Eaves plays on the fourth line and doesn’t kill penalties. He plays well for us, but he’s not a critical component of the team right now. Saprykin will fill in just fine, and actually bring a little more speed into Ottawa’s lineup.
A bit late to the party, sorry. Penguins fan checking in.
With the signing of Malkin I figured they’d be much better than last year. (Or the 3 years before that.) But coming in as the 5th seed? They performed above my expectations.
I’m taking it as it goes, trying not to get my hopes up too high. It feels like they’re switching gears from regular season to playoffs and still trying to get their sea legs. Considering the stadium deal, this is a team building hardcore for a long, stable future.
I won’t go so far as to say they’ll win the Cup, but a carom here, a deflection there, and who knows what will transpire.
With Crosby and Malkin lining up for the next decade (hopefully) us Pens fans have a lot to look forward to.
That’s not even mentioning Staal. It’ll be heartbreaking when they get to unrestricted status, but until then you lucky bastards get to enjoy some amazing offensive hockey. How fair is it that the city that had Lemieux and Jagr together now has Crosby and Malkin? You lucky, lucky bastards. Still- it looks like the lack of any defensive defencemen or skilled (enough) wingers is going to cost you. This year.
Look at that. You limit the number of penalties you take and hold the opposition to under fifty shots and you win the game. Calgary finally got the message.
While Calgary was turning up their performance, the Wings regressed to two seasons ago. They didn’t hit. They tried to carry the puck instead of dump and chase. They looked tired.
Biggest mistake for me came before the game even started. I understand that you want to get Bertuzzi in the lineup, but sitting Hudler? Hudler has been playing amazing for the limited minutes he’s been getting and his line with Franzen and Fillpula racked up two goals in the first two games. Samuelsson should be sitting. His line with Calder and Lang has done squat so far. Samuelsson didn’t even have a shot last night.
Well, now that the Wings lost I can post again. Calgary has me real nervous since the middle of the regular season, and that game proved it, they just win at home . It’s beginning to look alot like Home ice is the whole key to this series, which is something, but doesn’t abate my fear to much. Still they played hard, and there is a chance for a split in Calgary, which would be huge. The Wings PK and PP don’t look too sharp right now, and this is the wrong time to have to retool them. 
Go Wings!!!
We’ll see after tonight. After all, Brodeur is invincible.
It’s a shame when a classy outfit like the Devils loses, but if the Devils get bounced by the Lightning I hope Lou Lamiorello is fired and the Jersey fans come for him with torches and pitchforks.
I have refrained from adding my picks, because invariably, after I make my picks, the team fails to win another game throughout the course of the playoffs.
But I think the Ducks are the chosen ones and Chris Pronger is the reason.
I have had the chance to see him play live during last years run when he took the mediocre Oilers to within a game of the cup.
The guy is so good it’s scary. His positional play, his shot, his reach, his size, hands, passing ability and the fact he seems to always make the right decision with the puck.
This combination makes Pronger the difference in a 7 game series.
Ducks are deep at D, they have good goaltending and fairly balanced scoring on all lines. Ducks over the Wings in 6.
Ottawa has the tools to make it through the east but it will come down to a goaltending dual between Miller and Emery. I take Miller. Sabres over Sens in 7.
Cup final - Ducks over Sabres in 6.
Now watch them all fold like cheap umbrellas. 
.
Ducks did a GREAT job defensively except for 5 seconds on that 2 on 1 short hander…that “chump” Beauchemin played the most minutes with broken jaw and all…+1. Pronger, DiPenta and Huskins…huge 5-3 penalty kill when the other 3 D-men were in the box. Pahlsson had a huge all around game…faceoffs, hits, assists and even helping out on D during that huge penalty kill. Second line looked great…third line looked even better. Giguere eating pucks for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Best game yet so far!
Tonight begins the Islanders comeback!
In other news, the Pope is Jewish.
Brodeur looks like he was back in form tonight. The Bolts were diorganized.
My pick:
Devils over Sabres in the ECF in 6.
Ducks over Sharks in the WCF in 6.
Ducks over the Sharks in 7 in the Finals.
The Ducks beating the Sharks in two different series?
Just like Jaws, the Shark keeps coming back. :dubious: I meant Ducks over Devils.
Home ice continues to be a factor in the Wings/Flames series as the wings pound Calgary 5-1. Special teams did the grunt work with two shorties (one coming from Clearys penalty shot) and two power play goals. Detroits big guns stepped up with Datsyuk and Zetterberg leading the point producers. Now why can’t they do that in Calgary? It’d be nice to have the series over in six rather than dragging it to a game seven.
Congrats to San Jose for putting Nashville out of the playoffs. Have I mentioned how much I hate them? Maybe they’ll spend the time on the golf course figuring out the difference between playoff hockey and cheap crap.
My playoff pick record seems to be intact with the Rangers sweeping Atlanta and with the two players I picked to be goats (Avery and Jagr) proving me to be a colossal idiot. :smack: Likewise Ottawa beating the Pens and Anaheim moving past the Wild. It’s stuff like this that keeps me from gambling.
It’s the first round. The Wings shouldn’t be having this much trouble in the first round, although I think this 5th game was a deciding blow (what’s the deal with goalies swinging sticks like they’re chopping down a tree?)
Series is over next game.
Actually, the Wings have had trouble crossing time zones all season. Seems going west is kryptonite to them. They spanked Calgary at home and struggled at the Saddledome.
As for McLennan, clearly the wings forwards had been bumping him all [del]night[/del] eighteen seconds. :rolleyes: I’d listened to the first two periods on the radio and missed the third so I also missed the raging stupid that ensued. My favorite post game comment was Playfair (heh) saying “We can debate about if it was right or wrong, good or bad, forever.” No. I’m pretty sure that your backup goalie whacking another player about the legs and chest with his stick, one of your top forwards essentially sucker punching Brett Lebda, and your top forwards slashing and spearing Schneider in the chest are pretty much wrong. I think the refs agree with me.
Obviously McLennan will be suspended. Big loss there. When asked if he thought he would be suspended, Franzen replied “I don’t care. He’s not going to play anyways.” I’m wondering if anyone else will miss the game. I’m 50/50 on Langkow. The punch didn’t look too severe, but they are saying that Lebda has a concussion and the league is trying to cut down on goonery like that. As for Iginla, I don’t think he’ll miss the game.
The bigger issue is the seeming increase in this sort of behavior in the playoffs. The Nashville/San Jose series is an example. Ejections and suspensions there. Brad May suspended for three games after punching Kim Johnsson in the series finale. Now the dust up in the Wings/Flames series. When did playoff hockey become crippling the other team? Does the league need to increase the penalties to players and the team for things like this?
I wouldn’t want to be a Canuck after last nights game. At this point it will take a miracle for them to win.
Devils win.
Only MacLennan winds up getting suspended. Woo. I was really nervous about having to face him in net. I’m a bit disappointed that Langkow didn’t get anything for his punch on Lebda. The league did come down hard on the team as a whole though. Playfair was fined $25,000 for not exactly living up to his name and the team was fined $100,000 for all the unnecessary stickwork at the end of the game. Likely this is meant to send a message to the remaining teams in the playoffs that sending a message isn’t appropriate anymore.