NHL

NHL and other hockey related posts.

2ITB second round predictions

Chris Ostrander2 Comments

I was a tidy 6/8 with my first round selections in the 2011 Stanly Cup Playoffs. Of course, that means I will go o’fer in round two but that won’t keep me from taking a stab at it anyway.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

#1 Washington Capitals vs. #5 Tampa Bay Lightning

This could be an interesting series. The knee-jerk choice is Washington. They can score almost at will and they did a good job keeping a defensive-minded team, with a good goalie, at bay in round one. The Caps also got strong goaltending, something many had questioned. Tampa, on the other hand, took a while to wake up. They fell behind Pittsburgh 3-1 before igniting their offense a bit and then riding Dwayne Roloson into the second round. It is Roloson’s pair of shutouts against Washington that intrigues me. Also his flawless elimination game record (6-0). If Roloson continues the way he is playing, Tampa will be dangerous. I am willing to go against that, I like Washington’s new-look defensive game and their ability to fill the net. Caps in six. Continue reading →

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Round one recap

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To say the first round of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs were highly entertaining would be a massive understatement.

Half of the series went to a game seven and three of the four deciding games were spectacular. The one exception was the 5-2 drubbing the Flyers put on the Sabres. The other four series were equally entertaining. I would say the Caps 4-1 triumph and Detroit’s sweep of the Desert Dogs were the only ho-hum parts of the first round.

Eastern Conference

#1 Washington Capitals defeat #8 New York Rangers 4-1

I had the Caps winning in five, which really is no great stretch of a prediction. This could have shaped up to be a much different series had Marian Gaborik not gift-wrapped the game four overtime goal for Jason Chimera. The Capitals improved defense was strong as was Michael Neuvirth. Washington scored timely goals and Henrik Lundqvist wasn’t enough to counter the superior match up. Turning point: Marian Gaborik’s gaffe leads to OT winning goal to give Washington a 3-1 series lead. MVP: Michael Neuvirth – 4-1, 1.38 GAA, .946 SV% Continue reading →

Holy cow Canucks

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It is common knowledge that winning the fourth game in a series is the most difficult part of playoff hockey. The Sabres did a fine job of proving that point today.

However, the fact that the Vancouver Canucks can’t get over the hump against the Chicago Blackhawks is astounding.

Drawing the Blackhawks was a worst case scenario for the President’s Trophy winners. Of course, winning the President’s Trophy is a bad omen itself. Chicago has tortured Roberto Luongo and the Canucks for the past two seasons. It certainly seemed as if the Canucks had exorcised some demons after opening up a 3-0 lead with ease. Continue reading →

Have we seen the final game in Glendale?

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Thanks to a largely inconsistent showing and questionable goaltending from Ilya Bryzgalov, the Phoenix Coyotes were dispatched in four games by the Detroit Red Wings.

The bigger story coming out of this series is the fact that many believe that the final NHL game has been played in Glendale. I’m not so sure that is the case.

Since Matthew Hulsizer came forward to purchase the Coyotes about 5,872 stories have been published regarding the pending sale. Some revolve around what Hulsizer needs to complete the purchase, some talk of the major opposition that the Goldwater Institute has posed and some talk about the potential move of the team to Winnipeg.

I have said in this space before that Hulsizer probably shouldn’t be allowed to buy the team with all of this public help. If he can’t leg the deal then so be it. I also think that Winnipeg deserves to have the Jets/Coyotes return. Continue reading →

NBC scores big, ESPN left out again by NHL

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Take a look around the sports sites and blogosphere and you will read that the NHL has made a choice regarding their next television deal.

NBC and Comcast won out in a bidding war that included CBS, ESPN and others. NBC is reported to have bought ten years worth of broadcast rights for $200 million. EDIT: The deal is $2 billion for the next ten years. That equates to $200 million per season. Continue reading →

Why the first round rules

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The Stanley Cup Playoffs is the best sports tournament in the entire world. Nothing can beat it, not the NCAA Tournament, the UEFA Champions League, nothing.

Hayden seems to appreciate the NHL Playoffs, so should you

Sixteen teams needing sixteen wins to hoist the greatest trophy known in sports. There isn’t even an argument regarding that point. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a two month journey that requires perfect timing, a lack of injuries and a few good bounces. Continue reading →

2ITB first-round predictions

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After going just about o’fer on my regular season predictions, here is a look at who I think will advance in the first round of the NHL Playoffs.

East

1. Washington Capitals vs. 8. New York Rangers

This is an interesting series. If Ryan Callahan was healthy and the Rangers had better scoring depth they could really give the Caps a run. However, they don’t have those two things. The Rangers have Henrik Lundqvist and block a lot of shots. It ends there. The Caps play good defense and can score in bunches. Their goaltending is quite suspect but Alex Ovechkin has been heating up over the last half of the season. Plus, Jason Arnott and Scott Hannan were two fantastic acquisitions by George McPhee. Caps in five.

Continue reading →

Looking back at my conference predictions

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A prognosticator I am not. My mock NFL Draft senior year was about 15% correct. When I went about predicting the NHL’s playoff picture back in October, I didn’t have high hopes. Let us see how 2ITB did:

East

Prediction – 1. WAS, 2. PIT, 3. BOS, 4. NJD, 5. BUF, 6. OTT, 7. MTL, 8. PHI, 9. NYR, 10. CAR, 11. TOR, 12. TBL, 13. NYI, 14. ATL, 15. FLA

Actual – 1. WAS, 2. PHI, 3. BOS, 4. PIT, 5. TBL, 6. MTL, 7. BUF, 8. NYR, 9. CAR, 10. TOR, 11. NJD, 12. ATL, 13. OTT, 14. NYI, 15. FLA

So I was a bit off in the middle. Not too many people would have bet on that epic collapse by New Jersey and I, admittedly put far too much stock in Brian Elliott and Pascal Leclaire. Philadelphia overachieved (according to my original calculation) and I vastly underestimated Tampa Bay.

Washington was a pretty easy choice to make, as was keeping Atlanta, Florida and the Islanders at the bottom. Otherwise it was a hodgepodge of close calls and near misses.

West

Prediction – 1. LA, 2. VAN, 3. CHI, 4. SJ, 5. DET, 6. NSH, 7. ANA, 8. CGY, 9. COL, 10. PHX, 11. STL, 12. DAL, 13. MIN, 14. CBJ, 15. EDM

Actual – 1. VAN, 2. SJ, 3. DET, 4. ANA, 5. NSH, 6. PHX, 7. LA, 8. CHI, 9. DAL, 10. CGY, 11. STL, 12. MIN, 13. CBJ, 14. COL, 15. EDM

Since the West is such a crap shoot it would have been pretty hard to predict either way. I gave LA too much credit and it turns out the Hawks didn’t have close to enough depth to compete at the level they did last year.

My biggest oversight was with Colorado at nine, turns out they really stink. The Western playoff picture is extremely interesting this season, with the amount of parity out there it isn’t a stretch to say that any team can advance and any team could have finished two to four places higher.

White at home. Please.

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It is about time the NHL switched back to white jerseys at home and dark on the road.

I say this for two reasons. The Sabres’ white jerseys might be the best in the league and I want to see them here, rather than on TV. Secondly, so many other teams have horrible white uniforms but great dark sweaters, see the Flyers.

After watching Buffalo sport their whites at home a handful of times this year, I really began yearning for the NHL to switch their mandate. It was originally set up to keep teams from needing to bring two sets of gear on long road trips in the event the home team would be wearing their alternate jerseys. Of course, the desire to sell more dark jerseys on a league-wide scale probably had something to do with it too. Continue reading →

Time to do work

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Tonight could be the night. After December, fans were thinking a lottery pick was in the future. Now the Buffalo Sabres are one point away from the NHL Playoffs.

Thanks to a little help from the Thrashers – and a no-show by the Rangers – Buffalo has a magic number of one to clinch over New York or Carolina. The Thrashers could do Buffalo a huge favor tonight by putting away the Canes at Phillips Arena. Continue reading →