**TONIGHT!!!
**
Senators @ Penguins
7:00 PM ET
Penguins by 2.
Rangers @ Devils
7:00 PM ET
*Devils by 1.
*
Avalanche @ Wild
9:00 PM ET
*Avalanche by 1.
*
Flames @ Sharks
10:00 PM ET
Sharks by 1.
He’s only saying because it’s true. Pittsburgh did tank that last game.
Commodore couldn’t stop my sister. He’s quite honestly one of the worst NHL defencemen I have ever seen who gets substantial playing time.
I could never understand why anyone would want him. Watching him go to the Finals with the Flames and Hurricanes, he always struck me as being the guy who was holding the team back. He makes mistake after mistake after mistake, and doesn’t have the speed or skills to recover from them; he has size, but isn’t fast or skilled enough to make it matter.
I went to the game in Buffalo where the Sens won 6-3 a few weeks ago and made a point of specifically watching their defencemen - defensive play is best judged in person, I think - and I was just appalled at Commodore’s incompetence. His positional play was terrible and he couldn’t pass the salt with a clear lane across a kitchen table.
I can’t help but shake the feeling Commodore is a guy who has gotten this far because he has everything going for him except the fundamental senses and skills of an NHL-calibre player. His size and strength is really impressive, so he LOOKS like he should be great. He is apparently a very nice guy, so you like having him around. He loves media attention and plays really well with the press, so they love him. He’s been on two notably successful teams, so you figure, hey, if the Hurricanes won with him, he can win. But when you get right down to it, he’s gonna kill you when he’s out there. Anyone can beat him with speed, he doesn’t move the puck well, and he makes a LOT of mistakes. But since he’s been anointed a Good Canadian Kid with Grit <TM> he seems to get a pass. You watch; he’ll be repeatedly beaten by Pittsburgh attackers but he won’t get criticized.
Quick picks before the games start tonight.
East
Habs in 4. (Boston loses 12 games to Montreal this year…that might be a record.)
Pens in 5. (I’ve never seen a more depressed fanbase than Senators’ fans. Has to count for something.)
Capitals in 7. (More heart than head.)
Rangers in 6. (Devils can’t score plus I’ve learned to bet against Chris Drury in the playoffs.)
West
Wings in 5. (The Preds should be congratulated for making the playoffs and the dismantling that happened in the off-season but the Wings are good…very good.)
Sharks in 6. (I want to pick the upset but I think the Cup stays in California for another year.)
Avalanche in 6. (The glory days are back…at least that’s what I’m hoping.)
Ducks in 7. (Coinflip…I have no idea what’s going to happen.)
Quick picks before the games start tonight.
East
Habs in 4. (Boston loses 12 games to Montreal this year…that might be a record.)
Pens in 5. (I’ve never seen a more depressed fan base than Senators’ fans. Has to count for something.)
Capitals in 7. (More heart than head.)
Rangers in 6. (Devils can’t score plus I’ve learned to bet against Chris Drury in the playoffs.)
West
Wings in 5. (The Preds should be congratulated for making the playoffs and the dismantling that happened in the off-season but the Wings are good…very good.)
Sharks in 6. (I want to pick the upset but I think the Cup stays in California for another year.)
Avalanche in 6. (The glory days are back…at least that’s what I’m hoping.)
Ducks in 7. (Coin flip…I have no idea what’s going to happen.)
I totally lucked out. The first Sharks game tonight is on Versus, but apparently not tomorrow night’s game. That’s the one I’m going to, so I don’t need it on TV. 
Hopefully Volchenkov is OK, that looked really bad. I’m hoping it stayed away from his eyes and mouth…I mean that was a Malkin slapshot.
This 5-on-3 might decide the game.
Watching the Pens-Sens game 1, I amend my prediction. The Sens aren’t going to lose it in four.
They’re gonna lose it in three.
Martin Gerber’s pads defy all known laws of physics. Pucks hit them and come off twice as fast. The rebound that led to the first goal was just brutal.
Not that anybody else on the team showed up, either.
No kidding. The pens looked like they were on a permanent power play. Ottawa couldn’t do much against the Penguins cycling, and Gerber had no rebound control. They looked a little better midway through the second, but they still couldn’t manage any sustained offensive pressure.
In the other early game, the Rangers beat New Jersey 4-1.
Gerber’s never had any rebound control. I’ve been saying that since 2006 after Emery dethroned him as the starter. I really think that a lack of confidence in the goaltending is the root cause of a lot of Ottawa’s problems. Look at the second goal, the one off of the 2-on-1. Chris Phillips was the defenceman on that play. Phillips has been playing in the NHL for well over a decade now. Phillips knows damn well that on a 2-on-1, the defenceman has to take the pass and trust the goalie to stop the shot. But Phillips vacillated between taking Malkin or Sykora, and as a result the cross ice pass was wide open. Why did Phillips hesitate like that? Because he knows damn well that if he takes the pass, Malkin will be beat Gerber with a straight-on shot. Hell, in the last game of the season between Pittsburgh and Ottawa Gerber allowed a goal to Malkin on a straight-on shot on a 2-on-1. Phillips might have even been the defenceman on that play, too.
The really telling thing for me is that Ottawa looks exactly like they did back at the beginning of the 2006 season, when Gerber was handed the starter’s job until Emery took it away. It was only after Emery came in and started giving the team reliable goaltending that the team really started to turn it around. I have no idea why the Sens thought things would work any better with Gerber as the starter this time around, either. Even after the 15-2 start I said that Gerber’s record was a total mirage, that he was playing pretty much just as badly as he had the season before and that having Gerber as the starter could crush the Senators’ confidence so thoroughly that they could miss the playoffs.
And to think that we could have gotten Toskala for Havlat two years ago. That missed opportunity is going to haunt this franchise for a long time.
Don’t forget that (iirc) it was Commodore that made the 2-on-1 possible by pinching in.
Yeah, that was a terrible, terrible play. You can’t make a pinch like that if Malkin’s on the ice. At least when Joe Corvo did idiotic stuff like that you knew that he could make up for it by scoring a goal or something.
The funny thing was that the Senators were the ones with the man advantage. In fact, they had a 5 on 3 advantage twice.
I was listening to XM204 (the live hockey talk channel) and there was a caller from San Jose who claimed he got kicked out of the stands for “yelling too loud” and trying to get the rest of the crowd (section) into the game. The rest of the crowd was too shocked (by trailing Calgary most of the game) to do anything except sit on their hands. If that is true, then they are horrible fans. I’ve been to both Ducks and Kings playoff games over the years and it was ALWAYS loud. Believe it or not, it was better to scream and yell yourself to help drown out the noise around you. You could understand why people were complaining about him (even though this caller was definitely in the right) being the only loud one in the whole section…he was “too loud” to them…and the complainers should have been the ones kicked out, IMHO.
Go out there and scream all you want garygnu…the Sharks need to hear it.
Good, solid wins by New York and Pittsburgh.
Great job by Calgary to keep the Shark fans silent.
Colorado stole that game…Sakic looked 10 years younger on that OT goal.
I went 2-2 last night, with one game dead on.
**Tonight!!!
**
Montreal over Boston by 3.
Detroit over Nashville by 2.
San Jose over Calgary by 1.
Anaheim over Dallas by 2.
The Sharks will be hearing about tee times after my Flames go up 2-0. Then they can go back to the Saddledome and the Sea of Red will let them hear what real hockey fans sound like.
GO FLAMES!
You were saying?
Can you spell “S.H.U.T.O.U.T.” ?
I had a headache by the first intermission, and was hoarse by the second.
Real hockey fans chant “Nabby” for three minutes straight when he robs Nolan in the third. That was a nice TV timeout.
I’m happy.
GO SHARKS!
Stars kicked serious ass.
Shutout the Ducks 4-0. 4/7(?) on powerplays.
Home ice advantage is gone.
And if the Ducks don’t learn to behave themselves, the series will follow. Seven penalties to Dallas versus eleven for Anaheim with most of those of the elbowing, high sticking, and roughing variety. What’s worse is that they have the talent to beat Dallas without all of the crap. Their coach better get a grip on his players or they’ll be the most aggressive jerks on the golf course.
Detroit managed to sneak out a victory against the Preds. Ellis deserves a raise. The Franzen goal was a tip, and the first Zetterberg goal was a laser that he got because he wasn’t covered by the defense. His second goal they really should’ve left Ellis in the net. Too risky to keep your net empty when the faceoff is at your blue line and the other team has been dominating you on faceoffs all night. Nashville also kept shooting themselves in the foot by taking penalties when they were on the power play.
Elsewhere, Montreal shelled Boston as was expected, and San Jose evened the series against Calgary.