Tag Archives: stanley cup playoffs

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. 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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Hossa scores winner as Pittsburgh advances to All-Pennsylvania Eastern final. Game 5: Pittsburgh 3, NY Rangers 2 (OT).

Posted on May 4, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Marian Hossa, the trade-deadline acquisition who made good, fired the winning goal at the 7:10 mark of the first overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins put the New York Rangers out of their collective misery on Sunday afternoon.

 

The Pens won Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinal, 3-2, but the score was not indicative of the play. Pittsburgh outshot the Rangers 40-22 and outhit them 41-22 as the Rangers carried a game to overtime that should have been all over by the end of the second period.

 

OK, at this point we’ll give the Rangers a little credit. They did score two unanswered in the third period as Lauri Korpikoski and Winnipeg’s Nigel Dawes tallied for the Rangers to send the game into overtime, but if it hadn’t ben for the brilliance of Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, this game might have been 6-0 before the Rangers woke up.

 

Pittsburgh was clearly the better team in this series. When you win a series in five games, you’ve pretty much made a statement. But in this case, the Rangers foubnd a way to comeback and then abandoned the strategy in Game 5.

 

In order to win Game 4, 3-0, Rangers head coach Tom Renney dressed Colton Orr and, essentially, gooned it up. OK, he didn’t send his guys out to fight, but he did send them out to hit and face-wash and bodycheck and elbow and stab and just wreak general havoc.

 

The strategy worked as the Rangers outhit Pittsburgh 40-35, outshot Pittsburgh 34-29 and kept the Pens on their heels for 60 minutes.

 

Yesterday, however, for reasons known only to Renney, Orr didn’t dress (Renney dressed Korpikoski “on a hunch”) and so the Rangers coach left himself with a lineup that failed to include it’s toughest fighter (Orr) and its nastiest pest (the injured Sean Avery). The Rangers can’t skate with the Pens, but they can play tougher. Yesterday, in Pittsburgh they did neither.

 

As a result, they’re calling the country club for starting times this morning.

 

Renney had a good chance to come back in this series, even without Avery, but he decided he’d go out a wimp instead of trying to stay in as a goon. Reggie Dunlop would be mighty pissed off today.

 

In the meantime, how about Penguins GM Ray Shero? He’s the guy who went and got Hossa at the trade deadline and yesterday, that decision paid big dividends. Hossa was terrific yesterday and not only scored the game’s opening goal, but added the winner in OT. He now has five goals in the playoffs and is responsible for eliminating the Rangers in five games.

 

Well, OK, he and Renney are responsible. 

 

Now, the only question remaining is: Which Pennsylvania team will face the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup final?

 

Pittsburgh is certainly favoured, but if the Flyers goon it up, they can win it.

 

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Rangers won’t go down without a fight. Literally. Game 4: NY Rangers 3, Pittsburgh 0.

Posted on May 1, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

The New York Rangers refused to lose Thursday night. And now they’ll head back to Pittsburgh down 3-1, but still very much alive in the Eastern Conference semifinal. Although, to be fair, the Rangers beat the Penguins for the fifth time in six games this season at Madison Square Garden. Things are a tad different at the old barn in downtown Pittsburgh.

You could easily have left the Rangers for dead after Game 3, but New York played with toughness and heart Thursday night and shut out a very good Pittsburgh team that didn’t back down from the Rangers sometimes ugly aggressiveness.

I still think Pittsburgh wins this series, but give the Rangers credit, they aren’t going to go down without a fight. Literally.

New York was sandpaper tough Thursday night and because of that, they won a hockey game that many people didn’t expect them to win. Pittsburgh, after all, was 7-0 in the playoffs heading into Thursday night’s Game 4 and they’d just manhandled the Rangers, 5-3, in Game 3.

Last night, however, Rangers coach Tom Renney found his good sense and dressed goonish Colton Orr. Orr played only three minutes and change, but his presence always makes the Rangers tougher. And Thursday night, one of the toughest players on the ice was Jaromir Jagr.

Jagr, who hinted on Tuesday night that Thursday night’s soiree could very well have been his last, scored two goals and dished out an assist, and played as gritty as he has at any time in his career. Don’t believe for one second that Jagr is going to retire. That snippet at Tuesday’s post-game news conference was nothing more or less than gamesmanship. Jagr has never played a better all-around game than he’s playing now and besides, he needs the gambling money.

With Jagr at the top of his game, with Orr smiling mischievously on the bench and with Henrik Lundqvist kicking out everything shot at him (29 saves), the Rangers were clearly the better team on Thursday. But the Penguins showed some jam, as well. Especially Sidney Crosby.

Everybody in a blue shirt took a run at Crosby and yet the Penguins captain kept playing hard. He was the toughest hombre in a white jersey and he proved to the Rangers that he won’t be intimidated.

Crosby will be especially tough on Sunday afternoon back in Pittsburgh. And that’s why I still think the Penguins win this series. 

 

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Red Wings win easily, but it’s a good thing Hasek was so bad he HAD to be replaced.

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

Let us not pull any punches. The Detroit Red Wings were a significantly better hockey team than the Nashville Predators. And, frankly, while the Pope is in the United States he should fly to Nashville and give Barry Trotz sainthood.

 

The Nashville Predators are a lousy hockey team. And they’re lousy for a reason. Gone in an off-season housecleaning that made the books look good and the product look dreadful, were No. 1 goalie Tomas Vokoun, No. 1 defenceman Kimmo Timonen, leading scorer Paul Kariya and gifted rent-a-player Peter Forsberg. Two of the team’s most reliable forwards, Scott Hartnell and Scottie Upshall had moved on and No. 2 scorer Steve Sullivan was hurt. And he’s been gone all season. 

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk5nlr9b6YM]

 

As we told our National Post readers, when they went to training camp in September, Trotz’s best player was 33-year-old Jason Arnott, a guy who hadn‘t been a top line centre since his days in New Jersey a decade ago. J.P. Dumont, a talented underachiever wasn’t bad and Alexander Radulov, a gifted 21-year-old Russian who has been a victim of unrealized potential, was about due. Dan Ellis, Martin Erat, David Legwand, Vernon Fiddler, Dan Hamhuis and Jordin Tootoo were all good players, but they were no-names who could have been up-and-coming country singers for all anybody knew.

 

“Yeah, like who is Dan Ellis?” asked Vancouver Canucks forward Jason Jaffray on 92-CITI-FM one morning. “I’d never heard of him before and I looked in the paper and he had some of the best goalie stats in the league. I had no idea who he was.”

 

Dan Ellis is a 27-year-old from Saskatoon who played at Nebraska-Omaha and was with AHL Iowa last year, but yeah, who knew?

 

The anonymous Preds started the season as if they were going to be so bad, they’d be sold to an owner who wanted to re-locate them to Minsk. Or Winnipeg.

 

And yet, the Preds made the playoffs and went 3-3-2 against the President’s Trophy-winning Red Wings this season. So it was no surprise that after losing the first two games of this opening round series, Nashville caught the Wings at 2-2.

 

For that alone, Trotz should be coach of the year.

 

Reality began to set in on Saturday night, however. In Game 5, Detroit dominated Nashville and Ellis, almost by himself, got his mates to overtime before the Wings scored the winner. Detroit outshot Nashville 54-21 and owned the game. And still, they were fortunate to win.

 

Then, on Sunday, Detroit did it again. They absolutely dominated Nashville and they did it with what’s becoming known as "big European hockey." They’re fast and skilled and better suited for the rough going of the playoffs than many experts imagined. And even though Nashville did everything they could to bang the Wings, Detroit was simply too big — and had too many tough players of their own (McCarty, Draper, Cleary). No matter what Nashville tried to do, it wasn’t going to work.

 

Fact is, the only reason the Preds lasted six games was because Dominik Hasek was so horrible, he personally kept an outclassed Nashville club in the series.

 

Finally, Wings coach Mike Babcock had seen enough. Chris Osgood took over midway through Game 4 and Detroit was suddenly a winner. 

 

Sunday, Nashville’s dream died. The first period was pretty physical and one could argue that Nashville got the best of the hard-ass play, but by the second period, the Preds had nothing left. Detroit outshot the Preds 21-4 in the second period and it was obvious, when Nicklas Lidstrom scored on a lucky bounce, that this one was Detroit’s to lose.

 

Fortunately, for the Wings, there was no Dominator to be found. No sieve to destroy the good karma. With Osgood in net, Detroit was clearly the better team. They outshot Nashville 43-20 and Osgood really didn’t have to make too many difficult saves.

 

It could be said that Dan Ellis was a Conn Smythe candidate based on just six games. In the final two games of the series, he stopped 90 of 94 shots (the final goal on Sunday was scored into an empty net). It was a brilliant performance that kept a bad team in the series.

But ultimately, Detroit was simply better. Period. The President’s Trophy winners deserved to move on and move on they did. With the demise of Dominik Hasek came the rise of the Red Wings.

With goaltending, the Detroit Red Wings are Stanley Cup worthy. Dispatching Nashville, a team that believed it could pull off the upset of the decade, was a great first step. Their next opponents had better be wary.

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