Not a single night without hockey, Sharks - Wings tomorrow night. It has been the only sanity-saving grace besides CA and cigars since I have been off work. Looking forward to what should be an awesome series! :-)

One down. :-) :-)

Let's get it ON!!

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Go WINGS!

WOW!! I never would have thought it that the Bruins would get a home series in this playoffs.
Congrats to the HABs
Now Bring on the Flyers!!!!!
Should be a good Series. I am sure the Flyers wanted the Bruins as well instead of getting the Caps...
ROUND 2 Ding ding ding!!!!!

It is awesome, but I am becoming sleep-deprived! :-):-) They said on the Versus telecast that last night's game was the 49th of the post season so far. I must have watched at least a good portion (if not the entire televised game) of 30-35 of them. :-)

I read this interesting stat on NHL.com this morning.

"The Capitals led 3-1 in the series a week ago, but on Wednesday at 9:37 p.m. ET they officially became the first top-seeded team in NHL history to blow a 3-1 series lead to the eighth seed."

Ouch. Not the kind of record I think Ovie was hoping for on his resume'.

Me and a friend of mine make picks for each round (friendly wager :-)). I figured I'd share my 2nd round picks (remember, I am not very good at this! :-)).

East:
Pens in 5. ---> Could go one of two ways for the Habs. 1) Ride the momentum, 2) Letdown after the emotional series. I'm guessing the latter.

Bruins in 7 ---> As hard as I will be rooting for the Flyers, I think the extended time off will cool Boucher off. I do think the Flyers' style could help shake Rask...Carcillo, Richards, and Hartnell could really drive him nuts based on how emotional he gets. Hopefully they don't take any dumb penalties doing so. This is one series I am seriously hoping I am wrong about. :-) Luckily I won't have to root for the $ because my buddy picked the same as I did. :-)

Wings in 6 ---> Should be a great series. If the Wings play four games anywhere near the level they played game 7 against the 'Yotes they should pull this series off. Funny, I will be rooting for the Sharks, but I just see the Wings winning the series.

Hawks in 7 ---> Although I think Kane's propensity to turn the puck over will eventually bite the Hawks bad (saw it in the Olympics and saw more of it in the 1st round), I just think the Hawks defensemen depth will carry them through what I think will be a great series. I'm hoping it is nearly as entertaining as I think it could be.

Looking at these picks overall...the only team I will be "rooting for" that I actually picked is the Hawks, as I'm hoping it's Habs/Flyers/Sharks/Hawks advancing to the Conference Finals.

And here's to wishing good health to all of the teams. :-)

I really think it depends on what Sharks team shows up/ if the first line decides to grow a pair and play with some heart as to whether Det will be able to have a game like they did in game 7 against the Yotes. In watching that game the Yotes were content to dump it in from center and try to chase the puck. The Wings ate them alive. If the Sharks think they can do that they will also get beat easy.

With the Sharks recent history of losing the first game in the their last four playoff series thats not a good omen.

I just dropped over 120.00 on a new pair of skates for a 4 year old. LOL what is it about this sport that does this.

Something I was thinking about today.. Why is it that the top teams in the NHL don't produce in the playoffs? You have a team like Washington, who dominated the league and led in scoring. Why is it that they aren't built to win in the playoffs? Why is there a different type of hockey to be played in the playoffs? During the regular season you have a much more open game. Playoffs come and everyone is parked in front of the net on Offense and Defense just waiting for that one chance. Consequently because of the tight play in front of the net there is one team that dominates puck time but the other team just continually dumps the puck into the other zone again waiting for that one chance.

I'm not saying I don't like the postseason but something needs to be changed. If they want a higher scoring game, fast pace, and a more open game (like the regular season). Why do all the teams revert to a more puck controlled, defense oriented game?

Simplistically, I think it has a lot to do with sacrifice. During the regular season, players may not layout to stop a slapshot as frequently. They may not go into the corner quite as hard. They may make a blind pass instead of taking a hit to make the safer, often correct play. A lot of those types of plays slow the game down creating bouncing pucks and a slower pace of play.

To me, I prefer the post-season game to the regular season. Not only for the intensity and the importance of each game, but I prefer the style of play....the players play tougher. Sorry to bring this up Mike, but if Marleau "bunny hops" in the regular season, it may be talked about for a week...maybe that long. When it happens in the post season it's talked about for a year. In the regular season, in the long run, hopping may have been the right play (keep your stars healthy (pun intended :-)) and live to fight another day. In the post season? Not by a long shot.

:-)

I have to agree with Joel. (That Hurts, Rotten Flyers:-):-) )
Players and teams are laying it all on the line in the playoffs Players take chances, Hit harder, try different things to score not to look good doing it but to get a win.
During the regular season players and teams don't lay it all out like that.
So you have these insanely talented (The Capitals) teams with these great finesse players that can do anything but end up getting shut down.
Look at the Bruins Last year they went to the finals of the semis in the east but lost to Carolina and they were the best in the East Last year. They beat the Bag out of teams in the regular season and could not handle it when they went up against a hard hitting team that took it to them for Seven Games.

PS Playoff Hockey is the best. It beats out Football, Basketball, and Baseball for intensity:-)

The other factor is that offense sells tickets while defense wins games. The regular season is about filling rinks and making the team owners money so ever team plays a different kind of game, which is why entirely offensive orientated teams like the Caps end up in 1st overall. In the playoffs teams tend to play much more a much more defensively cautious style which tends to shut down freewheeling offenses. If your team can't switch from offensive to defense they ll never do well...... and let's face it, both Ovechkin and the Caps are all offense all the time. There's no off switch or defensive fallback there.

The NHL leaves me scratching my head as to why they made changes to the league to make it more offense orientated but the playoffs turn into a grind it out game.. Teams like the Caps, that are built with a lot of talent, fail in the playoffs because it's a completely different game.

Could the league make a rule change that limits the number of people in front of the net? That would make a huge difference in the playoffs :-)

I grew up in Montreal and even though I've seen some amazing games in my lifetime, that win last night really was something special...another amazing chapter in a storied franchise.

Great goaltending paired with some incredible defense...wow...just wow...

No Marleau for the Sharks tonight...not good! He's the one guy on that line that busts his butt to get to the puck.

Along this same thought, teams play differently at home than on the road during the regular season...at least the Flyers do. I think it has to do somewhat with "putting on a show" for the home fans, but when they're on the road, they play a safer/tighter game. Not sacrificing themselves like they do in the playoffs, but safer.

I agree with your thoughts, Joel, and I too prefer playoff type hockey. Not as exciting in the "freewheeling" aspect, but so much more so in most other respects.

Just ask Martin Erat....hs lazy blind pass to the middle likely cost the Predators the series against the Blackhawks. :-)

Absolutely Tom. Like Marleau's play, if that happened in the regular season, it's forgotten in a week's time.



Pavelsky is on fire!

Holy $*@*! The Sharks came ready to play.