime in net according to our Buffalo blogger on NJDevs) and we’ll win the #2 seed. Depending on the result of the Flyers-Rangers game which starts two hours before ours, we’d either play Montreal or the Flyers. If we lose in regulation, we’ll be the #3 seed and play the Bruins, who are locked into the #6 despite an NBC game against the Caps this afternoon. How much does that suck for NBC, that they picked the Bruins-Caps game which has turned out to be utterly meaningless over Rangers-Flyers Armageddon with the winner going to the playoffs and the loser going home?

As far as the other matchups, Pittsburgh is locked into a first round series with Ottawa, now without Alexei Kovalev for the playoffs. Washington will either play the Habs in the event of a Flyers win or the Rangers if they should win. Boston will play either us or the Sabres, whoever finishes with the three seed. Out West, no matchups are determined yet and only three seeds – Vancouver at three, Phoenix at four and Colorado at eight – are set. If the Blackhawks beat Detroit today, they will finish with the top seed over the Sharks while a Detroit win would give them the fifth seed and a matchup with the ‘Yotes. Detroit, Nashville and Los Angeles could all finish anywhere from fifth to seventh depending on the results of the Wings-Hawks game and the Kings’ final tilt of the season at Colorado.

That’s the only bad thing about having a Devils game to go to today, I can’t take advantage of the Center Ice free preview and MSG to keep track of the scenarios. Of course it will be fun to get another giveaway, have an in-stadium celebration of another division title and find out what seed we get and who we play. Heck, we might see an oddity if the game is tied late with Lalime getting pulled for the extra attacker since Buffalo needs a regulation win to make any difference in their seeding.

BoNY Three Stars:

  1. Travis Zajac (four assists, +3)
  2. Zach Parise (goal, two assists, +3 and 7 SOG)
  3. Ilya Kovalchuk (goal, two assists, +1 and 6 SOG)
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Habs hang on for point, Rangers-Flyers on tap

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Derek

Earlier tonight in the big HNIC showdown, the Canadiens took care of their part by hanging on for a point in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Maple Leafs. It was a little too close for comfort in front of screaming Habs fans who had to be reminded of a couple of years prior when Toronto knocked their team out. This time, all their heroes needed was one point and they just made it to 88, ensuring a postseason to the crowd’s delight. Jacques Martin’s club will be either the seventh or eighth seed depending on the Rangers-Flyers winner this afternoon in what now amounts to a preliminary do-or-die game for the hated rivals.

Only one will make it. Even if it goes past regulation, the extra point has never had more emphasis than when the puck is dropped for the rematch at Wachovia. If the Rangers prevail, they would tie the Canadiens but lose the tiebreaker due to the season series, meaning they can only get a No.8 seed and a first round rematch with the Capitals. They’ll set out to sweep the home-and-home looking to finish 8-1-1 after trailing by seven points two weeks ago. If they complete the mantra, it would be the greatest home stretch in franchise history. A loss and it’s all for naught.

For the Flyers, the pressure’s on. Especially in a season many expected them to challenge for the top of the conference and possibly a Cup. Instead, they limp in looking to avoid humiliation in front of one of the toughest fanbases. If Friday was intense, we can’t imagine what this one will look like. A Philly win would push them ahead of Montreal due to more wins for seventh, with a possible 2/7 I-95 meeting with the bitter rival Devils who salted away the Atlantic thanks to a 7-1 rout of the Islanders combined with an Atlanta 1-0 win over the Penguins. New Jersey isn’t locked into the No.2 seed. Just a point up on Buffalo who got a career best four goals from returning sniper Thomas Vanek in a 5-2 win that finally solved Ottawa, the Devils host the Sabres for the spot. All they need is a point while the Sabres must win in regulation. Meanwhile, the Senators are locked into the five and will face the Pens for the third time in four years. Regardless of what Boston does today in a meaningless exhibition on NBC instead of high drama (hint hint), they’re the No.6 seed and can play either the Devils or Sabres.

As for Les Habitants, they got a goal and two assists from top defenseman Andrei Markov, who was the best player on either side. Ex-Devils Brian Gionta (28th goal) and Scott Gomez (2 assists) each contributed- helping their new team return to the playoffs. I guess you can say ex-GM Bob Gainey’s madness worked out even if Mike Cammalleri remained ice cold with Jean-Sebastien Giguere silencing him. The former Duck Cup hero was pretty good finishing with 34 saves.

The Canadiens got the jump when Markov pounced on a loose puck and sent a backhand off a Leaf at 6:14. Despite a large edge in play, they couldn’t add more. Instead, Christian Hanson scored the first of two tying it less than three minutes later. Gionta put his team back ahead with a power play goal, steering home a pass from who else but Gomez into an open side. Markov added an assist for his second point.

Everytime these two classic Original Sixes meet, the games are usually back and forth with extras. In fact, five of six were decided by a goal this season. So, it was little surprise that the Leafs playing for nothing else but pride came back three times to tie it. Rookie Viktor Stalberg knotted it at two when he took a Tyler Bozak feed and beat Jaroslav Halak upstairs. The Leafs had some chances to go ahead but couldn’t get one past Halak, who fought the puck all night. Knowing what was at stake, the Canadiens responded thanks to a Gomez faceoff win resulting in Marc-Andre Bergeron’s bomb off a Markov cross pass, reclaiming a 3-2 lead with 1:37 left in the second. They’d take it to the locker room.

With a chance to extend it thanks to a Colton Orr rough, instead the Habs allowed a tying shorthanded goal to Hanson. Taking a John Mitchell feed at center, he broke in from the left and fooled Halak with a backhand over his glove. In an exciting period that saw the clubs combine for 23 shots, there were some anxious moments. Each had chances to surge ahead but both netminders did the job. The final few minutes of regulation saw the Leafs buzz to nervous whistles from the Bell Centre that knew what just making it to the buzzer meant for their team. To put it frankly, the Habs hung on for dear life. When the buzzer sounded, you could hear collective exhales.

In OT, it didn’t take long for the Leafs to end another disappointing season on a higher note when Hanson found a cutting Dion Phaneuf for a gimme at 2:06. In a classy gesture, both clubs remained on the ice to congratulate 25-year vet ref Dan Marouelli on his final game. Also HNIC’s PJ Stock noted that in what possibly was Mike Modano’s final game at where it all started, he donned a vintage Minnesota North Stars jersey to loud cheers in St. Paul. What a cool moment. Congrats also to Steven Stamkos who becomes the third youngest player to ever score 50 netting a pair along with the shootout winner in a 4-3 home win over the Panthers. And finally, Henrik Sedin notched four assists to leap frog Alexander Ovechkin for the Art Ross lead with 112 points (29-83-112). His regular season is done while Ovie’s concludes against the B’s. Henrik leads 112-109. Great stuff.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Scott Gomez, Mtl (2 assists, 4 SOG in 21:50)
2nd Star-Christian Hanson, Tor (2 goals incl.SHG plus assist)
1st Star-Andrei Markov, Mtl (11th of season, 2 assists, 2 SOG, +1 in 25:01)

EASTERN PLAYOFF PICTURE

+1.Capitals 81 GP 120 Pts
*2.Devils 81 GP 101 Pts
*3.Sabres 81 GP 100 Pts
*4.Penguins 81 GP 99 Pts
*5.Senators 82 GP 94 Pts
*6.Bruins 81 GP 89 Pts
*7.Canadiens 82 GP 88 Pts
8.Flyers 81 GP 86 Pts
_______________________
9.Rangers 81 GP 86 Pts

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Bruins clinch thanks to NHL record

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Derek

One more team is in the Big Dance. Thanks to an unlikely NHL record, the Bruins clinched a playoff spot by posting a hard fought 4-2 win over the Hurricanes at TD Garden this afternoon. The two points give them 89 points with one more game tomorrow versus the Caps. They can finish either sixth or seventh pending tonight’s Leafs-Habs Hockey Night In Canada clash. Montreal needs at least a point to wrap up a spot.

Claude Julien’s club dominated the first half of the game, taking it to a Carolina club playing its final game and looking ready for a Par 4 course. Despite 18 first period shots with many quality chances, the Bruins couldn’t solve Cam Ward. Amazingly, a late Matt Hunwick minor for hooking proved pivotal. With 1:42 left on the penalty, Boston did the unthinkable- scoring three consecutive shorthanded goals in a 64-second span to set an NHL record. Daniel Paille got the bizarre sequence started by taking a Zdeno Chara feed and beating Ward down low at 32 seconds. Just 49 ticks later, David Krejci set up Blake Wheeler for No.2. With the crowd in a frenzy including quirky NESN play-by-play man Jack Edwards, Steve Begin set the record when he took a great Dennis Wideman outlet and went five-hole only 15 seconds later.

Never before had that happened. When the Bruins needed it most, they delivered one of the greatest NHL moments, which ultimately sealed the postseason. It still didn’t come easy with the pesky Canes chipping away thanks to goals from Erik Cole via backhand wrap and Pat Dwyer less than three minutes apart to cut the margin to one. With time winding down in the crazy second, they came close to tying it. It would be a sign of things to come. An even nuttier play took place which could’ve cost Boston in the third. After failing on one power play, a delayed call for a second saw them accidentally miss a shot wide. The puck caromed off the boards past everyone headed to the vacant net. Yes. It looked like they were screwed. However, their heart and soul Patrice Bergeron made a great hustle play skating hard to just get his stick on it to sweep it away at the last second. An outstanding play by a guy who always gives the effort. Following a brief review which confirmed miraculous save, he got a great reception. It’s players like Bergeron and Krejci that have stepped up minus offensive leader Marc Savard, who is expected to miss the first round.

With the B’s sitting back, the Canes didn’t go away outshooting them 8-5. They forced rookie Tuukka Rask to make a couple of tricky saves. Overall, the outstanding 23 year-old Finn they stole from the Leafs for Andrew Raycroft finished with 33 saves, improving to 22-12-5 with a 1.97 GAA, .931 save percentage and five shutouts. The Calder likely is going to Jimmy Howard. Would either rook be a Vezina candidate? Unlikely with Ryan Miller and Ilya Bryzgalov the co-leaders with Martin Brodeur, Evgeni Nabokov, Jaroslav Halak and Henrik Lundqvist all in the mix. In 45 games (39 starts), Rask leads the league in GAA and save percentage. Awfully hard to ignore considering that he supplanted last year’s Vezina winner Tim Thomas and got the league’s lowest scoring offense into the playoffs.

For Boston, they can breathe easier and watch the Canadiens tonight and Flyers and Rangers following their game to see who winds up heart broken. They earned it.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Tuukka Rask, Bos (33 saves for 22nd win)
2nd Star-Cam Ward, Car (38 saves incl. 33/36 first 2 periods)
1st Star-Daniele Paille–Blake Wheeler–Steve Begin, Bos (NHL record 3 SHG in 64 seconds)

UPDATED EASTERN PLAYOFF STANDINGS

+1.Caps 120 Pts
*2.Devils 99 Pts
&3.Sabres 98 Pts
*4.Pens 99 Pts
*5.Sens 94 Pts
*6.Bruins 89 Pts
7.Habs 87 Pts
8.Flyers 86 Pts
________________
9.Rangers 86 Pts

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