Tag Archives: 2008 NHL Playoffs

Next: Game 5, Saturday, Philadelphia at Montreal

Posted on May 2, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

MontrealCanadiensNextGoaliePlease Next: Game 5, Saturday, Philadelphia at Montreal

No Further Comment Necessary.

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Sean Avery is funny (and yeah, he probably deserves a misconduct)

Posted on April 14, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

SeanAveryAndElishaCuthbert Sean Avery is funny (and yeah, he probably deserves a misconduct)As reported in the last blog, I didn’t watch the Rangers-Devils game on Sunday, preferring to watch the Habs and Bruins, instead. As a result, I didn’t see Sean Avery’s shenanigans until well into the evening.

Wasn’t that a piece of work?  

CHICKS DIG HIM - Sean Avery with former squeeze, Canadian actress Elisha Cuthbert

On 92-CITI-FM on Monday morning, Tom, Joe and I had a good laugh over Avery’s face-to-face "screening" of Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, but that didn’t seem to be the feeling of the hockey experts on TSN. Those boys wanted the NHL to change its rules to allow the officials to call a misconduct penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Well, talk about the power of TSN. By last night’s pre-game show, the NHL had changed its rules and told its officials to call a two-minute minor on any player who does what Avery did to Brodeur. Have a look…

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=j1GW7hcpnoE]

When you watch the replay, it’s more fun to watch referee Don Van Massenhoven than Avery. To his credit, Van Massenhoven thought Avery’s actions were low-class, but nowhere in the rule book (on Sunday night, at least), did it say there should be a penalty called on Avery for being a goof. So Van Massenhoven essentially allowed Brodeur to do whatever he wanted to the Rangers’ super pest and it was kind of fun watching Avery flinch when Brodeur caught him in the nuts with his stick.

Frankly, I still don’t understand why a Devils defenceman didn’t drill Avery into the second row, but I guess they figured Brodeur could handle things himself.

Last night, TSN interviewed a number of NHL players and asked them what they thought of Avery’s screening methods. Most laughed.

"I thought it was great," said San Jose’s Joe Thornton, almost in tears with laughter. "It was innovative."

Give Thornton credit. He got the joke.

Sidney Crosby took it so seriously he got kind of whiney. Marc-Andre Fleury was so shocked, he had trouble coming up with the correct English phrases. Mike Komarisek essentially said, "Consider the source."

Indeed. My good friend, Doug Orr (Colton’s dad), laughs every time the conversation turns to "What do you think of Sean Avery?"

"Personally, I like him," Doug said, "but he’s crazy."

Indeed. Sean Avery is crazy. Oh yeah, and his history would suggest that chicks dig him.

However, as low end as his little screening adventure was, it was also funny. And hockey can’t be hurt by the occasional bit of "funny."

Yeah, it should be a penalty. And yeah, I suppose it’s not particularly good for the game, but it was as entertaining as hell and in the United States, hockey could really use a good dose of entertaining every now and again.

Not everybody in the U.S. who buys a hockey ticket understands the subtlety of that great pass by Dennis Wideman in Boston on Sunday or appreciates the beauty of one of those Red Wings’ Euro-rushes we saw last night in Nashville.

Until they do, the clown prince of hockey, Sean Avery, always seems to put on a pretty interesting show. Frankly, for the good of the game, he’s probably better off out of the penalty box than in it.

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I took my time to write this: Referees drive me nuts – Game 2: Minnesota 3 Colorado 2 (OT)

Posted on April 12, 2008 by Scott Taylor| 2 Comments

As a broken-down old newspaper columnist, I must admit that I find myself worshipping at the altar of the blog.

In the newspaper dodge, if you’re covering an event, you often find yourself on deadline, rushing to get the news out the other end of your laptop so the editor can butcher it and get it into print eight hours later.

Everyone has read copy from an otherwise terrific reporter that appears senseless and garbled because it arrived on deadline and the copy editors were either too stressed, too stupid or too lazy to make sense of it. That’s when reporters get their e-mail inboxes clogged with missives from readers that say, "Were you even at that game, you f*$*%#&g moron?!?"

It’s embarrassing and avoidable, but those of us who have been in the business understand that editors are like sports referees: they have authority and power, but sometimes you just can’t understand how they got their jobs.

And that’s why I waited 10 hours to write this post. I wanted to tap into the luxury of the blog. Nobody said I had to file it right after the game so as I watched the conclusion of Game 2 of the Minnesota-Colorado series on Friday night, I wanted to watch all the replays, listen to all the commentary and then, do it all over again in the morning.

My concern centered around two plays. A late penalty to Minnesota’s  Kim Johnsson with less two minutes remaining and the winning goal by Keith Carney – or allegedly, the winning goal by Keith Carney.

The Wild were leading 2-1, when the official (who shall remain nameless), called a hooking penalty on Johnsson. It was obviously not hooking by any definition, and thankfully, eagle-eyed commentator Darren Pang, on the TSN desk, made it clear that the offended, Ryan Smyth of the Avs, actually fell over the goal stick of Minnesota netminder Niklas Backstrom. It was, in fact, a dreadful call, left the Wild with four skaters to Colorado’s six and eventually resulted in Milan Hejduk’s tying goal.

The most annoying thing about any sporting event is when a bad call has an affect on the outcome. It makes the game look scripted. It’s an embarrassment.

In this case, it appeared to happen a second time, only on this occasion, to the benefit of the Wild.

In every replay I saw, Keith Carney’s slapshot that went past Jose Theodore, deflected off the skate of Brian Rolston, not off the skate of Colorado defenceman Ruslan Salei. In fact, commentator Pierre McGuire believed it might have been re-directed by Rolston and shouldn’t have counted. It looked pretty shaky, but in this case, the official went upstairs, got the green light from the video booth and the goal stood.

Perhaps it was the hockey gods. Perhaps they knew the penalty to Johnsson was just a horrible call at a very bad time in what was otherwise, a great hockey game. Perhaps someone or something divine just decided to even things up.

Whatever. On this night, the better team won – although that’s not to say the Wild are the "best" team in the series – and every one in St. Paul went home happy.

But sadly, a bad call at an odd time, made a great game look phoney. We all make mistakes, but sometimes you just have to wonder.

By the way, in four years at the National Post, I’ve had one angry e-mail — from a St. Mary’s University football fan who didn’t think the Vanier Cup champion University of Manitoba Bisons were as good as I’d suggested. Those are "good" angry e-mails.

I guess, to no one’s surprise, I’m now working with the best referees in the newspaper game.

And, to be fair, by the time we get to the Conference finals, we’ll be watching the best referees in hockey.

Frankly, I just feel better this morning. I feel better that I didn’t sit down at my computer last night, seconds after that awful call on Johnsson, and started to rant like a lunatic. It’s the beauty of the blog. You have time to sit back and take a measured look.

Although I’ve been noticing that a lot of us don’t.

Minnesota vs Colorado Game 2 highlights below – including that goal.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj36zqGTIdM]

 

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Here’s to our local Manitoba boys in the Stanley Cup playoffs!

Posted on April 8, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

TylerArnason Heres to our local Manitoba boys in the Stanley Cup playoffs!If you’re a casual, or even regular, visitor to www.rivercitysports.com, you might not know – or care (we certainly understand that) – that River City Sports is a proud Winnipeg company.

OK, so we’re not particularly proud of the fact that Winnipeg gave up its beloved NHL franchise, but some things are out of our hands.

The fact remains, that here at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, we’re deeply proud of the hockey players who learned their craft in this province and we’re especially proud of the 14 players and one head coach who will participate in this spring’s Stanley Cup playoffs.

As the first round opens on Wednesday, April 9, we want to wish the best of luck to…

• Shane Hnidy of Neepawa, a defenceman with the Boston Bruins.
• Dustin Boyd of Winnipeg, a forward with the Calgary Flames.

Dustin Boyd Interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOKa10TNVQY&feature=related

• Tyler Arnason of Winnipeg (OK, so he was born in Oklahoma City, OK., when his dad, Chuck, played in the Central League, but he and his family are Winnipeggers) a forward with the Colorado Avalanche.
• Cody McLeod of Binscarth, a forward with the Colorado Avalanche.
• Derek Meech of Winnipeg, a defenceman with the Detroit Red Wings.
• Jordin Tootoo from Churchill, via Nunavut, via the Brandon Wheat Kings who lives in Winnipeg and is a forward with the Nashville Predators.
• Barry Trotz of Dauphin, head coach of the Nashville Predators.
• Travis Zajac of Winnipeg, a forward with the New Jersey Devils.

Travis Zajac Goal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2WJm5Ru-MQ

ArronAsham Heres to our local Manitoba boys in the Stanley Cup playoffs!• Arron Asham of Portage, a forward with the New Jersey Devils.
• Bryce Salvador of Brandon, a defenceman with the New Jersey Devils.
• Nigel Dawes of Winnipeg, a forward with the New York Rangers.

Nigel Dawes goal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ7hDFSdsfM&NR=1

• Colton Orr of Winnipeg, a forward with the New York Rangers and a recent winner of the Players’ Player Award in New York.

Orr-Cote Fight
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tS8EaB9SSzU

• Riley Cote of Winnipeg, a forward with the Philadelphia Flyers.
• Jody Shelley of Thompson, a forward with the San Jose Sharks.
• Eric Fehr of Winkler, a forward with the Washington Capitals.

It wasn’t that long ago when there weren’t 14 players and a coach from Manitoba in the entire NHL. However, thanks to the wonderful programs run by Hockey Canada, Hockey Manitoba and the National Coaching Certification Program, the NHL is now loaded with Manitobans and we get to watch 14 of them play on the most important stage in the game – the Stanley Cup tournament.

If you happen to be in Manitoba this week, don’t forget to join two hockey dads, Lloyd Dawes and Doug Orr for their big parties at Boston Pizza. On Wednesday night, for the opener of the Rangers-Devils series, they’ll be at the Boston Pizza on McPhillips and on Friday night for Game 2, they’ll be at the Boston Pizza in St. Vital.

Manitoba has some great hockey memories and many more to come. Remember Teemu Selanne’s rookie goal record in Winnipeg? Watch it below and get excited all over again.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vtk6yVqDy3Q]
 

It’s Cup Time, it’s Winnipeg and while we don’t have the Jets to cheer for anymore – even though former Jets’ Teemu Selanne (Anaheim), Randy Carlyle (Anaheim’s head coach), Aaron Ward (Boston, the Jets No. 1 pick in 1991), Kris Draper (Detroit), Dallas Drake (Detroit), Paul MacLean (Detroit’s assistant coach) and Stu Barnes (Dallas) are all in this year’s playoffs – we do have plenty of local guys on the Road to the Stanley Cup.

Let’s party!
 

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It’s NHL playoff time: The only legitimate reason for living in a cold climate

Posted on April 6, 2008 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

Hockey fans, this is why we live. This is why we put up with snow in April. This is why we check our hockey pool numbers all winter long. This is why we have personal computers.

The 16-team Stanley Cup tournament begins Wednesday and it will no doubt provide us with the same number of upsets, surprises and thrills that it does every single spring.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=F36L5idlmQo]

After a year in which Alexander Ovechkin broke Luc Robitaille’s record for goals by a leftwinger with 65 (here’s Ovechkin’s 60th at http://youtube.com/watch?v=F36L5idlmQo); Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews broke into the Chicago lineup and, almost by themselves, rebuilt the franchise; Evgeni Malkin did everything the Penguins could ask after a nagging injury to Sidney Crosby; and the Montreal Canadiens regained the form that made them the most feared franchise in hockey in the 1970s, we’re now heading into a post-season in which absolutely anything can happen.

You have President’s Trophy-winning Detroit taking on the no-name Nashville Predators and while it looks like it could be a Red Wing romp – on paper, at least – the Preds played the Wings tough all season and know the playoffs aren’t decided on paper.

You have the slumping, injury riddled Ottawa Senators going at it with the gifted Pittsburgh Penguins and, without question, the Sens late-season collapse no longer matters, but a knee injury to captain Daniel Alfredsson does.

And you have the talented Calgary Flames, the only Canadian-based team in the Western Conference playoffs, up against the very talented San Jose Sharks — a team many think will win the Cup — in a series that will feature two of the game’s most controversial coaches, Ron Wilson in San Jose and Mike Keenan in Calgary.

The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is always the most intensely contested seven-game stretch of the year. Great teams are sometimes looking ahead to the next round – or the final round – while teams that have struggled all season and snuck into the playoffs have absolutely nothing to lose and tend to attack, all-out for 60 minutes every night.

Granted, the playoffs are a marathon, not a sprint, but a great team, playing its hardest with a red hot goalie, can make a marathon a mere 16 games long.

So who’s hot and who’s not? Which team will surprise? Which team will collapse? Which team will ride a hot goalie farther than anyone expected? Which team has the horses to win it all?

It’s going to be a great two months. Click the links below and let’s take a closer look…

2008 NHL Eastern Conference Playoff Predictions

2008 NHL Western Conference Playoff Predictions

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NHL Playoff Predictions – Eastern Conference

Posted on April 6, 2008 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

No. 1 MONTREAL CANADIENS  (47-25-10) vs. No. 8 BOSTON BRUINS (41-29-12)

Carey%20Price NHL Playoff Predictions Eastern ConferenceThese two teams have despised each other for nine decades and by the end of the opening round of the playoffs, that hatred will not have subsided.

This will be the 31st time the Canadiens and Bruins have met in the playoffs during their often-bitter 84-year rivalry. The Canadiens have won 23 of the 30 meetings so far. This series is such a big deal, Habs coach Guy Carbonneau met the Bruins 10 during his playing career with the Habs, a team that went 8-0 against Boston this season.
 
“It’s going to be a very intense series as it always is,” said Carbonneau yesterday. “Even though we played so well against Boston all season, anything can happen in the playoffs. Short series can be scary things. I can tell you, we are all looking forward to it, that’s for sure.”

The Canadiens outscored Boston 39-16 this season and Boston picked up only one points in eight meetings with Montreal – a 3-2 Habs shootout win on March 22.

Here’s an interesting thing to consider. When Neepawa’s Shane Hnidy showed up in a trade on Jan. 2, the Bruins started to play better defensive hockey. Boston went 23-13-8 down the stretch after playing the first three months with a mediocre 18-16-4 record.
 
As the Bruins defence improved, it’s play against Montreal improved, too. Despite an 8-2 blow-out on Jan. 22, the Bruins played three solid games with Montreal after Hnidy’s arrival.

The Habs play a lot like Detroit – big, European-style hockey, with crisp passing and plenty of speed. The grinding Bruins have to try to slow down the Canadiens in the neutral zone and not let them make that one extra pass they love so much.

And Tim Thomas, who has no games of playoff experience, has to play better than rookie Carey Price, otherwise…

Montreal in five games.

evgeni malkin NHL Playoff Predictions Eastern ConferenceNo. 2 PITTSBURGH  PENGUINS (47-27-8) vs. No. 7 OTTAWA SENATORS (43-31-8)

The Senators are struggling and have a number of serious injuries. The biggest one to captain Daniel Alfredsson, but injuries to forwards Mike Fisher and Chris Kelly are not to be discarded as meaningless.

None are expected to return at any time during the opening round and head coach and GM Bryan Murray said Sunday that he believes the injury situation will result in all the “so-called experts"  (that would include us, I guess) will all predict an easy Penguins victory.

“We don’t want to overplay the fact we have injuries,” said head coach and GM Bryan Murray on Saturday night. “We want to overplay the fact we have opportunities.”

Indeed, they do have opportunities, but against a very good Penguins team, a team that expects to have a healthy Sidney Crosby back for the first round, this is going to be a difficult assignment for the Sens.

It’s the second straight year in which the Penguins and Senators have met in the opening round and last year, Ottawa won the series in five games. (Thanks to our eagle-eyed readers for catching this mistake!)

This year it will be a different story, as the Pens boast a team loaded with offensive firepower – Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and of course a former Senator, Marian Hossa.

They also don’t have a goaltending problem (wonder how Ray Emery is feeling today) and while Marc-Andre Fleury might not be the best in the game, he always has Ty Conklin to bail him out.

Pittsburgh in six.  

No. 3 WASHINGTON CAPITALS (43-31-8) vs. No. 6 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (42-29-11)

All you need to say is “Alexander Ovechkin” and you’ve just about said it all. The Capitals superstar – and he is, indeed, a superstar – led the league in goals (Maurice Richard Trophy) with 65, points (Art Ross Trophy) with 112 and will probably win the Hart Trophy, emblematic of the league’s most valuable player.

alexander ovechkin NHL Playoff Predictions Eastern ConferenceBut the Caps also have Nicklas Backstrom, a sweet-playmaking centre who will be nominated for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year, Mike Green, the most under-rated forward in the East, and three more tremendous  Russians, Viktor Kozlov (like Ovechkin, a plus-28), Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Semin.

The cold war didn’t result in Russian planes bombing Washington; it resulted in Russian hockey stars bringing Washington to its feet.

The Caps head into the playoffs as the hottest team in the East. Washington has won seven straight and blown past the Carolina Hurricanes to claim the Southeast Division title.

Of course, that’s the real story. When Bruce Boudreau replaced Brandon’s Glen Hanlon as coach of the Caps on Nov. 22, Washington was 14 points behind the Hurricanes in the race for the Southeast Division lead. Saturday, with a big win over Forida, they not only caught Carolina, but passed them and earned the No. 3 seed. Caps goaltender Cristobal Huet won his ninth straight start on Saturday and i?n 13 starts since joining Washington, Huet is 11-2 with two shutouts, a 1.63 goals against average and a .936 save pct.

The Flyers, meanwhile, slumped through most of February and March but got their act together down the stretch. Philly finished the regular season with seven wins in its last nine games (7-1-1) and won the season with Washington (2-1-1).

Philadelphia did have more points than Washington (95-94) but the Caps have too much firepower and home ice advantage.

Washington in seven.

No. 4 NEW JERSEY DEVILS (46-29-7) vs. No. 5 NEW YORK RANGERS (42-27-12)

Yesterday, the Devils wrapped up the No. 4 spot in the East and gained home ice advantage in this series with a 3-2 shootout win over the visiting Rangers.

Now, to say the Devils won an important game and clinched home-ice is a big deal. But they were hardly dominant and that suggests this will be a very close series.

In fact, Martin Brodeur, who played 77 games this season and will probably win the Vezina Trophy and be nominated for the Hart Trophy as MVP, will be the most important player in this series.

The Rangers could very well have the better team, more scorers and more impressive offence (213 goals to 205 this season), but even though Henrik Lundqvist was one of the two top goalies in the East, the Broadway Blueshirts will have to find a way to overcome Brodeur, the best netminder in the game. How good is Brodeur when he’s on his game? Watch 10 of his best ever saves below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-3ziU0xJ3A]

Of course, the Rangers did it all year. Although every game was close, New York went 7-0-1 against Jersey this season.

The series opens Wednesday night in Newark, N.J.

NY Rangers in seven.

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NHL Playoff Predictions – Western Conference

Posted on April 6, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

No. 1 DETROIT RED WINGS (53-21-7) vs. No. 8 NASHVILLE PREDATORS (41-32-9)

Despite the fact Detroit finished 24 points ahead of Nashville in the Western Conference standings, the Preds matched up well against the Wings. In eight meetings this season, both teams were 3-3-2.

“It’s just another example of how close the league is today,” Preds head coach Barry Trotz told us last week. “We struggled against St. Louis and I really thought that Chicago was the most talented team in our conference. I think Chicago has the talent to be a great team in the future. But Detroit, as outstanding as they were, weren’t that intimidating for us. We matched up well against them.

“Of course, we weren’t intimidated by anybody, all year. We’re a lot better than people think.”

There is no doubt, the smaller, slightly slower Preds won’t be intimidated by Detroit, but if you watch the following Youtube video, you’ll see what happens to Nashville when they try to stick-check the Wings instead of take the body. http://youtube.com/watch?v=R0cGTQmN0wc

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=R0cGTQmN0wc]

Have to admit, I’d love to see Nashville take out Detroit, but I’m starting to think that the President’s Trophy-winning Red Wings, are the team to beat in the West this year.

Detroit in six games.

No. 2 SAN JOSE SHARKS (49-22-10) vs. No. 7 CALGARY FLAMES (42-30-10)jarome iginla NHL Playoff Predictions Western Conference

It’s pretty difficult to figure out how the Flames are going to beat this Sharks team.

San Jose finished the season with 108 points while the Flames had only 94. San Jose had 49 wins while Calgary had 42. San Jose went 7-2-1 down the stretch (19-0-2 in an unbeaten March and early April) while Calgary went 5-5-0 down the stretch and was fortunate to make the playoffs.

However, Calgary played well against San Jose this season. While the Sharks won the first meeting of the season, 4-1, in Calgary on Oct. 22, the Flames won the next three – 3-2 in OT in San Jose on Jan. 3, 5-4 in Calgary on Jan. 30 and 4-3 in overtime in San Jose on Feb. 12.

Calgary has a 50-goal scorer in Jarome Iginla, the consummate team leader, and a pretty solid goaltender in Mikka Kiprusoff. The Flames are also coming off a solid 7-1 win in Vancouver on Saturday night.

But the Sharks are terrific.

“That’s the best team I played against this season,” said Vancouver Canucks centre Jason Jaffray. “Of all the teams I saw, that’s the one with the biggest toughest players and the best system. That’s the team I’ve picked to win the Cup.”

A team led by the great Joe Thornton and Norris Trophy candidate Brian Campbell, the Sharks have the best goaltender in the West (some might say the best in the league), Evgeni Nabokov.

The Sharks will be tough to beat.

San Jose in six.

No. 3 MINNESOTA WILD (44-29-9) vs. No. 6 COLORADO AVALANCHE (44-31-7)

The toughest team on the block – a team with four legitimate goons – will take on a team with a handful of the best young players and old players in hockey in what could be a very intriguing series.

The Minnesota Wild, the Northwest Division champions, are led by their superstar rightwinger Marian Gaborik (42 goals, 41 assists), but it’s the sight of 6-foot-3, 230-pound Chris Simon, 6-foot-2, 240-poundTodd Fedoruk, 6-foot-7, 260-pound Derek Boogard and 6-foot-3, 210-pound Aaron Voros. They say, fighting doesn’t have a place in the playoffs, but if the Wild decide it does, look out.

The Avs, on the other hand, have a very nice team, a team that’s had a number of its top players hurt this season.  Now, most are healthy, and the Avalanche will be a difficult opponent in the first round.

It’s a team with superstar older players such as Joe Sakic, Adam Foote, Ruslan Salei, Milan Hejduk, Ryan Smyth and Peter Forsberg and up-and-coming superstar younger players such as Marek Svatos, Paul Stastny and Wojtek Wolski. If the Avs, a team that beat Minnesota 4-3 in a shootout in the final game of the season, remain healthy throughout the playoffs, they’ll be extremely tough.

It’s also a good thing that Minnesota has home ice advantage. The Avalanche finished with 27 wins at home, it’s most since winning 28 in 2001, the year the Avs won their last Stanley Cup. However, the disciplined, hard-nosed, hard-checking Wild went 5-2-1 against the banged-up Avs this season. It’s hard not to like Minnesota.

Minnesota in seven.

No. 4 ANAHEIM DUCKS (46-27-8) vs. No. 5 DALLAS STARS (44-30-7)

Two of the NHL’s top teams of the decade, the Dallas Stars and the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks should give fans a great series.

During the season, the Stars won five of eight meetings against the Ducks and outscored Anaheim 24-15. Based on the regular season totals, this should be one of the upsets of the first round.

But not so fast. The Ducks won the final two meetings 2-1 and 3-2 and played a lot better against Dallas with Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer in the lineup. The two veterans won’t playing together until February.

Still, this will be a great series and a tough one. The Ducks won the Stanley Cup last year by leading all teams in fights.

This year, the Ducks were second to Calgary (70-69), but Dallas was still 10th (48) and they won’t back down. Just take a look at Krys Barch vs. Brad May I-IV.

May vs. Barch I, Nov. 5, 2007
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mMTNBFncds8&feature=related

May vs. Barch II, Nov. 21, 2007
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6Ypr03UZ72w&feature=related

May vs. Barch III, Jan. 15, 2008
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IuoJSD6IhFg&feature=related

May vs. Barch IV, March 19, 2008
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GU09BDjk4oU&feature=related

This will be the most bitterly contested series in the West and if Barch and May have their way, it might be the only series in which fights play a significant role.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=mMTNBFncds8]

Ultimately, this one will be about goaltending and I like Giguere (2.12 GAA, .922 save pct.) over Turco (2.32, .909) by the smallest of margins.

Anaheim in seven games.

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