Odds & Ends
Another great game in the East last night and now it goes to a Game 7 on Thursday. The Stanley Cup Final will start Monday in either Buffalo or Carolina.
Despite the low scoring, last night's game was high on the entertainment value scale. A lot of good chances, great goaltending on both sides and there were some good hits. This has been one of the better series of the playoffs so far.
One of the highlights of OLN's broadcast had to be having Sabres goalie Martin Biron wearing the microphone for the game. His comment to Eric Staal about not being able to stay on his skates was one of the better audio clips from the players being wired for sound.
While there is surely great joy among the Buffalo faithful after last night's win, one guy is still preparing himself for the big letdown that Buffalo sports fan have experienced over the years.
Mike Heika has an article on e
tar Mike Keane in today's Dallas Morning News. Keane wants to get back to the NHL. With all the talk about the Stars lacking guys like Keane in the playoffs, I hope this isn't Heika's way of saying "Let's bring back Keane."
31 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Oilers
Hats off to the Edmonton Oilers. Would I have picked them at the beginning of the playoffs? No. But I don't there is any doubt they belong in the Stanley Cup Final. It's no fluke. They outplayed Detroit, San Jose and Anaheim. Those are three pretty good hockey teams. The Oilers are a pretty good team.
It is going to be a great atmosphere in Edmonton for Games 3, 4 and, if it goes that far, Game 6. Rexall is going to be rocking.
The guy I am probably happiest for among the Oilers is Ryan Smyth, whose been with the Oilers his entire career and is the heart and soul of that club.
I am not going to try to read too much into what the Oilers and either Buffalo or Carolina making the Stanley Cup Final means in the grand scheme of things. It's too early for that. I will say other teams will look at those teams and the Ducks as models moving forward. It's only natural.
Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, key game today in the East. Somebody is going to go up 3-2 in the Carolina-Buffalo series. Teppo Numminen could be back for the game, which will be a huge boost for the Sabres' banged up defense.
I am sure the Oilers being in the Final will be a TV ratings nightmare for NBC since viewers north of the border don't count in the ratings. It will give Barry Horn, the media writer over at the Dallas Morning News, more opportunities to take shots at the league's dismal TV ratings.
Should the league fret over it? Maybe a little, but not a lot. The ratings are what they are. They've always been low and there is little chance they are going to show any kind of dramatic increase. If the league is going to measure itself by TV ratings, then it's going to be sorely disappointed for years to come.
There are just too many options out there on the TV remote for anyone to reasonably expect the league to make some kind of breakthrough in that area. The NHL is another entertainment product in a market that becomes more crowded each day. That's just reality.
If you ask me, the league should be happy that coming out of the lockout that it's revenues are comparable to 2003-04. That's an accomplishment in itself.
28 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Ducks show signs of life
Well, it took a while but the Mighty Ducks have finally gotten their act together in the Western Conference Final. If you take the last part of the third period of Game 3 and then most of what happened in Game 4, Anaheim clearly put the Oilers on their heels.
I think outside of that meltdown early in the third period of Game 3, the Ducks have played pretty well. They just had not been able to crack Dwayne Roloson. That has changed now.
Interesting move by Randy Carlyle to put J-S Giguere back in net for Game 4. I thought Giguere was OK and didn't think Ilya Bryzgalov had been bad in the series, but the Ducks needed a change.
"I was sort of expecting it," Giguere aid. "When you are down three-nothing you have to make some changes and see what happens."
The Ducks have a long way to go, but if they can win in Anaheim on Saturday things get interesting. That confidence and momentum they have gained over the last four periods of hockey will continue to grow.
Game 4 for Buffalo and Carolina tonight. I thought Game 3 was another good one with Carolina making a valiant comeback effort after falling behind 4-1. The Sabres won, but with a cost. They've lost defenseman Henrik Tallinder for the remainder of the playoffs with a broken arm. Teppo Numminen is still day-to-day.
On to the Stars. With the departure of Francois Giguere the team's front office is going to be shorthanded as the off-season approaches. Giguere won't be around to handle a lot of the contract negotiations. That was one of his key jobs. Someone else will have to do that. Throw in the fact that the draft is coming up in about a month and some people are going to be pulling double duty.
26 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Oilers/Ducks
What a game last night. Or should I say what a third period. Just moments after I was thinking that this was an absolute meltdown by the the Mighty Ducks when they they fell behind 4-0, they storm back to make a game of it.
One second I am thinking Dwayne Roloson's great save on that puck creeping towards the goal line was a backbreaker and then a few seconds later the Ducks score to keep up the pressure.
Not long after Fernando Pisani gives the Oilers a two-goal lead again, the Ducks cut it to one with less than two minutes to go.
It was just a great game. A great win for Edmonton and a valiant comeback effort by the Ducks.
Of course, it was not enough for Anaheim. Had the Ducks come back and won that game I think we could say there has been a huge shift in momentum. But right now momentum still rests with the Oilers, who are rolling towards the Stanley Cup Final.
Ilya Bryzgalov's miscue behind the net that led to the first Edmonton goal and the Ducks' meltdown that led to three straight Oilers goals in the third were just too much to overcome for Anaheim.
For Anaheim, it's now down to one game at a time. Try to win Game 4 and then go from there. Despite Edmonton's 3-0 edge, it's been a competitive series. Roloson and the Oilers' execution, especially on special teams, and their ability to make the most of their opportunities have been the difference.
Oilers GM Kevin Lowe looks like a genius right now in the way he assembled this team. Chris Pronger, acquired in a trade right after the new CBA took effect, has been dominant in the playoffs. Michael Peca, acquired in another trade a few days later, has been superb. Roloson, who was picked up at the deadline, has been the best goalie in the playoffs so far. Forward Sergei Samsonov, picked up at the deadline, has 13 points in 15 playoff games. Defenseman Jaroslav Spacek, acquired in January, has nine points in 15 games.
Looks like the Stars front office could be getting a little thin. The Avs are interested in hiring Stars assistant GM Francois Giguere as their new GM. If Giguere goes, this will give the Stars a chance to bring someone in from outside the organization. Someone with some fresh ideas or a different perspective. Just a thought.
24 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Mavs, NHL playoffs
Remember those ads put out by the Stars encouraging people to jump on the team's playoff run bandwagon? Well, I think the Mavericks' bandwagon is starting to get crowded. There will probably be a need for more vehicles if they can make it to the NBA Final. At least the Stars are getting a little attention in all this. Mike Modano is showing up at the games.
I have to admit I was doing a lot of flipping between the hockey game and Game 7 of the Mavs-Spurs. As is the case with most basketball games, the good stuff happens at the end and I got to see all of it.
I guess the one bad thing about the Mavs advancing past the Spurs is there will be no more reaction shots of Eva Longoria and a lot more of Mark Cuban. I will say that while a Cuban reaction shot lacks the aesthetics of an Eva shot, it far surpasses it in entertainment value. Some of Cuban's reactions are classic.
Anyway, on to hockey. I thought the Hurricanes dominated the Sabres last night despite the 4-3 score. Buffalo got a couple of late goals but this game belonged to Carolina, which really stepped up the physical play from Game 1. It got a little nasty at times, but the pace of that game was superb at times. That is high energy hockey.
High energy is something the Mighty Ducks haven't found in the first two games of the Western Conference Final and they better find some tonight or it is going to be big trouble from Brian Burke's guys. Maybe they are out of gas. I don't know. But they are no where near the level of the Oilers right now. They need to get to Dwayne Roloson, get traffic in front of him and try to take him out of the comfort zone he is in right now. They have shown little willingness to do that in the first two games.
Here's a question and the answer from yesterday's off-day media scrum with Oilers coach Craig MacTavish:
Question: Are you beating Anaheim the way Dallas used to beat you?
MacTavish: I don't think so. The games have been too close. Both games have been really close. I think you're referring to us being more opportunistic, relying on some pretty good defensive play.
But both those games could have gone either way. I think the they're two closer teams than when we played Dallas. I think Dallas, you know, last night would have been a good example. When we went in to Dallas before, we won Game 1, Game 2 was normally a pretty easy game for Dallas. It wasn't so last night. It was closer. In that respect, it's been different.
You know, we have some similarities in terms of our ability to play defense with Dallas when they were winning.
Just find it interesting that the Stars keep coming up in relation to the Oilers.
I think the Los Angeles Kings are headed in the right direction. Dean Lombardi is a good a GM and he made a great move to bring in Marc Crawford as the new head coach. Crawford just looks like he belongs in Los Angeles, doesn't he. He's got the cool hair and he dresses well. He can't play goal though.
23 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Weekend playoffs
The Anaheim Mighty Ducks have some serious problems. It's not just that they are down 0-2 in the series and going to Edmonton. Things aren't going to get any better for the Ducks if they can't find a way to solve the Oilers' defense and Dwayne Roloson. You aren't going to get far scoring one goal a game.
They need to simplify things and just get stuff to the net. They aren't going to skate through the Edmonton defense. They aren't going to make the perfect pass because the Oilers are taking that away.
Roloson looks very good right right now. He is in total control. He's got two assists. That long pass to Michael Peca for the shorthanded tally in Game 1 was a great play.
The Oilers team defense has been great. The Oilers are doing a great job clogging up the neutral zone and then keeping the Ducks on the perimeter once they do get into the Oilers' zone. The Edmonton penalty kill has been top notch. And the Oilers get are getting enough offense to get the job done.
It's going to be tough for the Ducks going to Rexall, which is going to be rocking for Game 3. That is going to be a crazy atmosphere.
I thought Game 1 of Buffalo and Carolina was highly entertaining. Game had a great pace. Ryan Miller was great in goal, especially in the third period. I am looking forward to Game 2 Monday night.
21 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Playoffs, Hull
The Oilers are the final team in the NHL's final four. They simply took it to the Sharks over the last four games of that series. Great series for Dwayne Roloson. Kevin Lowe is looking like a genius with that move. The save on Jonathan Cheechoo in Game 3 was one of the great moments of this year's playoffs. Shawn Horcoff has really stepped it up in the playoffs. I've always thought Jason Smith was a superb defenseman and he showed why in this series.
The Sharks power play let them down in this series. I think they ended up 2-35. They made too many mistakes that resulted in odd-man rushes. That just isn't going to get it done. The Sharks are still a very young team. I don't think they are falling off the map anytime soon. That's still a good young team.
I think the West Final and the East Final have the potential to be great series. These teams are pretty even matched. Buffalo-Carolina should be a real horse race considering the speed of both teams. I expect the Ducks-Oilers to be an intense, physical series.
Winners? I don't know. I think any one of the four teams is capable of taking it all, but I like Anaheim and Buffalo right now. But I just don't see a clear cut superior team out of the four. I just see four very good teams that have a lot of speed, depth and are getting good goaltending right now. It should be fun.
I see the Brett Hull wedding site (which was featured on the message board) made the Sports Illustrated web site this week. Hockey writer Allan Muir has a nice little write up in his blog and mentioned the fact that some Buffalo fans posted some "no goal" related stuff.
Muir also gets to the hear of the matter here, which is the site wasn't password protected. It is now, but it wasn't earlier in the week and that led to the fun and mayhem.
Muir writes:
Now, Hullie had a rocket release, but apparently he's no rocket scientist. For some reason, every aspect of the site was open to the public, including personal photos, information on the date and location of his impending nuptials, even the gift registry Crate and Barrel? Dillard's? Now there's a man who hasn't lost the common touch!
Of course I have to wonder how much involvement Hull had in this little web site. If this were me and my wife, I would simply distance myself and say, "That is more of a chick thing. Do what you want and keep me out of it."
18 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Three down, one to go
Anaheim, Buffalo and Carolina into the final four and Edmonton is one win away from going there. The Sabres and Hurricanes shouldn't be considered big surprises. They were two of the top teams in the East most of the season. I think that they won their second round series in five games each was a little surprising.
The Mighty Ducks shouldn't be a huge surprise either. They started slow but have been playing as well as anyone else since about the beginning of December. Their big hurdle was having a tough first round series against Calgary.
The Sharks look like a team in trouble right now. They experienced a total meltdown in Game 5 last night. "Mental blunders" were the worlds chosen by Sharks coach Ron Wilson. A turnover here, a costly pinch there and a bad penalty over there and the Sharks found themselves 6-3 losers for the second straight game.
There's still a ways to go in the Oilers-Sharks series, but two plays -- both involving goaltenders -- stand out to me. One was the save Dwayne Roloson made on Jonathan Cheechoo in overtime in Game 3. That stop kept the Oilers from going down 3-0. The other was the blunder Vesa Toskala made in coming out of the net in Game 4. That's when he tried to beat Sergei Samsonov to the puck, didn't and Samsonov scored into the wide open net to tie that game 3-3. That changed the momentum in that game and maybe the series.
15 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Playoffs, Perttu Lindgren
So the Ducks move on to the Western Conference Final. They were clearly superior to the Avalanche in just about every area of the game. Could the Stars have handled Colorado the way Anaheim did? I don't think so. The Stars don't have the combination of size and speed the Ducks do.
Ilya Bryzgalov has been very good (great at times) in goal for them. I think their defense is underrated. And they can roll four pretty good lines. Look at what the Joffrey Lupul, Todd Marchant, Dustin Penner trio did offensively in that series. Samuel Pahlsson has been great in a shutdown role against Joe Sakic. He's got some big time help from Rob Niedermayer. It's just a well constructed team. Hats off to Brian Burke for putting it together and Randy Carlyle for making it all work within the first season.
I don't find them boring either. They are built for the new NHL. They have a lot of speed and skill. They combine that with excellent team defense and physical play. It's been a recipe for success.
Another thing that impresses me about the Ducks is their youth. Lupul, Penner, Ryan Getzlaf, Francois Beauchemin and others are really playing well for them. Even though the Avs dispatched the Stars in five and the Ducks had to go seven against a tough Calgary team, the Mighty Ducks just made Colorado look like an old, tired team at times.
I like the Ducks right now.
That said, I think either the Sharks or the Oilers can give Anaheim a run for its money in the next series. Both those teams have great speed, skill and can play physical as well. I expect a great Western Conference Final.
Big game in the Oilers-Sharks series tonight. Game three was a classic.
It looks like the Stars have signed prospect Perttu Lindgren from Finland. I don't consider this that big a deal. They were going to have to sign him this summer or next summer. The ground rules have changed for the European draft picks. You just can't let them sit over their any more. You have two years to sign them just like the North American junior prospects.
The big question is where he plays next season. If he doesn't make the Stars NHL roster apparently he will go back to Finland and play. I don't have a problem with that. He's only 18-years-old. There's no need to rush him over here. He can spend a year developing in Finland, then come over and get acclimated to North America. The Stars have Loui Eriksson ready to make the jump to the NHL and Junior Lessard should be ready to make a push as well.
12 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Good night of hockey
Another excellent night of playoff hockey Monday. Great finish to the third period of the Hurricanes-Devils game and then Carolina wins it in overtime on a goal off a skate. Carolina looks good so far. I guess we'll see how things go as the series shifts back to New Jersey. Martin Brodeur's career record in playoff overtime drops to 8-19.
Pretty good game between Ottawa and Buffalo. It was 7-6 in Game 1 and it ends up 2-1 in Game 2. Both teams cleaned it up. Ryan Miller was superb in net. Great save (with a little luck) on a Jason Spezza breakaway late in the game preserved Buffalo's 2-1 win. Monster hit by Peter Schaeffer on Tim Connolly right at the beginning of the game. Connolly should play the next game. It was a clean hit.
Raffi Torres' hit on Milan Michalek in the Sharks-Oilers game was not exactly clean. It looked like a deliberate blow to the head. Michalek returned to the game, but that could have been a major penalty. Kyle McLaren had a hard hit on the Georges Laraque and knocked the wind out of the Oilers tough guy.
Good win for the Sharks, but I don't see much difference between the two teams. Edmonton played a lot better Monday, and I think these teams are pretty evenly matched.
The Sharks' five-on-three penalty kill for about 1:50 had to be one of the best I can remember. They had two guys out there with no sticks and still killed it off. Unfortunately for the Sharks, the Oilers scored just seconds after it expired. It was still an inspired kill.
You know who I noticed a lot in last night's game? Scott Thornton. It's the not first time in the playoffs. The etar is playing well.
Mighty Ducks and Avalanche tonight. It will be interesting to see if the Ducks can maintain this level they have been playing at lately. If they can, the Avs are going to have a hard time matching it.
I am really enjoying the playoffs right now. These games are intense and hard-fought for a full 60 minutes and beyond at times. They have been fun to watch.
09 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Ducks/Sharks
I thought Colorado played better in Game 2 against the Might Ducks, but it still didn't do much good. Anaheim is playing extremely well.
Ilya Bryzgalov has been good in goal and has made some nice saves, but he is getting a ton of help from the guys in front of him. The Ducks' team defense is stifling. That's when Colorado has the puck, which isn't often. Anaheim's speed, size and physical play are overwhelming the Avalanche.
If you look at how the Stars played against the Avs in their series and then how Anaheim has played the Avs in the first two games, it is not even close. The Mighty Ducks are on an entirely different level. A much higher level. This series is far from over, but Anaheim looks mighty good right now.
The Sharks looked good in taking Game 1 from Edmonton last night 2-1. The score was close, but the Sharks controlled play for the most part. It's a little early to get a read on that series, which continues tonight. Patrick Marleau was superb for the Sharks last night and has been for the entire playoffs. He has eight goals in six games.
The Pacific Division is going to be tough next season. The Sharks are still a young team and the Ducks a young team for the most part as well. Both played very well over the last three-fourths of the season or so. In other words, they just haven't gotten lucky lately.
08 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Round 2 begins
It was an interesting opening night to round two of the playoffs. The Sabres and Senators played a wild game with a thrilling finish. The Mighty Ducks were mighty and demolished the Avalanche.
Buffalo's 7-6 overtime win in Ottawa was very high on entertainment value, especially early in the game and then during the spectacular late finish. This was the opening of the Buffalo News story on the game:
For the second straight series, the Buffalo Sabres finished a game and the postgame was filled with profanities.
This time, the words echoed over and over were "Holy @#$!";
I think I used that particular profanity a couple of times in the final minute-and-a-half of regulation and then again when Chris Drury scored 18 seconds into overtime to win it for the Sabres.
It was that wild. It was also ugly at times. There was some ugly goaltending on both sides and some horrid turnovers, especially the one by Anton Volchenkov that led to Drury's game-winner in OT.
The Mighty Ducks just blitzed the Avalanche, who looked flat to open the series. Sound familiar?
Anaheim's speed and physical play had the Avs on their heels most of the night.
Ilya Bryzgalov turns in his second straight shutout and is now 3-1 with a 0.63 goals against average and a .975 save percentage in the playoffs.
The Francois Beauchemin hit on Andrew Brunette that led to Anaheim's first goal? That was interesting. It was also a key moment in the game. One of those turning point moments.
Was it clean? Well, it wasn't a dirty hit. Was it a penalty? Technically it was interference. Beauchemin hit Brunette before he had the puck. Should the play have been whistled dead because Brunette was hurt? No. Anaheim had the puck and according to the NHL rules the Avs would have had to get the puck before play could have been stopped.
The key was that a couple of Colorado players briefly stopped playing and the Ducks didn't and that led to the odd-man situation in front of the net that resulted in the Sammy Pahlsson goal.
It will be interesting to see how Colorado responds in Game 2.
New Jersey and Carolina play this afternoon. Devils come in with 15 straight wins, including the first round sweep of the Rangers.
Sharks and Oilers don't open until Sunday. That's probably the series I have the most interest in watching.
06 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Odds & Ends
With Anaheim's win last night in Calgary, all five of the lower seeds in the West advance to the next round. Am I shocked? Not really. I've said it before, I don't think there is that much of a difference between all these teams. The playoff seeding of a team just doesn't mean much.
You've always had lower seeds knocking off higher seeds in the NHL playoffs and now, with the salary cap and the parity it brings about, it will probably happen more often.
Of course, it really didn't apply in the East,
I, for one, enjoyed the Anaheim-Calgary series. It wasn't pretty hockey, but it was intense.
Your goaltenders coming through at crunch time in the West are: Ilya Bryzgalov; Vesa Toskala; Jose Theodore; and Dwayne Roloson.
In the East the men in the net who came out on top are: Ray Emery; Cam Ward; Ryan Miller; and, of course, Martin Brodeur.
It's an interesting list. Brodeur, Theodore and Roloson are the only ones who had NHL playoff experience coming into the post-season.
I think we are hitting the great black hole of Stars news for a while. There may be a little news here and there, but probably not a lot until the playoffs are over. There are some signing deadlines for prospects coming up in June, the draft, cap stuff, free agency and more. I am sure there will be enough stuff for me to keep the main site updated regularly during the next few months. Will it be updated every day? I doubt it.
Probably starting next week I'll start looking at the some of the prospects and size up how they did this season. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I got to see a lot of the Iowa games so I'll tackle some of those guys first.
04 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
Game 5
Let the questions begin. The big one is what's wrong? I am sure everyone will have their own opinions. Let's look at a few that stand out to me.
Marty Turco. Could he have been better? Yep. He made some big saves in the tournament but he didn't come up with the big one. He allowed the final goal in three of the games. The Jim Dowd goal in Game 5 was questionable and gave a team that was on its heels some life. Did he outplay Jose Theodore? Not really. Theodore looked shaky at times and gave up some weak goals, but Theodore came up big at crunch time. He allowed just one third period goal in the series and nothing in overtime, and he was very sharp in the Game 5 OT.
Does it all fall on Turco's shoulders? No. Some of the defensive breakdowns early in the series were horrendous, allowing Colorado point blank shots. It's easy to say stop them.
I have to wonder about the adjustments the coaching staff made to Turco's games this year. We heard a lot about patience and positioning. I've always thought Turco was better when he was aggressive and challenging shooters. You play to your strengths. Sometimes you need to coach to a player's strengths.
You have to wonder about some of the Stars' other top players. A lot of them didn't exactly shine in the series. They weren't as good as the top players on the Colorado side.
I said this earlier in the series and it still rings true as we wrap this thing up. Was Mike Modano a bigger impact player than Joe Sakic? No. The Stars big one-two punch at center with Modano and Jason Arnott didn't make much of a difference in this series. Sakic alone equaled Modano and Arnott's point totals combined and Captain Joe came up with big goals in the series. Modano and Arnott didn't.
No one on the Stars could match the impact of Milan Hejduk and Andrew Brunette, who not only racked up some points but scored huge goals in the series. Brunette scored a late goal to tie Game 3 and scored the OT winner in Game 5. Hejduk came up with the big shorthanded goal in that tied Game 2.
Was Sergei Zubov a bigger impact player than Rob Blake? No. Zubov had more points, but Blake stood out in this series. I am not sure Zubov did.
There's the question of the Stars coasting into the playoffs over the final part of the regular season. I think the big problem here was that some elements crept into their game that carried over into the playoffs. The inability to hold a lead late in a game really stands out.
For whatever reason this team just wasn't ready for the playoffs. I thought Joel Quenneville did a better job of having his team ready to play and ready to play the Stars. I thought the strategy to keep the puck away from Turco as much as possible really paid off a times for the Avalanche. It wreaked havoc with the Stars transition game at times, forced turnovers and played right into Colorado's remarkable ability to transition from defense to offense.
The Stars' strategy to just dump pucks on Theodore from everywhere simply backfired. In Game 5 a lot of those early shots were from distance. Theodore held on to several of them and took his chance on the faceoff instead of allowing the Stars to sustain any kind of forechecking pressure, which is how the Stars won Game 4. It probably also helped Theodore get in the game and gain some confidence moving forward. He sure looked it at times.
There's the Dave Tippett question too. He's had this team for three seasons now and the Stars' playoff record has been poor. They've lost three straight series and lost the last two in the first round by going out in five games. This season they were far more competitive, but it is all about wins and losses. The line juggling early in the series seemed to be a panic move.
In a way maybe the Stars weren't as good as we all thought they were. Maybe they thought they were better than they really were. I am sure a lot of experts in the national media will make note of the fact that the Stars, who were great in shootouts during the regular season, fell flat in playoff overtime. Fair argument? Maybe. Maybe not. But the record is what it is.
But if you take away the shootout points, they weren't that much better points-wise than a lot of other teams in the conference. I could bring up Detroit's record and what's happened to them in the playoffs, but they are still playing. That can be talked about another day.
01 May '06 - - default| - § ¶
