The NHL playoffs continue with great hockey and no fisticuffs. With the exception of a brief dust up between Adam Henrique and Ryan McDonagh on Monday night, no one had dropped the gloves since May 6th.

Fighting isn’t the only thing that makes the game worth watching, of course. I would be lying if I didn’t enjoy seeing players drop the gloves from time to time.

The good news for our Friday get togethers is that the AHL playoffs have continued to see some donnybrooks.

From the Toronto Marlies and Oklahoma City Barons series, Will Acton & Korbinia Holzer vs Tanner House & Tristan Grant:

» Continue reading “Friday Fisticuffs: AHL Playoff Scraps”

It looks like the League was facing a conundrum. On the one hand, they desperately want a New York-LA Finals. On the other hand, once they saw that the Kings wouldn’t sweep the Coyotes, they knew that they would make mad scrilla if they could hold another game at Staples (especially with both basketball teams ignominiously eliminated (go Thunder!)). This is my best explanation for why the Coyotes got 3 penalties in the first period of game 5.*

*On a side note, this is pretty good proof that the guy in charge of NHL conspiracies doesn’t pay much attention to stats, since anyone who spent 20 seconds looking at them would realize the Kings actually score MORE on the PK.

That, or the weirdly lazy way the Kings kept getting caught out of position, allowing multiple odd man rushes and being forced to commit penalties to make up for it. It’s only through the grace of, you guessed it, Jonny Quick that the Kings weren’t losing worst after the first.
» Continue reading “Coyotes Eliminated”

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.

Umm… how do I say this with the least amount of pain? I guess it’s like a Band-Aid and you just have to rip it off.

The Preds fell in Game 5 to the Phoenix Coyotes in a 2-1 game.

Okay no, that still hurt. No more ripping off bad news like Band-Aids.

I know hopes were high for this game. We had Radulov and Kostitsyn back in the line up and Phoenix was missing one of their top D-men, Klesla. Coach Trotz kept the anticipation up for the crowd, throwing together seemingly random lineups for each period to see who might give the Predators the right opportunity for scoring.

Can I just say it was interesting to watch Sergei Kostitsyn play on the fourth line? I mean what the what? He’s been on the first line for what seems like forever!

Line changes aside, Nashville brought the pressure tonight, outshooting the ‘Yotes 33-17. The Preds even managed to keep the penalty count down to one in this game! Did anyone know that could actually happen? But even with all the awesomeness from the team in the first period, they just couldn’t hold on for a Game 6.

The second period was all Phoenix. Derek Morris took home the first goal of the night four minutes in, going five hole after a teammate took a breakaway attempt. Martin Hanzel was up next on the board, again going five hole on Rinne with five minutes left in the period.

While Nashville had plenty of chances to score in both the first and second periods, their time didn’t come until the third with Colin Wilson. Wilson had his first playoff goal tonight on a tip-in from David Legwand, keeping the Preds from being shut out in their final game this season.

Well Predators, we’ve had a good run. I know I stand with you through good or bad and I already can’t wait for the new season to start! Let’s Go Preds!

The New Jersey Devils approached game four of the Eastern Conference Semifinals flying out of the gate and defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2.

The Flyers seemed to have control at the start of the game scoring two quick goals off Scott Hartnell on a powerplay at 11:50 and Claude Giroux at 13:40 on a Devils powerplay.

But as the Devils have continuously proved throughout this series, they didn’t stop.  Petr Sykora responded by giving the Devils thier first goal at 15:14 and and Marek Zidlicky tied the game up at 18:09.  They outshot the Flyers 43-22 on the night.

Dainius Zubrus scored both of the Devils final goals to insure the victory for New Jersey.

Martin Brodeur saved 20 out of 22 shots.  Thought didn’t see a lot of shots on goal during the second and third periods, but when he did he was lights out.  What a way for the veteran goalie to celebrate his 40th birthday!

Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov allowed four goals on 42 shots.

Zubrus took a shot to the head from Giroux at the end of the second period.  Zubrus left to the Devils lockeroom and returned to the game in the third period.  Giroux received a penalty for an illegal check and could possibly face discipline from the league.

With the way Brendan Shanahan has been handing out suspensions, it is possible Giroux will be punished in some way.

The Devils will now look to clinch the semifinals on Flyers ice to move onto the Eastern Conference finals against either the Washington Capitals or the New York Rangers.  That  series is currently tied at two games a piece.

Playoff hockey is one of the best things in the world. You know it’s true. Even when your team isn’t involved, you can’t help but get fired up. The teams are going all out and the games keep getting better each night.

One thing playoff hockey is not good for is fights. As the post season goes along, the fights get fewer and farther between. Seriously. It had been a whole week between dropping of the gloves.

Today’s fight comes courtesy of the Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues:

 

The immediate thought is this: how awesome is it that the Kings have a player named King on their roster?

In the 20th overtime of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the New Jersey Devils took a 2-1 series lead over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Alexei Ponikarovsky was sent a brilliant pass from Ilya Kovalchuk for the shot on goal.  The first shot bounced off Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov and Ponikarovsky rebounded for the game winner.

The Flyers committed to a change that cost them the game.  When Kovalchuk nearly turned the puck over, the two Flyers rookies headed to the bench for a change.  It led to an open lane to Ponikarovsky, and that’s all she wrote.

The Devils were brilliant in overtime killing off two powerplays to keep them alive.  This was their fourth overtime game so far in the 2012 playoffs and they have been successful in three.  Their only overtime loss came in game one of this series.

The Flyers drew first blood when Brayden Schenn scored on a powerplay.  The Devils gained a powerplay later in the period where Patrik Elias tied the game.  Twenty seconds later Kovalchuk gave New Jersey the lead.

Matt Carle tied the game up with a goal in the second period, but Devils Captain Zach Parise netted a goal to regain the lead in the third.  That lead would not last long when Danny Briere tied the game up to keep the Flyers alive.

Kovalchuk missed game 2 of this series with a lower body injury, but provided two assists and a goal.  One of the assists was in aide for the game winner.

Devils goalie Martin Brodeur saved 25 of 28 shots on goal.  Brodeur was very shaky and the goals that the Flyers scored were too easy for them.  Luckily, the Devils had an offense on fire to keep New Jersey in the game.

The Devils will approach game 4 on Sunday looking to take a 3-1 series lead on home ice.

 

It is decided. The Predators need to score the first goal if they want to win. It happened with the Detroit series and it seems to be happening with Phoenix. Or maybe it was the absence of Alex Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn. Whatever the case is, something lit a fire under the Preds tonight to go after a 2-0 win, making the series 2-1.

The first period saw Nashville dominating with pucks being shot at Mike Smith like nobody’s business. The magic all started eight minutes in when David Legwand sent home a beauty off of a pass from Bourque on a wide open net. Smith had gone to play the puck like he so often does, forcing himself to make a diving attempt to save the shot. No such luck boy! Just sixty-six seconds later, Mike Fisher attempted to pass the puck back to Sergei Kostitsyn, but hit Smith’s stick instead and redirected into the net for the second and last goal of the night.

What would have made this victory just a little sweeter: not having a “no goal” call. The puck had gone under an outstretched Smith and into the net, but the refs lost sight of the puck, and so, no goal.

» Continue reading “Predators’ Rinne Shuts Out The ‘Yotes 2-0″

The Coyotes took home their second win in the series tonight with what was excellent play by the ‘Yotes and what could be called… lackluster play by the Preds.

Despite Phoenix losing Klesla less than thirty seconds into the game, the Coyotes managed to put a goal on the board eight and a half minutes into play. Vermette took the puck to the far side of the net from the rest of the players in the zone, throwing Rinne off for the wrist shot. But Nashville tied it up with three minutes left in the period, with Andrei Kostitsyn faking right with the puck then taking it home to the left in a nice open spot.

Who all went and grabbed the snackage for the second period, cause I know I was stress eating like a fool here! Less than four minutes in Martin Hanzal broke the tie for Phoenix and three minutes later, we had the drama of the Coyotes taking the puck from by their own net all the way to Rinne with Vrbata taking his second goal of the series. But did the scoring party end there? No it did not. Patric Hornqvist brought Nashville within one of Phoenix with a power play goal eleven minutes in, rocketing the puck in off a pass from Suter.

» Continue reading “Preds Fall To ‘Yotes, Now 0-2 For Series”

At the start of the game, the Devils seemed to have full domination.  At the end of the game, the Flyers had complete control.

The New Jersey Devils are down 1-0 against the Philadelphia Flyers in a best of seven series in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  They lost 4-3 in overtime.

The Devils had a fast start to the game when they led 1-0 in the first period thanks to a Zach Parise goal.  Travis Zajac and Petr Sykora also added goals to the game and Martin Brodeur made 32 saves on 36 shots.

The Flyers nearly won the game early into overtime, but it was called off when replays showed Danny Briere making a kicking motion to put the puck in the goal.  Briere wouldn’t be denied a second time after he scored the official game winner for the Flyers.

Briere also scored the first goal for the Flyers in the second period.  Claude Giroux netted a powerplay goal and James van Riemsdyk contributed to the Flyers score.

The Flyers hadn’t played a game since they eliminated the Pittsburgh Penguins exactly seven days ago, and at the start of the game it looked it.  They started to be more aggressive toward the end of the first period, and came flying out in the second and didn’t look back.

The Devils play the rest of the game became very sloppy and they committed too many turnovers that ultimately led to more opportunities for the Flyers.

Brodeur made some extraordinary stops throughout the game, but he is not the same leak-proof goalie he was over the years and let a few pucks pass him.

Ilya Kovalchuk seemed to be asleep throughout the game and his defense was no better.

For the Devils to take control of this series, they will need to win game two to even it up and take advantage on home ice.  If they play like they did in the first period, then they are still in this series.  If they play like they did in the second and third, then they won’t get far.