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Helm gets Red Wings to within Four Games of Back-to-Back Stanley Cup Crowns.

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Thanks to a kid from tiny St. Andrews, Man., the Detroit Red Wings have advanced to the Stanley Cup final to face the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second straight year.

Wednesday night in Detroit, the Wings ended the Cinderella playoff run of the young Chicago Blackhawks with a 2-1 overtime victory as Darren Helm was the hero. Helm scored the game winner at 3:58 of overtime as the Western Conference champs are now just four wins away from their second straight Stanley Cup. The final starts Saturday night in Detroit.

Amazingly, Helm became the first player in history to score his first five NHL goals in the playoffs. He still hasn’t scored a regular-season goal. He breaks the record of another Manitoban, Winnipegger Eddie (Spider) Mazur who scored his first four NHL goals in the playoffs with the Montreal Canadiens in the 1950s.

Here’s our look at the upcoming Stanley Cup final:

Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings (No. 2 seed in the West) vs. Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins (No. 4 seed in the East):

The Red Wings are clearly the favourites, and for good reason. They just won the Western Conference title without Hart Trophy (MVP) finalist Pavel Datsyuk and Norris Trophy finalist (Top Defenceman) Nicklas Lidstrom is the lineup for the final two games of the Western Conference final.

However, when the Wings beat the Penguins in five games in last year’s final, the Pens’ top scorer Evgeni Malkin was injured and now, with a healthy Malkin, the Pens disposed of the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern final in four straight games. Meanwhile, Malkin was not only the leading scorer in the regular season this year, but is currently tied with teammate Sidney Crosby for the scoring lead in the playoffs.

But here is why I like the Wings to repeat: Youth, experience and speed. Granted, with the addition of Bill Guerin, the Penguins have those elements, but Detroit just might have one of the great teams in NHL history. Almost every member of the Wings already has a Stanley Cup ring with two exceptions: off-season acquisitions Marian Hossa and Ty Conklin, who both played in Pittsburgh last year. I also like Detroit’s goaltending. Chris Osgood will outplay Marc-Andre Fleury when it counts.

The Wings and Pens split the season series 1-1. Detroit won 3-0 in Pittsburgh on NBC, on Feb. 8 while Pittsburgh won 7-6 in overtime way back on Nov. 11 in Detroit as Jordan Staal had a hat-trick. No team has repeated as Stanley Cup champions since, you guessed it, the Red Wings in 1997 and 1998. And that’s why I like the Red Wings in six games.

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On to the Conference finals: We like Wings and Pens — Again — in the Stanley Cup final

Posted on May 16, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

For those of us trying to make money in the wonderful world of Sport Select, the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs have been a pretty decent source of revenue. 

Granted, after two rounds, the two top seeds — the Boston Bruins in the East and the San Jose harks in the West — are gone, but for the most part, the teams we have selected to reach the Conference Finals, have indeed reached the Conference finals.

Pittsburgh, with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will face Carolina with Eric Staal (our darkhorse pick as a Stanley Cup finalist) in the Eastern final, while the “Winnipeg” teams, Chicago with captain Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Cam Barker against Detroit, with Darren Helm and Derek Meech, are in the Western final.

That’s obviously the way it should be.

For the record, here at rcsportsblog.com (you can follow us on twitter), we went 7-1 in the first round and 3-1 in Round 2. The only outcome we did not select correctly in Round 1 was, of course, Anaheim’s upset of Jonathan Cheechoo’s San Jose Sharks and our only incorrect choice in Round 2 was Carolina’s Game 7 upset of the No. 1-ranked Boston Bruins.

Interestingly, we also said that the two most interesting — and exciting — series would be Chicago-Vancouver and Pittsburgh-Washington. They were.

So on with the Show. Here’s our look at the third round, the conference finals, of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs.

ROUND THREE

EASTERN CONFERENCE

No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. No. 6 Carolina Hurricanes

The Pens won the season series 2-1-1 and were not only in last year’s Stanley Cup final, but have five players with Stanley Cup rings. They obviously have enough experience to handle this series against a team that won the Cup in 2006 and still have 10 players from that team. The Pens have the stars in Crosby, Malkin, Gonchar and Jordan Staal, but Carolina has so much grit and character, that it’s impossible to count them out. It also doesn’t hurt that when it looked like this team was out of it back in February, goalie Cam Ward went 14-4-2 over the final 20 games. Ward won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2006 and will have to be that good again against all the Pittsburgh firepower. We like the Penguins in five.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

No. 2 Detroit Red Wings vs. No. 4 Chicago Blackhawks

The Red Wings are the defending Stanley Cup champions and they’re certainly good enough to win it again. In fact, the Red Wings have the best team in the National Hockey League. They roll four strong lines, have a Norris Trophy defenceman in Nick Lidstrom and an MVP-calibre forward in Pavel Datsyuk, they are well-coached and have better goaltending (Chris Osgood) than the Eastern media will ever give credit. The Wings won the season series against the upstart Hawks, but when asked about this matchup, I always see that January 1, outdoor game at Wrigley Field, the one in which the Hawks rode the home crowd to an early lead and then collapsed under the weight of the Wings speed and talent. The most important thing the Hawks have going for them is youth and enthusiasm and, hey, that might carry them, but we like Detroit in six.

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CBC to drop Canada’s “second national anthem” along with Bob Cole. Sad.

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

It seems that nobody likes old stuff anymore and I can certainly understand that, especially when it comes to my kids. They’re 24 and 26 and they still roll their eyes when I talk about the good ol’ days of the 1960s when we got our hockey from Ward Cornell, Brian McFarlane, Danny Gallivan, Keith Dancey and the father and son Hewitts.

 

So yeah, I have to admit, I’m an old school kind of guy.

 

I love two things about CBC’s hockey coverage and only two things: The theme music and Bob Cole. Sadly, the rest of it just isn’t as good as it used to be and, frankly, these days I’ll take TSN’s or NBC’s hockey coverage over CBC every single time.

 

Five years ago, I never would have said that. Never would have thought it.

 

But now, the CBC’s claim to the top is under siege — from within as well as from without.

 

While I’d still rather listen to Bob Cole than Mike Emrick (and I don’t mind Mike Emrick), Greg Millen makes me yell at the television (so does TSN’s Glenn Healy so it must be a goalie thing). He talks just to talk. I’m sure he knows he’s not saying anything of any value, but I guess he figures he gets paid to talk so he’s going to talk. He’s the mute button waiting to be clicked. 

 

CBC hasn’t admitted it publicly yet, but all indications are, they’re about to limit Cole’s participation in the telecasts. They’re cutting the wrong guy. 

 

Then there is Don Cherry and Ron MacLean. What’s with that? MacLean is still an outstanding broadcaster, but his sidekick has come unhinged. The Gary-Roberts-is-all-that thing during the playoffs just made you want to call the Canadian Board of Television Relevance (if there is a CRTC out there as it’s rumoured there is, there might as well be a CBTR). The guy played nine minutes a game and hit nothing but the boards. He doesn’t score anymore, can’t handle the puck and was virtually invisible if you watched the NBC telecasts (maybe NBC telecasts a different game from a parallel universe???). But to Cherry and the CBC, Roberts was Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal all rolled into one. 

 

Meanwhile, ol’ Don ignored Crosby and most of the Red Wings for reasons known only to him. It’s kind of sad to watch a once-intriguing ex-hockey-coach-turned-broadcaster collapse into his own personal grievances. And the “I-was-only-doing-it-to-help-the-kid,” take on his own criticisms of Crosby sounded a tad disingenuous.

 

Remember when Cherry hit MacLean with an elbow pad a couple of years ago. MacLean needs to return the favour.  

 

Perhaps my kids are right. Perhaps things just get old and Hockey Night in Canada is old. Maybe, what they’re doing here is just trying to get younger. 

 

And if you need more proof, consider this little nugget: The CBC has decided that it’s probably going to drop it’s Hockey Night in Canada theme music because it, evidently, doesn’t like paying a $500 per game fee to the still-living composer in order to claim the rights. This is the same network that pays Cherry and MacLean about a million dollars a year between them to make us crave NBC and TSN, but don’t like the idea of giving $30,000 a year to the woman who created their identity. But hey, it’s taxpayers money, CBC obviously has a mandate to do what it pleases.

 

At first, I lamented CBC’s decision to dump the theme and then I thought, “Well if TSN has a collective brain bigger than a walnut, those folks will start sending cheques to the composer, Dolores Claman, and start using the theme themselves.” TSN’s broadcast crew is already better than CBC’s, they might just as well take the theme music — the best there is and, without argument, Canada’s second national anthem. 

 

Listen, I still love Coley and I don’t hit the mute button when Scott Oake comes on, but the rest of Hockey Night in Canada (don’t get me started on the Toronto Hot Stove) is a waste of good broadcast time. 

 

TSN has long been the superior telecast and now, with an expanded schedule of game coverage, Rogers SportsNet’s pretty extensive coverage of the two Alberta teams and Shaw’s NHL Centre Ice, there is a good chance we all just might forget CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada ever existed.

 

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Why I like Pittsburgh’s chances, even though I’ve picked Detroit to win the 2008 Stanley Cup final.

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

For our regular readers, let me make myself perfectly clear. I’m picking the Detroit Red Wings to win the NHL’s Stanley Cup final in six games.

 

However, I do believe there are ways for the Penguins to win the series. That’s because, while I like Detroit (at least if I’m asked, I’ll say I like Detroit), I think Pittsburgh is good enough to challenge and perhaps even win. In fact, this will be the best Stanley Cup final in decades.

 

Here’s how Pittsburgh wins the Stanley Cup…

 

(1) Uses it’s advantage. If you check the old fashioned tale of the tape, Pittsburgh is younger and bigger. According to the NHL Guide and Record Book, among those players who have appeared in at least one playoff game this spring, the Detroit Red Wings’ average age is 32.3-years-old, nearly five years older than the Penguins’ average age of 27.9 years. The Penguins measure in at nearly 6’2″ and 208 pounds; the Red Wings average just under 6’0″ and 195 lbs. That could have a bearing on the outcome.

 

(2) Chris Osgood. Detroit’s “newish” No. 1 goalie is better than Dominik Hasek and he’s played pretty well, but he’s still not the goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has proven to be in these playoffs. It was a much wiser man than me who said: “We call it the Stanley Cup final because we can’t call it goalie.” The better goalie will win this series and that could easily be Fleury.

 

(3) The defence steps up. If Pittsburgh has a weakness, it’s on defence, but they’ve been good so far. No reason for them to continue.

 

(4) Sidney Crosby needs to be a better leader than the handful of leaders Detroit possesses. Nick Lidstrom, Kris Draper, Chris Chelios, Darren McCarty… they’ve all been around the bend and they have all those rings. Sid the Kid needs to be even better.

 

(5) The 1-2-2 defensive system has to shut down the likes of Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Jiri Hudler and a defence that moves the puck very quickly. This will be a different assignment than the Pens faced against Philly.

 

(6) Get more chances and score more goals. Sounds simple, but this time it’s true. Detroit won’t waste its sweat equity running the Penguins the way Philadelphia did. The Red Wings are a smarter team with more finesse. Despite Pittsburgh’s vaunted, much-publicized, defensive “system,” this series will be about offence.

 

(7) Outwork the Wings. Again, it sounds simple, but it’s not easy. Granted, if the Wings get ahead, say, 3-0 or 4-1, they often take their foot off the gas. But why wait? Pittsburgh needs to get ahead 3-0 — not fall behind 3-0 and hope Detroit kicks back — and they can do it by outworking a team that hasn’t been outworked yet.

 

The fact Pittsburgh is bigger and younger and that, so far at least, their goaltending has been better, means the Penguins have a great chance to win this series. 

 

But I still believe it’s Detroit’s time and will stick with my original prediction — Detroit in six games.

 

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The best of the best on display. The 2008 Stanley Cup final.

Posted on May 20, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Finally. After a couple of days of annoyance, the Detroit Red Wings finally disposed of the upstart Dallas Stars and will now meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup final.

 

Monday night in Dallas, the Red Wings blasted the Stars 4-1 as former Winnipeg Jet, Dallas Drake, had a goal and an assist. Detroit took out the Stars in six games and now the Stanley Cup final will begin this Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena (all games are in the evening and all games will be on CBC).

 

For a Winnipegger, the Wings-Dallas series was kind of eerie. Back in 1996, the Jets played the Red Wings in what turned out to be Jets’ final playoff series in the NHL.

 

In Game 5 of that year, the Jets went into Detroit trailing three-games-to-one and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin stood on his head to send the series back to Winnipeg for Game 6. In Game 6, Detroit shredded the Jets, beat them 4-1 and ended the series — and the Jets NHL tenure — in six games.  

 

So what happens in 2008? Trailing 3-1, Marty Turco goes back into Detroit, stands on his head and forces a Game 6. In Game 6, Detroit shreds the Stars, wins 4-1 and closes out the series in six games. And 39-year-old Dallas Drake, who was on the ice for the Jets in 1996, scores a goal and adds an assist for the Red Wings.

 

Oh, what could have been (if Gary Filmon’s P.C. government of the day had a collective brain bigger than a walnut).

 

As it is, there is something special on the horizon. 

 

Granted, it took a bit longer than we anticipated, but the Stanley Cup final is perfect. Wings-Penguins is just as it should be.

These are the two best teams in hockey. The Red Wings are the President’s Trophy winners and the Penguins have required only 14 games to go three rounds in the playoffs in order to reach the final. This is Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Gonchar and Hossa against Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Lidstrom and, hopefully, Franzen. This is hockey.

We’ll talk more about these two teams this week. The final doesn’t start until Saturday. But make no mistake, this is the best final fans could have anticipated. In fact, it just might be the best final in decades.

 

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Pens make statement in Game 5 win over Flyers. Game 5: Pittsburgh 6, Philadelphia 0.

Posted on May 18, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

In Canada, there seems to be growing affection for the Pittsburgh Penguins, all the way from the Rock to the Island.

 

Fans say they love Pittsburgh’s speed, its skill, its ability to score and the attack method that it uses all over the ice. They say they love Sid the Kid and “that Fleury guy in goal,” and they really like the fact that the Pens think offence before defence. 

 

No doubt, the Penguins are fun to watch and on Sunday they proved they are pretty damn good, too.

 

The Pens eliminated the Philadelphia Flyers in five games in the Eastern Conference final after recording an impressive 6-0 victory at old Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.

 

Ryan Malone led the way with two goals and an assist, Marian Hossa had a goal and three assists, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal each scored once and Sidney Crosby dished out two assists. Meanwhile, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had to make only 21 saves to get the shutout. Fleury, by the way, is 22-4-1 since late November.

 

The Penguins outshot Philly 25-21 and controlled the pace of the game as Pittsburgh moved on to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since last winning the Stanley Cup in 1992. The Penguins won the Cup in both 1991 and 1992 (Winnipeg Metis star, Jamie Leach, played on both of those teams) and this year, reached the final by losing only two games along the way (12-2). The Pens are 10-0 in the playoffs this year when they score first.

 

I had an opportunity this past week to talk to ex-Flyer sniper — and the offensive heart of the old Broad Street Bullies — Reggie (The Riverton Rifle) Leach, about his old team. He wasn’t very impressed.

 

These days, Reggie spends his summers in Delaware running his landscaping business and his winters on Little Current First Nation in Ontario where he’s the player personnel director and head coach of the Northern Ontario Hockey League’s Manitoulin Islanders. But he always watches his Flyers — even though it’s starting to sound as if he’s adopted a new team. 

 

He had this to say about the Penguins-Flyers series: “Man, I’m still a Flyer at heart, but it was hard watching them in the Eastern final.

 

“I just don’t think they played up to par. Pittsburgh has so many weapons that when one guy doesn’t show up, they have all sorts of other guys who pick up the slack. Because Pittsburgh is as big and tough as they are, Philadelphia’s big, tough guys might just as well have stayed home.”

 

Because of his coaching job, Leach admits that he now watches NHL games like an NHL coach. He’s always checking out systems, both defenisve and offensive, and he believes Pittsburgh has the best.

 

“This is the first time in a lot of years that I’ve watched every game and it’s because I’m coaching again,” The Rifle said. “I love the Flyers, but what I’ve noticed is that Pittsburgh plays with every guy. Philadelphia is relying on 10 guys and you can’t do that. You need everybody.

 

“Pittsburgh really moves the puck and attacks all the time. And Philly can’t blame their goaltenders. The goalies have been great. But Pittsburgh just has too much offence and they use all their tools. I love the way they play and I think they have a chance to go a long, long way.”

 

So, too, Reg, do your colleagues and a growing number of Canadian hockey fans.

 

Fact is, if the Red Wings don’t get it together soon, the Pens might just get to hockey’s Holy Grail without cracking a sweat.

 

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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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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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Although we picked the Pens to win the series, it appears as if we underestimated their mettle. Game 3: Pittsburgh 5 New York 3.

Posted on April 29, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

The Pittsburgh Penguins are making a statement. They’ve now played seven games in this year’s playoffs – four at home and three on the road and they have yet to lose.

And it would be difficult to suggest that they’ll lose in New York on Thursday night.

The Pens have fire power, an improved defence and a young goaltender at the top of his game. With Tuesday night’s 5-3 win at Madison Square Garden, the Pens might also have proven they have the mettle to go a long way without a loss this spring.

There were a lot of reasons to believe the Penguins might lose Tuesday night. For one, they were playing at MSG where the fans are crazy and the building is tough at the most meaningless of times. Last night, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal, the building was rocking but the Penguins weren’t intimidated. They scored the first goals and built a 3-1 lead and almost took the crowd out of it for 59 minutes.

Another reason, they might have pissed away Tuesday night’s game came in the second period when they were two-men down for 32 seconds. But they killed the penalties and stayed in control.

Another reason they might have blown Tuesday night’s game came late in the second period when the Rangers scored two goals within a minute and four seconds to tie the score at 3-3. But Evgeni Malkin scored a power-play goal, his second of goal of the game, before the period ended and Pittsburgh went to the second intermission with the lead — and, yes, control.

This Penguins team is supposed to be too young. Its goalie is unproven. Its stars are barely into their 20s and their coach has been through the ringer (Michel Therrien was not only fired in Montreal but put in 3 1/2 seasons in Wilkes Barre before being brought in to replace the struggling Eddie Olczyk).

Still, it’s a team that almost finished first overall in the East and has yet to lose in this year’s playoffs. Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Malone, Marian Hossa, Jordan Staal, have all played wonderfully.  Malkin, just a few hours after he was selected as a finalist for the Hart Trophy, scored two power-play goals and added an assist in the best game of his playoff career Tuesday night. 

I still like the Red Wings to win the Cup, but I would not be at all surprised if the Wings faced a Pittsburgh outfit that did not lose a game on the way to the Eastern Conference title.

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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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