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Will officiating ever change? Or do we need video replay for everything?

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

I’m a video replay proponent. After a life of playing, watching, coaching, writing, broadcasting and complaining about sports, I have come to the conclusion that there isn’t anyone, anywhere, who can officiate any sporting event properly, at any time. 

 

Can’t be done.

 

There are no good officials. They are all bad. It’s just that some are worse than others. When an official once asked me during a basketball game (he was pissed off, by the way), “What do you want? For all of us to go home so you’re left calling your own fouls?” My response was swift and to the point. “Yes. Save us all a lot of aggravation and get your ass out of here.”

 

Sadly, he wouldn’t leave.

 

Even in this world of performance-enhancing pharmaceuticals, I still believe most athletes are invariably honest while most officials either don’t have a clue or are just plain crooked. If you left it up to the athletes, they could could call the games themselves and be (a) a lot more accurate and (b) a lot more honest.

 

Case in point, Wednesday night in Dallas.

 

There was Red Wings’ agitator, Tomas Holmstrom, stationed where he always is, right in front of a goaltender, when Pavel Datsyuk ripped a shot past Marty Turco. It was clearly a goal, 1-0 Detroit.

 

But that’s when Kelly Sutherland decided that it was a good time to wave it off and say Holmstrom was in the crease.

 

There were blind people who saw it differently, but Sutherland stuck to his guns. It was, clearly, one of the worst calls in playoff history, but he was sticking to it. Of course, he could. You can’t use replay on an “in the crease” call.

 

Oh, how convenient. This call is based completely on a referee’s discretion. Period. 

 

Interestingly, later in the game, there was little doubt Loui Eriksson was in the crease when Stephane Robidas shot the puck at Chris Osgood and Eriksson just changed places in the crease to pop in the rebound. This time, Sutherland let it go. In the old days of makeup calls, Sutherland would have disallowed both but in today’s NHL, two wrongs don’t make a right but a dozen or so, do.

 

“Kelly’s a good referee, he just blew the call. That’s life,” Wings coach Mike Babcock told the assembled media during the post-game news conference. “But make no mistake, these officials meet before games and talk about players. The fact it was Holmstrom near the crease meant at least one goal would be disallowed.”

 

I’m not going to jump to conclusions and say the fix was in. Frankly, I don’t care. But to say Sutherland allowed a pre-game meeting to get in the way of his good judgment is probably true. After all, Sutherland was as close as he could possibly be to Holmstrom without getting hit by Datsyuk’s shot. It was such an egregiously bad call that it shed a nasty light on the entire NHL. Can anyone say WWE?

 

There is now little question that “in the crease” calls need to be reviewed. If this one had been reviewed, it would have counted and Sutherland wouldn’t have looked like (a) an idiot, (b) Blind Pugh or (c) a fixer.

 

Fortunately, Sutherland’s call affected the outcome of only one game, not an entire series. The Wings should close this thing out on Saturday, anyway.

 

However, in such times as these calls become important (like overtime in Buffalo in 1999), it would be best if the NHL let replay — or better stated, the truth — decide the outcome. 

 

Obviously when a bunch of guys in striped shirts — oh yes, guys who try to do the best they can — try to do it alone, it just doesn’t work.

 

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According to form III. Game 3: Detroit 5, Dallas 2; Pittsburgh 4 Philadelphia 1.

Posted on May 13, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Hey folks, getting excited about a Detroit-Pittsburgh Stanley Cup final? 

 

We’re on the verge… 

 

Tuesday night in Philadelphia, the Penguins got two goals from Marian Hossa and a couple of assists from the brilliant Sidney Crosby (and he WAS brilliant) en route to a 4-1 blistering of the Flyers. With the win, the Penguins take a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference final. Game 4 goes Thursday in Philadelphia, but it’s merely a formality. The Flyers can mail it in.

 

Of course, when you’re outshot 25-18 in your own building in a Game 3 you absolutely, positively have to win, you’re already mailing it in.

 

Based on what we watched on Tuesday, it would appear the Penguins are just as dominating as the Wings and that means this spring’s Stanley Cup final might be the best in years. Detroit’s complete destruction of an undermanned Dallas Stars team has been a thing of beauty. Tuesday night, however, Pittsburgh’s 4-1 win over Philly was just as impressive as Detroit’s 5-2 shellacking of Dallas on Monday. 

Right now, both Detroit and Pittsburgh lead their respective conference championships 3-0 and, yes, both teams have been as spectacular as 3-0 series leads would indicate.

Both teams are big, both teams can score, both teams have skill and both teams favour offence over defence, so we could soon be treated to one of the greatest Stanley Cup finals in history. Hopefully, Dallas and Philadelphia will just curl up into the fetal position and we can end these listless Conference finals. 

On Monday, I was talking to my old pal Theoren Fleury, who is doing extremely well as a Calgary entrepreneur these days, and he told me that he doesn’t watch a lot of hockey, but when he does, he watches the Penguins.

“I love the Penguins because they don’t play any defence,” Fleury said. “It’s go, go, go. Outscore the opposition. It looks like they’re actually having fun.

 

“I mean, listen, I have 100,000 hours of video tape of me playing for Dave King and Pierre Page and you know what they stressed. Well, guess what? We never won. It doesn’t work. That boring, defensive, trapping style is bad for the game and unless you have 20 guys with no hockey skill who will buy into that system, you don’t have a chance. Whoever won playing that style? Tell me. Even when it was popular, Detroit and Dallas and Tampa, with all those scorers, won. 

 

“That’s why I like Pittsburgh. They play to outscore their opponent. That’s hockey.”

 

It’s the way Detroit plays, too. And that’s why I can’t wait for the mere formalities that are these Conference finals to come to a quick, merciful end. 

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According to Form II. Game 2: Detroit 2, Dallas 1; Pittsburgh 4, Philadelphia 2.

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

It has been suggested, by some very good friends of mine, hockey people I deeply respect, that tonight’s game between Dallas and Detroit in Texas is “do-or-die” for the Stars.

I respectfully disagree.

The do-or-die game came Saturday night when the Red Wings beat Dallas 2-1 in Detroit. That victory gave the Red Wings a 2-0 series lead and that should just about do it.

I mean, c’mon? If anyone thinks the Stars will win four of the next five games, they’re sadly mistaken. Dallas HAD to win on Saturday and they knew it. And to their credit, they played well, too. 

However, the 2-1 score flattered the Stars. Selkirk’s speedy Darren Helm and the terrific Henrik Zetterberg scored for Detroit as the Red Wings, who played without The Mule, Johan Franzen, outplayed and even outhit the Stars who got a great goaltending effort from  Marty Turco. Turco made 32 saves but fell to 0-9-2 in his last 11 at Joe Louis Arena. 

Here’s the kicker, however: The Red Wings outshot the Stars 34-18 and outplayed them in every aspect of the game. In fact, not only did Detroit direct 34 shots AT Turco, they had 13 misses and Dallas had 13 blocks. That’s potentially 60 shots on goal. The puck seldom was out of the Dallas zone.

Game 3 goes tonight (7 CDT) in Dallas and it doesn’t matter if the Stars win or lose. They had to split in Detroit. They didn’t and now they’re done.

Over in Pittsburgh, the Penguins proved once again they are way too good, way too talented and, yes, way too tough for the Flyers’ goon act. Pittsburgh got a goal and an assist from Sidney Crosby, a winner from fourth-liner Maxime Talbot and another solid performance from Marc-Andre Fleury as they outshot the Flyers 38-32 and owned the all-important third period.

Philly could win a game or two back in the City of Brotherly Love, but no one should count on it. The Pens lead the series 2-0, are now 10-1 in the playoffs this year and don’t appear ready to lose anytime soon.

At least, not until they face the Red Wings. 

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According to form. Game 1: Detroit 4, Dallas 1; Pittsburgh 4, Philadelphia 2.

Posted on May 10, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Nashville Predators head coach Barry Trotz was a guest of the Tom & Joe Show on 92-CITI-FM on Thursday morning. One of the best interviews in all of professional hockey, Trotz told Tom McGouran and The Coach that while he loved Dallas and thought the Stars had a great team, he felt Detroit had way too much firepower.

 

Like many of us, Trotz expects an extremely short series in the Western Conference final.

 

As for the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Eastern Conference final, Trotz believes that if the Flyers bang and crash, they might have a chance against a Pittsburgh team that Trotz also says has “far too much firepower.”

 

“If Philadelphia plays the same type of intimidating game they did against Montreal, they could make the series a long one,” Trotz said. “But that Pittsburgh team has a lot of talent and toughness. When you can throw Malkin, Crosby, Hossa and Staal out there, when you have two tremendously talented offensive-type lines, and they won’t back down, you can be a pretty formidable team.

 

“Philadelphia works very hard, but Pittsburgh keeps coming at you all the time. I won’t say Philadelphia can’t win the series, it’s just going to be very difficult.”

 

After the opening games of the two series, it was pretty obvious that Trotz’s assessment was dead on.

 

On Thursday night, the Red Wings just dominated Dallas. The Wings scored three power-play goals, built a 4-0 lead and coasted (as they often do) to a 4-1 victory. Big Tomas Holmstrom, who found himself a nice comfortable spot in front of Dallas goalie Marty Turco, led the way for the Wings with a goal and an assist. It was Detroit’s seventh straight playoff victory and set up a do-or-die situation for Dallas on Saturday.

 

That’s right, do-or-die.

 

Already down 1-0, if Dallas loses on Saturday, they’ll fall behind 2-0 and no matter how well they play the rest of the way, they will NOT win four out of five against the Red Wings. 

 

Trouble is, what can Dallas possibly do to beat Detroit if Chris Osgood plays well in goal? Osgood is, after all, the only weak link on this Red Wings team, and if he shuts you down (Detroit outshot Dallas 31-21 in Game 1), it’s pretty much hopeless. Dallas isn’t big enough, Dallas isn’t fast enough, Dallas can’t match up and Dallas can’t shut down the Wings power-play. 

 

Game 1 was not only a statement by Detroit, it was a sign of things to come.

 

Over in the East, Philadelphia got a couple of quick goals by Kenora’s Mike Richards and took a 2-1 lead on the Pens, but before the second period ended, Pittsburgh was up 4-2 and in the third, Malkin and Co. just shut down the Flyers.

 

What we found out in Game 1 of this series, is that Pittsburgh is just as tough and maybe tougher than the Flyers and if the bangin’ and crashin’ doesn’t work, Philly could go down quickly.

 

We still figure the Flyers will have some jam at home, but after Malkin got drilled a couple of times and still got up to score two goals and dish out an assist, the writing was on the wall. Unlike Montreal, Pittsburgh isn’t going to back down and that will spell doom for Philadelphia.

 

We selected Pittsburgh in seven. The Pens are now 9-1 in the playoffs and we might have underestimated their toughness. 

 

* * *

 

A couple of coaches were fired this week.

 

On Wednesday, to no one’s surprise, the dysfunctional Toronto Maple Leafs fired head coach Paul Maurice, the only good thing the Leafs had going for them the last two years. That franchise is in worse shape than we thought.

 

Two days later, ex-Maple Leaf Joel Quenneville was let go by the Colorado Avalanche. Quenneville was 131-92-23 in three seasons with Colorado, coaching a team that was old and on the slide after a decade near the top of the NHL. It was probably a blessing that Quenneville was given a chance to look for work elsewhere. The Avs are going nowhere but downhill.

 

The Leafs, meanwhile, are a mess. Currently being run by an old coot named Cliff Fletcher who destroyed the club with some dreadful trades in the late 90s (and the Leafs haven’t recovered) then went on to collect a million dollar paycheque to screw up the Phoenix Coyotes, Toronto is now without a head coach, a real general manager and probably a captain. Maurice, who had one year left on his contract, compiled a 76-66-22 record in two seasons as Toronto’s coach but failed to make the playoffs in both years.

 

Maurice and Quenneville are both class acts and relatively young and will find work. Both franchises, however, are in big, big trouble. Colorado is getting older by the minute while Toronto is just bad news.

 

In fact, the next coach in either city had better not buy a house. 

  

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It’s off to Round 3: The Red Wings are one round closer to their destiny

Posted on May 7, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

In our previous two fearless prognostications, we made a pair of fatal errors. We overestimated the Montreal Canadiens and underestimated the Dallas Stars.

 

It’s true, as one of our faithful readers suggested, that Carey Price wasn’t quite up to the task in the Eastern semifinal against the Philadelphia Flyers, but then again, neither was the Montreal offence.

 

To their credit, the Flyers did what they did so well back in the mid-1970s when the Broad Street Bullies won a couple of Cups. They banged, crashed and harassed the Habs and made life so difficult around the puck that Montreal had little appetite for the corners or the front of the net.

 

In the end, Philly won most, if not all, the individual battles and to our embarrassment, we were shocked that the Canadiens were tougher.

 

Meanwhile, out West, the Stars played five, almost perfect, hockey games to dispose of the San Jose Sharks. When we selected the Sharks to win in seven, we expected the series to be close and hard-fought. We didn’t expect Marty Turco to be a better goaltender than Evgeni Nabokov and we didn’t expect the Stars offence to hold up the way it did, especially in close games.

 

We were wrong about Dallas and Montreal and as a result, it’s the Stars who are in, the Habs who are out and after watching the second round quite intently, we aren’t disappointed.

 

The only team worthy of a date with Detroit is Dallas and the only team that can punish the high-scoring Penguins is Philadelphia.

 

It was a terrific opening month. The first two rounds were fun and the next two weeks could be the most interesting two weeks of the entire Stanley Cup tournament. Let’s take a closer look…

 

THE EAST

 

No. 2 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (Eliminated Ottawa in four straight games, eliminated NY Rangers in five games.) vs. No. 6 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (Eliminated Washington in seven games, eliminated Montreal in five games.)

 

Here’s an amazing statistic: the Pittsburgh Penguins have trailed an NHL-low 62 minutes and 43 seconds of the 547:10 they’ve played in their nine playoff games. The fact they’ve only played nine playoff games in the first two rounds says an awful lot in itself.

The key to this series for the Penguins will, no doubt, be Hart Trophy candidate, Evgeni Malkin. the big Russian star had six goals and nine assists in eight games against the Flyers this season and he’ll certainly be asked to produce once again.

Interestingly, Pittsburgh used three different goalies against Philadelphia this season, but Marc-Andre Fleury was the star. He earned two of the Penguins three victories against Philly and recorded a solid 2.00 goals-against average. He is now 8-1 in the playoffs with a 1.76 goals against average and has stopped 240 of 256 postseason shots. 

Here’s another telling stat: Pittsburgh is 5-0 at home in the playoffs.

The Flyers will look to the likes of Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Joffrey Lupul, R.J Umberger (who was born in Pittsburgh) and Daniel Briere to carry them against Montreal. Not only did Briere have six goals and 11 points in the opening round series against Washington, but he anchors the No. 2 power play in the league.

And then there is Vinny Prospal, who came from Tampa with a Stanley Cup ring and has made the Flyers playoff ready. The Flyers will also hope that goalie Martin Biron is just as good in Round 3 as he was in Round 1 against the Caps and Round 2 against Montreal.

Here’s another telling statistic: The Flyers haven’t played outside the Eastern time zone since facing the Avalanche in Denver on Dec. 7. The Penguins last did it the following day in Vancouver. It’s something that will probably make a difference if Dallas beats Detroit.

Pittsburgh in seven games. 

Penguins vs Rangers Round 2 Highlights below.

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErVTI8btxyM]

 

 

THE WEST

 

No. 1 DETROIT RED WINGS (Eliminated Nashville in six games, eliminated Colorado in four games) vs.  No. 5 DALLAS STARS (Eliminated Anaheim in six games, eliminated San Jose in six games.)

 

Pretty hard not to like Detroit in this series. The Wings are big, fast, skilled and strong with plenty of experience. And now that Chris Osgood is the starter, they have legitimate playoff goaltending, too.

 

Osgood is 6-0 since taking over for Dominik Hasek during Game 4 of the opening-round series against Nashville. He has a 1.52 goals-against average, allowing only 10 goals on 159 shots. Osgood is just three playoff wins shy of tying Terry Sawchuk’s team mark of 47 career postseason victories. He should pass Sawchuk in this series.

There is little question that Detroit’s Johan (the Mule) Franzen, has been the biggest story of the playoffs. He already has an NHL-high — and Detroit-record — 11 goals in the playoffs. He also broke Gordie Howe’s single-series club record by scoring nine times against Colorado.

On the other side, Stars netminder Marty Turco has never played better, but I still think the Red Wings will win this series — easy — and will win the Cup. Sure, Turco has four shutouts in his past 19 playoff starts, dating to last year’s playoffs, including one this year, but this series won’t come down to goaltending.

Granted, in his three most recent series, Turco has a 1.56 GAA and a .938 save percentage and finished off San Jose with a 61-save effort on Sunday night in Dallas’ 2-1 victory in the fourth overtime of Game 6. He’s been great, but that Detroit offence with Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom and Pavel Datsyuk leading the way is just too much.

I love Brad Richards, Mike Modano, Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow, but I think the Red Wings are just too good.

Two telling stats: (1) Marty Turco is 0-7-2 in his last nine games at Joe Louis Arena. (2) The Red Wings clinched their seventh straight Central Division title with 5-3 win against, you guessed it, Dallas on March 13.

We could be underestimating the Stars again, but this time, I don’t think so.

 

Detroit in four games.

 

Red Wings vs Avalanche Round 2 Highlights below.

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnjevppGT-o]

 

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10 things to think about heading into the 2008 NHL Conference finals…

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

1. The readers’ poll on Canoe yesterday asked, "Who will you cheer for now that no Canadian-based team remains in the playoffs?" Fifty-eight per cent (as of our last check) had selected the Pittsburgh Penguins. Like Montreal, Calgary and Ottawa fans, they will be disappointed. If not in May, certainly in June.

 

2. When Brenden Morrow scored the winning goal at the 9:03 mark of the fourth overtime period early on Monday morning, it was quite appropriate. Morrow was the best player in the series and definitely the best player on the ice Sunday night/Monday morning.

 

3.  A piece in Sun Media by Toronto-based Mike Zeisberger suggested that in the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia Eastern Conference final "there will be blood." Perhaps that’s true and if it is, the only blood shed will be Pittsburgh’s. Had the Rangers played as tough in Games 1,2, 3 and 5 as they did in Game 4, they might have beaten the Penguins. Pittsburgh will back off and if the Flyers sense it, that collection of grinders and bangers will go straight for the jugular.

 

4. As we mentioned yesterday here at the RCSBlog, Pittsburgh’s Ray Shero deserves a lot of credit for making the necessary moves to acquire Marian Hossa at the trade deadline. Hossa has clearly paid dividends in the post-season and would make a great Penguin forward for the next three or four seasons. However, the Pens have to think about the future and according to the team’s director of hockey administration, Jason Botterill, the priority is to get Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin signed to long-term deals. According to the NHL Players Association, the salary cap will grow to about $57 million for 2008-09. It’s still not enough to sign Crosby, Staal, Malkin AND Hossa and have a supporting cast that can continue to lead the Penguins as far as, say, a Conference final. Watch for the Montreal Canadiens to make a concerted effort to sign Hossa this summer. Unrestricted free agent, Michael Ryder, is as good as gone from Montreal and Hossa will be Bob Gainey’s prime target.

 

5. Let’s go back to Brenden Morrow’s performance on Sunday night/Monday morning. Granted, the game was 129 minutes and three seconds long, but Morrow played 51 minutes. He not only scored the winning goal, but he had seven shots and get this — 19 hits! Who has 19 hits in a hockey game? No matter how long it is.

 

6. Let’s go back to Rangers’ head coach, Tom Renney, for a second. He should be fired for not dressing Colton Orr in Game 5. Just the thought that Orr could goon up Crosby or Malkin changed everything in Game 4 (won 3-0 by the Rangers). When he wasn’t around for Game 5, the Penguins had nothing to fear.

 

7. Remember when Ottawa Senators head coach Bryan Murray accused the Penguins of throwing their final game of the season in order to play Ottawa instead of Philadelphia in the first round? Guess it doesn’t matter now.

 

8. Great news for an old friend yesterday. The Vancouver Canucks announced that Laurence Gilman has joined the Canucks as the team’s  Director of Hockey Administration. Gilman a Winnipegger, joins the Canucks after spending 13 years in the Phoenix Coyotes and Winnipeg Jets organizations. He had many jobs during that time including, most recently, as the club’s Senior Vice President & Assistant General Manager for five seasons. In addition, Gilman served as general manager of the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. Gilman, who is 43, graduated from the University of Winnipeg in 1991. 

 

9. Guess Ron Wilson’s in trouble in San Jose. In fact, he might not be the Sharks head coach by the first day of the NHL entry draft. Wilson is terrific when he’s winning, but a complete pain in the ass when he’s not. Back in 1998, when Wilson coached the Washington Capitals, he was doing what he always did — using the post-game news conference to let the media know that he knew everything about the game and the rest of us knew nothing. After the news conference, Kevin Allen of USA Today told no one in particular, "Am I ever glad I got to cover hockey before Ron Wilson invented it." 

 

10. If they want — if they really care enough — the Detroit Red Wings will play eight more games and then raise the Stanley Cup. 

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Habs and Wings win shaky. Game 1: Montreal 4, Philadelphia 3 (OT); Detroit 4, Colorado 3.

Posted on April 24, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Is there anything better than watching two playoff hockey games at once?

 

That’s what we did Thursday night and not only did we have two TVs going at once, but we watched two terrifically close games and two losing teams that deserved better.  

 

Montreal won because the officials (and they again will go unnamed), called a pretty marginal penalty against Mike Richards in the final minute.

 

Montreal scored on the power-play (with their net empty) with 29 seconds left in regulation and then won it at the 48 second mark of overtime  when Tom Kostopoulas cashed in his own rebound.

 

For most of the night, Philly was the better team, but a lousy break and a defensive breakdown cost them a road win they probably should have stolen. 

 

Meanwhile, in Detroit, the Wings took a 4-1 lead on a pair of goals by Johan Franzen, but then, as Detroit often does, they got complacent and nearly fell asleep long enough for Colorado to catch up. 

 

The Avs even had a chance to score in the dying seconds, but Chris Osgood did what Dominik Hasek forgot how to do — make a big, important save. 

 

Detroit outshot Colorado 36-21 and probably should have won by a bunch, considering Peter Forsberg and Wojtek Wolski didn’t play and Jose Theodore played despite the flu (he was pulled after giving up four goals and went back to the hotel). Still, the Avs sucked it up and made a game of it.

 

For openers, they were both fun to watch (although the Montreal fan who doused Richards with beer in the penalty box was rather bush). We even got a penalty shot in the Montreal-Philly game, plus a couple of goal reviews and a huge dive and a big shot from Kovalev. Remember the Gordie Howe hat trick? A goal, an assist and a fight? I guess an Alexei Kovalev hat trick is two goals and a dive.  

 

Friday night, we get the Rangers at Pittsburgh at 6 on CBC while Dallas plays at San Jose at 9 on TSN. In June I’ll get a life.

 

If you missed the Top-10 highlights from Round 1, you can see them in the video below.

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6qBXXL-REE]

 

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NHL Playoffs Round 2 Predictions: The Habs could not have written a better script.

Posted on April 23, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Carey Price NHL Playoffs Round 2 Predictions: The Habs could not have written a better script.It was Minnesota Wild assistant general manager Tom Thompson who said, "The first round of the playoffs is the most intense two weeks of any hockey season. 

 

"This is the time when seventh- and eighth-place teams can ambush first- and second-place teams because they have nothing to lose. No pressure, no worries and then bam, they can take out a team that might have finished with 30 more points because the better teams are looking too far down the road.

 

"This is the greatest time of year to be a hockey fan and the toughest to be a hockey coach."

 

Or, to be fair, Tom, the toughest time of the year to be a hockey prognosticator.

 

We were very fortunate (or unlucky if you consider that overtime penalty call in Game 7 between Washington and Philadelphia that resulted in the Flyers winning goal), to select five of eight series correctly in the first round.

 

We had Montreal, Pittsburgh, the Rangers, Detroit and San Jose to advance to the second round and we were correct. We also had Washington, Minnesota and Anaheim and we were dead wrong.

 

However, we did believe that if you selected lots of Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens in your playoff hockey pool, you’d make a lot of money. And that holds true through the second round. 

 

Of course, the second round is a little bit odd. Montreal won four of four against Philly this year and have now faced two teams in the first two rounds of the playoffs that were 0-12 combined against the Habs. Guy Carbonneau could not have written a better playoff script for his club.

 

The same can said for Detroit who went 4-0 against Colorado this year. 

 

Meanwhile, the Rangers were 5-3 against Pittsburgh and Dallas was  4-2-2 against San Jose and, yet, we like the teams that lost the season series.

 

It’s been a great two weeks already and the next two weeks could be even better. Let’s take a closer look…

 

THE EAST

 

No. 1 MONTREAL CANADIENS  (Eliminated Boston in seven games vs. No. 6 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (Eliminated Washington in seven games)

 

The Habs were a very interesting team this season. They led the NHL with a 24.1 percent success rate on the power play during the regular season and then went three-for-33 (9.1 per cent) against the Bruins in the first round of the playoffs. If the Habs get the power play going, look out.

 

Not only did the Habs take all four games from Philly this year, they’ve won six straight from the Flyers going back to 2006. This year, Montreal outscored Philadelphia 15-6.

 

Rookie goaltender Carey Price had two shutouts in the opening round against Boston including one in Game 7 and appears to have passed his first test as the heir to the rookie goaltending throne shared by Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy in Montreal.  

The Flyers will look to the likes of Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Joffrey Lupul and Daniel Briere to carry them against Montreal. Not only did Briere have six goals and 11 points in the opening round series against Washington, but he anchors the No. 2 power play in the league, right behind Montreal.

And then there is Vinny Prospal. After having a tremendous series against Washington, Prospal should enjoy playing against Montreal. He had four goals in four games against the Habs this season.

The Flyers will also hope that goalie Martin Biron is just as good in Round 2 as he was in Round 1 against the Caps.

History has very little to do with this series. The last time these two teams met in the playoffs, Habs head coach Guy Carbonneau and GM Bob Gainey were actually in uniform for the Canadiens.

Montreal in six games.

 

No. 2 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (Eliminated Ottawa in four straight games) vs. No. 5 NEW YORK RANGERS (Eliminated New Jersey in five games)

 

The Rangers had plenty of success against these high-scoring Penguins this season and Scott Gomez led the way with three goals and four assists in eight games.

 

The reason for New York’s success against Pittsburgh was not the play of Gomez, Chris Drury, Brendan Shanahan or Jaromir Jagr, but the presence of Madison Square Garden where the Blueshirts won all four games in 2007-08.

 

Perhaps the biggest difference in this series is the goaltending. It will be the talented but inconsistent Marc-Andre Fleury for Pittsburgh against Vezina Trophy candidate Henrik Lundqvist for the Rangers. And you have to give the edge to Lundqvist who held the Penguins to three goals or fewer on seven occasions in 2007-08 and is 12-6-3 in his career against Pittsburgh.

 

It will also be interesting to watch againg superstar Jaromir Jagr against Sid the Kid. Is this Jagr’s last hurrah or the Kid’s next step toward his first Cup? 

 

This will also be a brother vs,. brother series. Pittsburgh centre Jordan Staal will be up against Rangers defenceman Marc Staal.

Pittsburgh in six games. 

 

THE WEST

 

No. 1 DETROIT RED WINGS (Eliminated Nashville in six games) vs.  No. 6 COLORADO AVALANCHE (Eliminated Minnesota in six games)

 

Pretty hard not to like Detroit in this series. The Wings are big, fast, skilled and strong with plenty of experience. And now that Chris Osgood is the starter, they have legitimate playoff goaltending, too.

 

Osgood went 2-0 with a 0.39 goals against average in two games in Round 1. He had a shutout and stopped 53 of 54 shots against Nashville.

 

However, the Avalanche is a team that really wasn’t itself during the season. Joe Sakic played only 44 games. Peter Forsberg signed late in the season. Ryan Smyth played only 55 games and Milan Hejduk missed 16 games with various bumps and bruises. It was because of all these injuries (and absences) that Detroit shut out Colorado in the last three meetings of the season.

 

Right now, Detroit’s shutout streak of Colorado stands at 214 minutes and four seconds. In fact, Detroit hasn’t lost to Colorado in regulation time in three seasons. 

 

This season, only rookie Cody McLeod of Binscarth, Man., and sophomore Marek Svatos scored for Colorado against Detroit this season as the Wings outscored the Avs 11-2.

 

I think the Red Wings will win this series and can win the Cup.

 

Detroit in six games.

 

No. 2 SAN JOSE SHARKS (49-22-10) vs. No. 5 DALLAS STARS (Eliminated Anaheim in six games)

 

Dallas had the best of San Jose during the regular season and the Stars looked particularly good in their opening round against defending champion Anaheim.

 

However, San Jose netminder Evgeni Nabokov, a Vezina Trophy candidate, has been playing pretty well in the post-season after going 2-3-2 against the Stars with a 2.56 goals against average during the season. 

 

Dallas outscored the Stars 24-21 in eight regular season games so this series is closer than Dallas’s 4-2-2 season record might indicate. However, Stars netminder Marty Turco has never played better. He allowed only 12 goals in six games against Anaheim and played in all eight regular season games against San Jose.

 

With Brad Richards playing well and with Stephane Robidas running the show, the Stars are playing as well as they have all year. However, something tells me Joe Thornton is going to step up in the second round.

 

San Jose in seven games.

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