At last, we arrive at the coda of the 2011-12 NHL season, the NHL Awards. The National Hockey League will spend the next few hours cringing at terrible jokes, raising an eyebrow just what Steven Stamkos is wearing, and hoping a Real Housewife doesn’t butcher another poor hockey player’s name. (Seriously, “Mar-TEN Saint Louissss” still rings in my ears to this day.)

The NHL Awards will air on NBC Sports Network starting at 7pm ET/6pm CT, and I’ll be here, live blogging the entire thing.

So grab your drink and pull up a seat. It’s going to be another long night.

All times in the liveblog are listed in CT. Newest posts will be on top.

» Continue reading “Kat Live Blogs The NHL Awards 2012!”

After 45 years of futility, a new team will be inscribed on the Cup. The Los Angeles Kings completed their improbable journey tonight, winning over the New Jersey Devils and hoisting the Stanley Cup for the first time ever.

Unfortunately, this game probably won’t be remembered so much for the Kings finally finishing off an amazing, historical run — but for Steve Bernier delivering this hit on Rob Scuderi.

The resulting five-minute power play from this disturbing hit resulted in three goals for the Kings. Gee, maybe now that a terrible boarding has resulted in a team losing the Stanley Cup, maybe players will stop doing it.

Jeff Carter scored the second goal in the five-minute power play and then increased the lead to 4-0 early in the second period. Adam Henrique then put the Devils on the board with 1:13 left in the second. Two quick goals later in the third, and the Kings were up 6-1, which would be the final score.

Not surprisingly, Jonathan Quick was named the Conn Smythe winner as MVP of the playoffs.

Congratulations to Captain Dustin Brown and the rest of the Kings! Now maybe the Los Angeles sports media will finally get your names and logos right.

For all of your Los Angeles Kings needs, please visit The Kings and I here on Aerys Sports!

In just a few days from now, the Los Angeles Kings and the New Jersey Devils will play for the most coveted trophy in hockey, the Stanley Cup.

We are in for an entertaining series because we have two caliber goalies involved in the finals. Brodeur, who is at the end of his career, and Quick, who could break the records that Brodeur holds with the talent he’s shown so far.

The reason why I’m pointing out the goalies and the numbers is because as a pitcher I stress the earn run average that goes on record for every pitcher in baseball and with the goalies its about the goals against average.

Steven Stamkos scored 60 goals but the tampa bay lightning missed the playoffs. Why? Because the Lightning had given up the most goals against with 281. the lightning finished over 500 but they still had a worse goals against number than the columbus blue jackets who only won 29 games to the lightning’s 38 wins. these numbers make me cringe as a fan because of my pitcher instinct about ERA numbers.

With that, I will breakdown the numbers between Jonathan Quick and Martin Brodeur.
Quick has a goals against average of 1.54 with a save percentage of .946 and 12 wins during the playoffs and they are all the best among goalies during the playoffs but on the other side is future hall of famer martin Brodeur who basically has every goalie record there is.

Brodeur’s numbers is similar to Quick’s during the playoffs with a goals against average of 2.04, save percentage of .923 and he also have 12 wins but Brodeur has been doing this type of thing for the devils since 1993.

What it all comes down to it is this: Jonathan Quick’s numbers vs. Martin brodeur’s experience. Which will win out?

Add in guys like Zach Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk, Patrik Elias and Adam Henrique for the devils and Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown, Dustin Penner and Mike Richards for the kings, this will be one fun finale for the NHL this year. We can only hope that we will have one next year and not head for a lockout with the CBA coming up for negotiations this summer.

Jesus Christ, again? (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

This will not be your typical recap, because this was not your typical game. Well, actually.

By all rhyme and reason, this was your average New Jersey game. They obtained a two-goal lead by absolutely dominating the first, then blew it by allowing the Rangers to gather momentum after a rush on the power play. The second and third periods belonged to the Rangers, but it wasn’t enough to get the puck past Brodeur.

The game went to overtime. Devils fans clutched at their hearts and poked needles into their voodoo dolls of the year 1994.

The game went to overtime, but our rookie won it for us this time. 1:03 into the extra period. Adam Henrique, doing it again. The final score: 3-2.

» Continue reading “Devils Advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, Defeat Rangers in the ECF 4-2″

Travis Zajac and Ryan Carter celebrate the tie game goal (The Star-Ledger)

The New Jersey Devils came flying on the ice and dominated Game 2 to even up the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Rangers.

The Devils had total domination of the first period both offensively and defensively.  Ilya Kovalchuk scored first on a PPG for New Jersey to take a 1-0 lead going into the first intermission.

Rangers had some domination in the second period.  Defenseman Marc Staal tied the game up in the second period, and rookie center Chris Kreider put New York ahead 2-1 on a PPG.  Travis Zajac was sent to the box for a 2minute interference penalty that led to the goal.

Ryan Carter tied the game up for the Devils with two minutes left in the second period and David Clarkson put the Devils ahead for good two minutes into the third.

Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur saved 23 of 25 shots and was unbelieveable.  He made a huge save off a Marion Gaborik shot that could have potentially put the Rangers back in the game.

“He’s calm, cool, and collected,”  said Devils rookie center Adam Henrique of Brodeur.  ”He plays the same way.  When he speaks up everybody pays attention.  He’s our leader.  He’s been in a lot of these playoff runs and everyone looks up to him.”

Rangers’s goaltender Henrik Lundqvist also had a very solid performance and saved 24 of 27 shots by the Devils.

The Devils weren’t able to beat Lundqvist with just simple shots.  Carter’s goal was a deflection off a shot by Bryce Salvador and Clarkson’s off an Henrique shot.  Getting creative with goals was the only way the Devils were able to get the puck in the goal past Lundqvist.

“Henrique shoots it and I’m trying to get a stick on it,”  said Clarkson on his goal.  ”I think as a team we needed to get the puck more on the net.  [Lundqvist] is one of the best goalies in the league for a reason and we needed to find a way to screen him.”

The Devils also worked more on faking shots to move Rangers defensemen out of the way of blocking shots rather than attempted to go around.

The series now moves to New Jersey on Saturday where both the Devils and the Rangers will fight to take a series lead.

Round two of the Stanley Cups Playoffs has started, and the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers begin their series today.

The Devils appeared in the playoffs 14 times in the last 15 seasons.  They missed last year after they started the regular season dreadfully, made a miracle run, but just came up short.

The Devils were the six seed going into the playoffs this year and were favored to defeat the three seated Florida Panthers.

The Devils led all of the NHL in powerplay kills during the regular season, killing 89.6%.  Their powerplay in the playoffs so far, however, was shaky.  They gave up nine goals against the Panthers and need to work on their PP kill against the Flyers.

The Devils during the regular season were the only team with three 30 goal scorers.  Ilya Kovalchuk led the team with 37 followed by Captain Zach Parise with 31 and David Clarkson with 30.  Two players also had 20+ goals in Patrik Elias (26) and Petr Sykora (21).

So far in the playoffs Kovalchuk and Travis Zajac are leading the Devils with three goals each, and Parise, Elias, Steve Bernier, Stephen Gionta, and the rookie Adam Henrique each have two goals a piece.  Both goals for Henrique came in game seven, the second was the game winner in double overtime.

Martin Brodeur had an up-and-down series against the Panthers and was pulled from game three after giving up three quick goals.  After that game he seemed unstoppable.  He shut the Panthers out in game four for his record breaking 24th career playoff shut out, and was rock solid in game seven to help the Devils move on to the second round.

Brodeur was 1-3 vs. the Flyers in the regular season.

Claude Giroux was an MVP for the Flyers throughout the regular season.  He was third in the NHL with 93 points, and has not slowed down in the playoffs.  He scored six goals, provided eight assists, and collected 14 points against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Danny Briere has also been a great asset for the Flyers scoring five goals.  He also has 104 career postseason points.  Max Talbot and the rookie Sean Couturier have three goals each.

Despite being an offensive force against the Penguins, they struggled a lot defensively.  They allowed 26 goals.  10 goals were given up in game four alone.  21 were given up by Flyers starting goalie Ilya Bryzgalov.

Bryzgalov had an up-and-down regular season, but had a good series against the Devils.  He went 3-0, and two of his six regular season shut outs were against New Jersey.

The Flyers barley won the series against the Devils in the regular season, posting a 3-2-1 record, and only outscored New Jersey 18-15.

Expect Giroux and Kovalchuk to be the stars of this series.  Giroux had four goals and three assists against the Devils this year, but Kovalchuk answered with two goals and six assists against Philly.

It’s going to be an offensive battle between the two teams this series and will be an exciting one.

My prediction:  Devils in seven.

Getty Images

The New Jersey Devils eliminated the Florida Panthers from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a thrilling Game 7.

Rookie center Adam Henrique scored both the first and final goals for the Devils.  They were his first two career playoff goals.  The first was a shot off Anton Volchenkov that deflected off Henrique’s stick and the second was the game winner in double overtime.

Stephen Gionta scored the second goal for the Devils in the second period.

The true stud of the game was the play of Martin Brodeur.  He gained his 103rd career playoff victory and collected  43 saves.  Brodeur had a huge save with 17 seconds left in regulation when he stopped a shot off Kris Versteeg with his glove.

The Panthers seemed to be asleep for most of the game, and it took them until the third period to realize it was Game 7 on home ice.  They outshot the Devils in the third 19-6 and evened the score with 16 minutes left in regulation.  But it wasn’t enough.

Now the Devils head to Philadelphia to face the Flyers in a best of seven series.  The schedule is as follows:

Game 1:  New Jersey at Philadelphia, Sun. April 29th 3:00pm (NBC)
Game 2:  New Jersey at Philadelphia, Tue.  May 1st 7:30pm (NBCSN)
Game 3:  Philadelphia at New Jersey, Thu.  May 3rd 7:30pm (NBCSN)
Game 4:  Philadelphia at New Jersey, Sun.  May 6th 7:30pm (NBCSN)
Game 5:  New Jersey at Philadelphia, Tue.  May 8th TBD
Game 6:  Philadelphia at New Jersey, Thu.  May 10th TBD
Game 7:  New Jersey at Philadelphia, Sat.  May 12th TBD

Claude Giroux was without a doubt the MVP for the Flyers, who defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.

Both the Flyers and the Devils are coming off wild first round play, most especially the Flyers whose series with the Penguins seemed like non-stop fighting arena.

Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, like the regular season, started off the first round very shaky and inconsistent.  He seemed to get it together in the last few games.  The Devils will need to jump on him early in the series and get a lot of pucks in the goal in order to break him.

This Stanley Cup playoff may or may not be the final run for the veteran Brodeur.  He turns 40 on May 6th.  He was a dominate force for the Devils in the first round, but at the same time is showing that he is not the same goalie he has been in the past.

If this is Brodeur’s last season, he certainly is trying to go out with a bang.

"Goal!" ... "Psych!" Sorry, dude. (photo: kkthemook/flickr)

3-2 was the final score tonight after eighty-three minutes and forty-seven seconds of play; the score favoured the Devils, who move on to face Philadelphia in the second round.

Rookie Adam Henrique opened the scoring for New Jersey early in the first period and only seconds later, John Madden and Tomas Kopecky collided, leaving Madden on the ground bleeding and agonizing on the ice. He managed to leave the ice and the game and came back mere minutes later.

Stephen Gionta extended the Devils’ lead to two midway in the second period.

Going into (what’s supposed to be) the final frame with a 2-0 deficit, Florida knew they needed to turn the game around, fast.

Just under two minutes into the third, Mike Weaver’s shot made it past Martin Brodeur, but the goal was waved off when it was decided that Shawn Matthias was interfering with Brodeur. 5:02 into the period, Florida was on the good end of a 4-on-3 that let Stephen Weiss slap one past Brodeur off a past from Brian Campbell. Florida came close to tying it moments later, but it wasn’t until late in the third that the Panthers managed to balance the score. Marek Zidlicky was sent to the penalty box at 16:12 for delaying the game and twenty seconds later, Sean Bergenheim’s shot was stopped by Brodeur before rolling out to Marcel Goc, who swooped in and netted the rebound with 3:28 left in the third.

One overtime wasn’t enough to determine tonight’s winner (or this morning’s, if you’re on the East coast), but early in the second extra frame, Adam Henrique’s wrist shot made it past Jose Theodore to end the game, and the series.

Better luck next year, eh Florida?