Pens Go 1-1 Over Weekend

Things have been rather hectic for myself over the last few days so this will be relatively short as well.

I'm happy with the weekend's results for the most part.

The 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings was what I expected in that game. The Kings are not a team the Penguins should lose to. They showed up and competed and got the valuable two points in the standings.

The lone goal given up by the Pens can't really be blamed on anyone on the ice. It was a 5-on-3 powerplay goal on a bomb by Drew Doughty that was tipped by Michal Handzus.

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


The blame here will go on the two guys in the penalty box. In this case, Mark Eaton and Jordan Staal took minor penalties 20 seconds apart that eventually set up this goal.

All around I was happy with the performance in this game and even Sunday's 3-1 loss to the hated Flyers.

The Penguins once again wore the ugly powder blue jerseys and paid for it as a result. Can we please stop this experiment already?

For the most part, the Pens dominated the game and forced Martin Biron to win the game for Philadelphia.

The Pens got a few pucks behind Biron, but just not over the goal-line. On several occasions a Flyers player was there to clear the puck out of danger, or Biron somehow found the puck just in time.

The first Flyers goal is entirely Rob Scuderi's fault.

With the Flyers on a powerplay in the first period, Mike Knuble fired a shot on Marc-Andre Fleury who made the save, but left a rebound. Scuderi attempted to clear the puck up the middle of the ice on his backhand while staring Fleury in the face and completely whiffed on it.

The attempted clear became a direct pass to Simon Gagne who buried the puck behind Fleury for the early 1-0 lead.

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


The second goal was another penalty killing mishap in the second period. With the Flyers breaking into the zone and driving to the net, Brooks Orpik made a play on his man as he should have.

Mark Eaton was visibly confused and somehow didn't notice Scott Hartnell racing to the backpost looking for the easy tap-in goal. Jeff Carter saw Hartnell and attempted a pass to him that ended up hitting Hartnell in the skate and going in. The goal was reviewed and deemed legit.

Eaton takes the full point on this one for not blocking the pass and not picking up the backside player.

The Flyers third goal was an empty netter and I will not assign points for empty net goals, unless a Penguin puts it in their own net.

The effort was there, but the bounces went Philadelphia's way. Simple as that. No need to dwell on it. The Penguins just need to focus on continuing to play with high energy and effort and things will work out in the end.

Up next are the recently vastly improved Calgary Flames in what should be a good measuring stick for the Penguins. The Flames come to town on Wednesday.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Kris Letang - 6.34 - 15 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 5.08 - 17 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 5.08 - 16 GP
Hal Gill - 5.34 - 17 GP
Mark Eaton - 6.33 - 18 GP
Brooks Orpik - 5.09 - 18 GP
Rob Scuderi - 4.50 - 18 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Jordan Staal - 2.88 - 18 GP
Evgeni Malkin - 2.0 - 18 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 18 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 18 GP
Tyler Kennedy - 1.0 - 18 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 18 GP
Max Talbot - 1.0 - 18 GP
Sidney Crosby - 0.5 - 4 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

Bruins v. Flyers LIVE!

Here we are on a frigid evening in the northeast, ready to watch some physical hockey between the Boston Bruins (42-12-9) and Philadelphia Flyers (33-18-10) at the Hub of Hockey.

The Flyers come to Boston hoping to end a two-game skid, while the Bruins are hoping to bounce back from their 4-3 OT loss to Washington on Saturday afternoon. If you remember, Tim Thomas was asleep at the wheel when Alexander Semin blasted it by him from 80 feet away. Yes. Eighty feet.

The B's boast a rather sexy 21-4-5 record at the TD Banknorth Garden, but they are just 4-1-4 in their last nine here. It was also the Flyers who beat the Bruins last month which led to Philly going on a nice little win streak.

Some Bruins notes before we get started:

Matt Hunwick will be playing left wing tonight. He played there Saturday, recording a pair of points and looking fairly good for someone out of position. During yesterday's practice he skated on a line with Marc Savard and Phil Kessel. I like this, I like it a lot.

The Bruins and Flyers are both rumored to be interested in Derek Morris, along with any other living, breathing rearguard the NHL has to offer. (Except Hal Gill.)

Milan Lucic is once again a scratch, as he was on Saturday. Remember that beatdown he gave Mike Brown? His hand is still recovering.

Claude Julien and company are looking for a bigger performance out of David Krejci tonight after he missed a goal and then coughed away the puck to Ovechkin on Saturday. It wasn't his best day, but there's plenty of confidence that he'll be back to usual.

Lastly, tonight is the first night of Jack Bingo~! During the game as Jack Edwards says certain phrashes, I will get to mark an X off on my bingo board. I'll post the finished board at the end of the blog, after the game.

There is great satisfaction in placing the first X right through Jack's yellow-toothed grin.

Pregame

Jack gives us a fascinating fact. In a 24 game span earlier this season, Savard and Kessel combined for 23 goals and 40 assists.

That's absolutely disturbing. Then again, you've got to think that Hunwick is gonna have a ton of fun playing with these two.

First Period

Oh my god, Manny Fernandez is in net against the Flyers?

19:20 - Andrew Ference and Scotty Hartnell are already at it, trading a couple of punches, but the gloves don't come off.

18:48 - Scottie Upshall absolutely crushes poor Matt Hunwick at center ice.

17:12 - Joffrey Lupul sent to the box for a hook on Wideman.

Couple of long shots and forced covers at either end of the ice thus far, but nothing truly threatening.

16:00 - Chara kills Flyers captain Mike Richards. He doesn't care who leads the NHL in short-handed goals much.

15:11 - Bruins have a couple of chances toward the end of the power play, including Kobasew snapping a shot wide from the slot. Bruins were very sharp with their passing and maybe should have scored.

13:43 - Michael Ryder sent to the box for a trip. Flyers have been atrocious on the power play latelty. It was ugly against New Jersey this weekend.

11:43 - Bruins have now killed 9 of 10 penalties with Michael Ryder sitting in the box.

Come on Jack, we need some of your ridiculous catchphrases.

8:40 - Bergeron loses an edge going into the corner and is absolutely leveled by Carle.

Still no major chances from either team. There's a lot of physical play that's making this a joy to watch though.

8:06 - Niittymaki makes the first huge save of the night. Bruins cycle it around well and it skips to Krejci to the right, has a writer destined for the top half of the net, Niitty in full butterfly extends with the glove. As Jack said, "LARCENY!"

7:26 - Another Bruins power play as there's too many men of the ice.

5:35 PP GOAL 1-0 Bruins - Quick puck movement, the Bruins move it around the umbrella and Patrice Bergeron beats a well out of position Niity for the goal. Just as I was about to groan to Casey in IM about Bergeron and PJ Axelsson being on the same power play line...

Chara and Savard credited with the assists. Savard has been such a catalyst on this home stand.

3:40 - Wideman sent to the box for a high stick. Flyers have come back fierece since the Bergeron goal, strong on the forecheck and creating chances in the B's zone. This penalty kill will be a decent to test of Manny's mettle. Depending on if Philly has figured things out while up a man.

2:01 - While the Flyers are on the power play, it's important to show a graphic telling us that they have yet to allow a short-handed goal this season.

:46 - You've got to feel bad for Manny when he can't even clear it out from his own trapezoid.

And we're through one period, the Bruins up a goal. They're showing good energy and even better intensity. The Flyers are matching that intensity, plenty of great hits. There's certainly a good amount of vitriol between these two teams and it'll be great to see the gloves drop sooner than later.

Also, what gives Jack? The closest you come to with any phrase is "Larceny" but the box on your damn board is "Grand Larceny." My assumption is I can't count it and I won't. So after one period, the only thing that has an X over it is Jack's face. Smirking at me because he refuses to say any of the phrases on this board.

2nd Period

18:30 - Hunwick looking solid on that left wing tonight. As I suspected he would.

18:11 GOAL 1-1 - Scottie Upshall ties it at one! Savard looking to pass and goes tape to tape onto Upshall who skates in alone and beats Manny under the right arm.

Looks like Savard never saw Upshall coming. Upshall snaked through traffic and just got to the puck as if it were intended for him.

16:19 - Yelle and Bitz crashing the net as Niity covers it. Hartnell comes in from behind and knocks Bitz head first into the crossbar.

13:50 - Nice work by the B's, Krejci works it around the back of the net, Wideman takes a slap shot that deflects all around, falls to Blake Wheeler who can't get the backhander up high enough and Niitty is able to save and cover.

13:03 - During the pause in play, Chara knocks Hartnell to the ice with a quick rabbit right, Coburn tries to get involved and the refs are there to break it up before it goes too far. This was after Hartnell took Bitz into the crossbar and then left his feet to take out Ryder.

So Chara's in the box for roughing and delay. Hartnell's in the box for a couple of minutes as well. Flyers back on the anemic power play. The Bruins outshot the Flyers 1-0 on the last Phily power play.

11:55 -Fernandez "fungos" it out of the air. That's close enough to "Mid-Air Fungo Job" for me. Let's mark us our first X since Jack's face.

9:35 - "D to D for Stuart." Another X. Jack is on a roll!

8:42 - Expert left wing Matt Hunwick into the box for a high stick. Time for another Flyers non-power play.

6:30 - The Flyers are once again killed off, despite Mike Richards creating a couple of chances for his side. They can't snap off the pass, or a Bruin is there to tangle up the puck before it gets to Manny. Yet another good kill for the B's.

5:13 - Hartnell takes about 15 steps into Michael Ryder in front of the Flyers bench and is right called for boarding. It's a B's power play.

4:26 - Jeff Carter (first mention!) skates in two on one and Manny stops the wrister.

2:36 - Bitz rings the iron and the puck falls straight down! Niitty doesn't see it, but falls back onto it for a cover. So close to a Bruins lead here.

Brickley's mic has died. Jack Edwards is alone. I am scared.

After two periods, shots are dead even at 17. I've got the feeling the Flyers got the best of that period, they seemed more physical (maybe mostly Hartnell) and they seemed to have more energy. The Bruins played intensely, but there seemed to be some lethargy sinking in on them. Bitz's ringer off the post was their best shot along with Wheeler's backhand.

Savard has given the puck away a couple of times, including Upshall's goal. Let's see the turnovers and sloppy play cut down, bring up the tempo and get the lead back.

Intermission grammatic fun with Mike Millbury: "They need to stay physically without crossing the line."

Third Period

19:47 - Random, I think tech guy comes on the air a bit, and then says "I gotta get back to my Jack Bingo card." Jack Bingomania is sweeping the New England area. Catch it!

Now say the damn phrases, Jack.

18:18 - Wing to wing! Jack gives me hope.

17:38 GOAL 2-1 Flyers - Simon Gagne! Andrew Alberts blasts it from the point and Gagne makes a beautiful deflection, knocking it onto the ice and under Manny's glove.

16:36 - I don't know if it's the Flyers being "physically" without going over the line wearing on the B's, or if they don't care that much at the moment.

14:40 - "Ference bangs him." We'll take it as an X for "he bangs him."

14:17 GOAL 3-1 Flyers - Former Bruin Mike Knuble! The Flyers making things happen with the chip in. Worked down behind the net, pushed out in front to Knuble in the slot who fires it past Fernandez.

Not looking good for the B's now.

13:03 - Hartnell sent to the box. Shocking. Bruins need to score a goal here.

9:20 - Nothing doing for the B's. Lots of sloppy passing. Flyers not doing so much either, game has gotten mired down a bit. Seems as if the Flyers are out to simply kill off the last nine minutes here.

6:51 - Coming a bit to life now, the Bruins force a face-off to Niitty's right.

4:48 - Flyers just hanging back in layers and dumping it over the heads of the Bruins and taking their sweet time. Bruins are showing some urgency in the offensive zone however, they need to put more shots in on Niitty, but the Flyers are actually looking strong in defense for a night.

4:28 - Kobasew being sent to the box for an ultra-rare holding the stick penalty. I'd say things are looking dire now.

3:35 PP GOAL 4-1 Flyers - Simon Gagne's second! Bruins trying to create chances even short-handed, Richards has it back in the zone, slips it across for Gagne, Manny has already dived in the opposite direction and Gagne simply puts it past him.

1:53 - Brick surmises that the Flyers simply wanted it more in the third period. I agree wholeheartedly.

1:30 - Jeff Carter sent to the box for hooking. The Bruins looking for three goals int he last 90 seconds.

:41.7 PP GOAL 4-2 - Stephane Yelle! Mark Stuart rips a terrific wrister from the point, deflected perfectly and in by Yelle.

That's all the Bruins are going to get though. In a game where they performed extremely well in the first period, fairly well in the second, they completely and utterly gave up in the third. They were overpowered and outmatched by the Flyers over the course of the last 25-30 minutes of the hockey game and certainly didn't deserve any points with their effort tonight. Like Brick said, Philly showed that they clearly wanted this more.

It's almost as if the Bruins didn't show up on the ice in the third. There were chances here and there, but the Flyers defended well, collapsing and layering themselves, not letting the B's get anything through.

What started as a sparking homestand with a dozen goals in two games, has now seen an OT loss and a listless third period in a 4-2 loss to the fourth place Flyers.

I'm sure Claude's going to have some harsh words for his boys after this one. They started to look more like they did in that woebegone road trip than they did just a week ago.

How'd Jack Bingo go? Not so well, Jack disappointed us all and audio difficulties throughout the third period made it difficult. Here's the board anyway:


Jack's gotta do better for us against the Coyotes on Thursday.

2/19 - Live Sabres v Flyers

Tonight's game promises to be an interesting one as the Flyers aim to complete the true NY sweep after beating the Rangers and the Isles this weekend. This is an important stretch for Philly - 9 of their next 12 at home.

Biron gets the start against his old team, not a surprise. Let's see if he can build some confidence off those victories.

PERIOD 1

Early action is end to end, ending with an Upshall break down the wing and a slapper that is gloved by a sprawling Ryan Miller.

18:40 - First penalty of the evening, Paille goes to the box on a hook.

Not a very threatening man advantage, couple of near chances but the puck spent too much time in the wrong end. 1 shot.

12:06 - We reach our first media timeout. Terrific chances for both teams, but the Sabres have picked up their aggression since the penalty. Their D-men are pinching often and giving the Flyers breaks - one team is going to capitalize eventually.

11:26 - Gagne is robbed on the back post after a terrific feed from Richards - great save by Miller.

8:37 - Wow. Giroux just laid a beautiful drop pass for Timonen on the 2 on 1 but Miller forces Kimmo out wide and Giroux can't slam the puck in as its laying near the crease. This was all after the Sabres had tremendous pressure, but their pinching gave up yet another odd man rush.

7:18 - GOAL! 1-0 PHI - Flyers take the lead! Richards grabs it off the boards, fires it to the net and Metro is there to tip it by Miller, who was in solid position.

2:18 - Biron stands tall in net and breaks up a chance for the Sabres after a poor giveaway by Asham. Stuck his glove right in front of Gaustad's stick. Good play, Marty.

:42 - Things are heating up as Hartnell and Hecht almost get into it in the corner. Two strong opportunities for Buffalo and now they'll go on the powerplay as Hartnell goes to the box for roughing.

END 1ST PERIOD

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


Interesting period we had here in Philadelphia. Reminded me of some of the recent Sabres/Flyers playoff series .. back and forth action, odd-man breaks, speed up and down the lineup. Difference is that this time the Flyers have the speed to match. Upshall/Giroux/Powe are flying around, they really look like they enjoy playing together.

This game can go either way - Sabres will return with 1:18 of powerplay time on fresh ice, and we'll take it from there.

PERIOD 2

18:40 - PP over, couple of chances for the Sabres but nothing too troublesome.

16:44 - GOAL - 1-1 - Spacek scores from the slot on a shot that trickle through Biron's pads. A chance that the Flyers shouldn't have allowed - but a goal that Biron should have had.

11:03 - GOAL!! 2-1 PHI - WOW. What incredible forechecking! If you want a sense, the Sabres announcer just said - "the longest spell in your own end of the rink this season for Buffalo". The Richards line just kept plugging away and just when it looked like the Sabres would clear, Gagne stopped it - found Richards, who found Coburn, who put a beauty by Miller.

9:47 - Powe takes a hooking penalty. No complaints, he earned it.

GOAL 2-2 - Spacek scores on a ripped shot on a delayed penalty - so the Sabres tie it and they get another powerplay to boot. Alberts to the box. Ouch.

5:57 - GOAL! 3-2 PHI - You better believe Richards has done it again. Flyers take a 3 on 1 up the ice, turns into a 3 on 2 and Richards takes an excellent pass from Timonen and slips it by Miller for the lead!

Savvy play by Timonen to put that puck on the net. I figured he'd drop it back to the uncovered man but he threaded it to Richards and Miller was caught off guard. The score is starting to reflect the back and forth nature of this game - though the Flyers need to stop taking bad penalties.

1:18 - Richards line generates another great chance but Mike takes the penalty for goaltender interference at the end of their shift. Rivet gave him a nice shove in the head, fans don't like it. Sabres get another late powerplay.

:31 - GOAL 3-3 - Roy finds a loose puck in the crease and shoves it under Biron. Another soft goal, and a huge one in the late stages of this period. Flyers are going to be upset going to the locker room after being able to take back the energy from those penalties.

END 2ND PERIOD

Nothing has changed so far in the first five minutes of the third. Chances for both teams - Flyers forechecking very well, Sabres using speed to break wide and get opportunities. Two dubious no-calls on Sabres have the Wachovia Center in arms.

9:00 - The Upshall line gets a huge chance! They are really continuing to be noticeable in every game that they play together. No goal comes of it but they may be able to turn the play in the Flyers direction, as Buffalo has been controlling of late.

7:18 - Flyers get a powerplay chance after Miller makes a couple of key saves. Lydman to the box. Hooking.

6:09 - GOAL!! 4-3 PHI - Gagne picks up a loose puck behind the net, finds Knuble in the crease, and he slams it home for the lead! Such a steady influence on the PP this year, Knuble.

Flyers keep up the pressure - that powerplay really woke them up.. thank you Lydman.

4:11 - And now the Flyers have used their timeout. They'd just iced the puck - so Stevens must have wanted to rest the guys stuck out there.

Paille had a terrific shot from the slot that Biron was able to shrug aside - Philly maintains the slim lead with another icing.

Furious action! Sabres had a pileup in front of the net but the whistle never blew as the puck trickled across the crease - then the Flyers come the other way with a 2 on 1 but the pass is just out of reach, and play settles down as we approach the 2 minute mark.

1:09 - Miller has gone to the bench, puck finds its way to Biron's glove. Ryan will stay on the bench and we've got 6 on 5 action to finish this up. It's fitting that the game comes down to this - both teams have played well and it's been a pleasure to watch.

And Buffalo takes their timeout so Lindy Ruff can draw up a play.

:42 - GOAL! 5-3 PHI - Richards takes the puck away at the point, slips to center ice and fires the puck into the empty kitchen. That's points on all five goals for Richards, 2+3. Hell of a game.

:9 - GOAL! 6-3 PHI - Miller stays on the bench, Powe steals a puck at the point, streaks up the left boards with his Princeton speed and deposits the puck.

FINAL SCORE - PHILADELPHIA 6 - BUFFALO 3

Well, the final score doesn't tell you how close this game was, but that's merely the result of two empty netters. Can't blame Buffalo for giving it a shot. They ended up outshooting the Flyers 42-38, but can't overcome a late penalty by Lydman and the ensuing PP goal by the Flyers.

Biron let in a couple of soft goals, but he did make 39 saves to his credit. He looked worried at times, but wins will build his confidence, and he certainly wasn't awful.

Powe robbed Richards the chance of being involved on all of Philly's goals - but a five point night is still very impressive.

The NY sweep is complete! Next up: Pittsburgh comes to town on Saturday, fresh off a win over the struggling Canadiens.

Flyers, Rangers Running Diary

The reeling Rangers take on their Atlantic Division foe, the Philadelphia Flyers. These two teams are separate by 1 point in the standings and a Rangers win can jump them from 6th to 4th in the standings while the Flyers still have 2 games in hand.

1st Period
20:00
Prucha in today over Aaron Voros. Renney looking to jump start the offense a little with the move and also likely trying to show off Prucha before the trade deadline.

19:30
Scramble out in front of the Rangers net and Hank is already sprawled out onto the ice. It's never a good sign when your goalie is on his stomach with 30 seconds into the game.

16:00
Hartnell picks Betts' pocket behind the net and feeds Lupul out front. Hank stones him.

15:00
Rangers still have yet to put a puck on net. The Flyers look like a team who all went to bed early last night and were well rested. The Rangers look like they were all drinking until 3:00am and didn't get up until about 45 minutes ago.

13:00
1st break of a pretty calm/sluggish/boring game. Doc Emrick's voice has yet to raise to its normal excitable level. The fan's don't even seem that into the game. We need Colton Orr to just start fighting people to get a pulse back into MSG.

12:00 (GOAL)
Hank allows a weak rebound to the side and tries to dive onto the puck. Powe gets to the puck first and Powe feeds Claude Giroux in front with ho goalie in net. Helen Keller could've scored on that one.

9:30 PP
Rangers have the first man advantage of the period off of a trip by Gagne. This is the opportunity the Rangers need to capitalize on in order to get the crowd back into it and to tie up the game. Rangers 1-26 on the pp since the All Star break.

One minute into the PP and the Rangers are having trouble establishing possession in the Flyers zone. The crowd is booing them, and rightfully so. Philly has a shorty opportunity on a slapshot from the blueline. The PP is over and each team has registered one shot on goal.

7:00 PP
Cluade Giroux outhustles Michal "If I play bad enough they can't trade me" Rozsival and draws an interference penalty. Flyers are playing Tic- Tac- Toe with their passes with Hank making a great save on Richards from Knuble. Penalty killed.

Do people really think that Pizza Hut lasagna is that good that it can fool actual Italians? Are there Pizza Hut's in Italy where Italians go when they don't feel like making good food? There is no way those commercials are filmed with hidden cameras.

Also, the NBC heads up Poker championship is coming soon. I only mention that because they showed Vanessa Rousso in the commercial and she is quite hot.

Return from the commercial and NBC shows that the Flyers lead shots 9-7. There is no way the Rangers have 7 shots on goal.

1:30 (PP)
Naslund draws a penalty for boarding where parent trips and goes into the boards with Naslund behind him. Bad call in my opinion but from the ref's point of view, he has to make that call.

0:10
Hartnell erases the Flyers PP by knocking the stick out of Daniel Girardi's hand. Dumb penalty. This will give the Ranger's a power play about 40 seconds into the period for 1:20. No need to worry for the Flyers fans though, because if the Rangers can't score with 2:00 of power play time, taking away 40% of that will be a near impossibility.

The NBC studio crew just ripped http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/1844 and Drury a new one for having no heart or fire since donning the Broadway Blueshirt. I couldn't agree more. Someone has to light a fire under these guys and mild mannered Tom Renney doesn't seem like the one who can do it. I think Renney is a good coach, but these guys need someone like Keenan to strike the fear of God into them, rather than someone to coddle their feelings.

2nd Period
19:30 PP
Jeff Carter trips Staal going through the neutral zone. Now a 5-3 PP. Paul Mara actually puts a shot on goal. Glove save by Biron due to the lack of traffic in front.

SHORTY GOAL
Mike Richards feed from Coburn off of a blocked shot and Richards flies by the entire Rangers defense and beats Hank top shelf. 2-0 Flyers.

Gagne breakaway where he is hauled down from behind with inexplicably no call. The Flyers have had more scoring opportunities down 2 men than the Rangers up 2 men. The crowd vociferously lets the know how they all collectively feel. I waiting for some sarcastic Ranger's fans to start bringing white towels to the game just to throw them in.

15:00
Renney does his normal "Lets ruin any chemistry we could possibly have" tactic by changing up the lines. While I understand he needs to do something to try and find a line combo that works, there is no cohesion on this team at all. Haven't heard Doc mention Gomez or Zherdev yet this game. Are they even playing?

13:00 Goal 3-0
Mark Staal leave his defensive post to try and help out on a double team out in front. Puck trickles to where Staal should have been and Matt Carle roofs it.

12:00 Goal 4-0
Cue Valiquette. Hank allows a weak wrap around by Glen Metropolit where the puck is thrown across the red line and ricochets off of Hank into the net.

11:00 Goal 5-0
That was quick. Let me just say its rough to keep a running diary of a game where 3 goals are scored only a 2 minute span. Claude Giroux flies by the entire Rangers team and feeds a somehow wide open Mike Richards in the slot. The Flyers have scored 3 goals on 3 shots and I'm waiting for Mirimax to cast Hank in the next Friday the 13th movie. He already has the hockey mask and will kill people by bludgeoning them with his stick. The entire Rangers defense will be the first to be killed.

9:00
I wonder what will happen first, the firing of Renney or the signing of Avery. I think Sather has to give Renney the rest of the season with Avery, but if Sather doesn't pull that trigger, a change has to be made on the coaching staff.

7:00 Goal 5-1
Rangers show some signs of life. Callahan hustles into the corner on the forecheck and beats the rest of the Flyers to the puck. He feeds Korpikoski out front and Lauri sneaks one by Biron down low through traffic. (Note: this traffic was created by the Flyers defensemen rather than the Rangers screening)

6:59 PP
Colton Orr immediately challenges Riley Cote off the faceoff and Cote doesn't take the bait. Orr gets a 2 minute crosschecking penalty and a 10 minute unsportsmanlike conduct. Way to kill the life in the building Colton.

5:00 PP
After a successful penalty kill, the Rangers have an energy boost. This energy leads to a little hustle with the puck and a Claude Giroux trip. Good to see some life in what's left of the crowd in Morgue Square Garden but in all likelihood, this is too little too late.

4:00 Penalty
Mark Staal erases the PP with boarding Powe. Rangers are now 1-30 on the PP, a stellar 3%

3:00 Penalty
During the 4-4, Scott Hartnell trucks Valiquette from behind leading to a goalie interference. Rangers have 20 seconds of 4-3. With Biron on his back and the puck trickling out into the slot, Naslund lets the puck jump over his stick and misses and opportunity to make this 5-2.

1:00
Dubinsky and Hartnell drop their gloves and go at it after shoving around the net. A couple good punches thrown but none really landed. They hug each other and Duby wrestles Hartnell to the ground. Bascially a stalemate. Personal side note: I was tied in PIM going into today in fantasy, and Hartnell has 9 thus far. Other side note. Rangers now 1-32 on the PP.

3rd Period
Seeing how this is a blowout, the 3rd period will more be musings than a running diary.

After Prucha making a nice move off of the faceoff and creating a great scoring chance, why doesn't he play every game and leave Voros on the bench? Voros is a wannabe tough guy and scorer (a la Ryan Getzlaf) but is really neither. He adds little value if he isn't parked out in front of the net and even then the contribution is minimal. Prucha at least gives the illusion of a threat.

The Rangers either don't practice at game speed or have players that tire easily because often their passes are just one step out in front of the intended target. This leads to way too many turnovers.

When fighting, there is no point punching the other guy's helmet repeatedly (Paul Mara). These helmets are made to withstand slapshots from frozen pucks. Now Mara is getting X-rays in the locker room.

The Rangers next two games are against the Blues and Islanders. If those two teams can't jumpstart the Rangers offense, their season may be over.

Allegedly the Rangers have put up 30 shots with 10 minutes left. What the NHL needs to do is come up with a stat for the percentage of shots that are actual scroing chances. While I realize that technically all shots are chances to score, the Rangers have relatively few scoring chances considering they have 30 shots.

Prucha to Redden to Zherdev for the goal. Zherdev great job on the redirect. 5-2 Flyers.

The Prucha Duby Zherdev line is flying around the ice and wreaking havoc. Let's start with this line on the ice tomorrow night and see what happens.

Yet again another disappointment for the NYR. The stars of the game has to be Mike Richards for his back breaking goal, Biron for saving 35 shots, and Claude Giroux for simply single handedly outhustling the entire Rangers roster.

Live from the Holiday Inn

Part of me was very glad I wasn't able to access the site during the game. The inside of the Wachovia Center was bleak and troublesome. The game started out innocently enough, but the lack of urgency on the Flyers first two powerplays spelled doom for the rest of the night. The Flyers outplayed the Sens for many stretches of the game, but couldn't get a bounce to save their life. Niitty wasn't to blame. The defense wasn't entirely to blame. Nothing the Flyers conceived came to fruition. They outshot the Sens, outworked the Sens, but when the chances came, Brian Elliott positioned himself well, or the pucks simply missed the net.

This is the kind of loss you have to write off in the course of a long season. A team that's low in the standings, hungry to make their mark and dent some playoff hopes. It's not so easy for me to write off, though, seeing as this is the only game I'll attend in Philadelphia unless they qualify for the playoffs (and even then, there's no guarantee).

I'm baffled by what happened. Harmless shots from the Senators trickled in all night. They played a decent game, but they were lucky to be in advantageous position for most of the evening.

Good to see Richards and Upshall back but no one on the roster was overly impressive. The only player that needs singling out is Randy Jones, who had an awful game both offensively and defensively. He was chasing and fighting off the puck for the course of the game, and broke up a ton of chances that might've given the Flyers some life.

Every time they seemed to have a spark, the Sens answered. Suppose this is just one of those games.

I have a few pictures from tonight but nothing extraordinary. As soon as my e-mail complies I'll get them posted. Have a good evening.

Pens Put Flyers On Brink Of Elimination

When the game ended tonight, I was talking with Gopher and a very strange feeling came over me. I was happy and very excited obviously, but there was something very different about tonight and I'm not entirely sure why.

I was nervous as usual for the entire third period until Ryan Malone scored to put us up 3-1 and then I started to breathe just a little easier. I couldn't get too excited though since I was at work listening on a 2 minute delay over the web and was tied up with a bunch of stuff relating to the West Virginia Primary tonight.

As I was posting the story about the Penguins to our sites the feeling hit me. The nerves were mysteriously gone in quick fashion for the first time in months.

I was numb.

That's about as best I can describe it. As I wrote the headline "Pens Take Commanding 3-0 Lead Over Flyers" the magnitude of it all hit me.

We're one win away from being in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 91-92 when I was still parading around the house in my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pajamas. Yeah, I had them, what of it? You know you did too.

Now by no means am I saying this series is over, but for the third time in this postseason we have a 3-0 lead. I'll repeat that because even I don't believe I even just typed that and it's true.

The Penguins have a 3-0 lead for the third time this postseason.

I asked for a split and I've at least gotten it. I would much rather have won Game 3 to go up 3-0 like we did than give Philly fans an added edge to get riled up for Game 4 with a chance to tie the series on home ice. You could almost hear the air get sucked out of the building when Malone tucked the puck behind Martin Biron to put the Pens up 3-1. It was almost like when Marian Hossa skated up the middle of the ice and made about 3 guys look stupid and caught Biron off-guard to put us up 2-0 early in the first.



Of course like a little kid, I'm greedy and now want to see us break out the brooms and get rid of Philadelphia quickly. I never thought that I'd see the Pens ever go on a run like they are on right now.

This is like watching the results of my latest Stanley Cup run in NHL 2K8 coming to life. After tonight's game, we are now 11-1 in the playoffs. That doesn't even look right and my head is starting to hurt from trying to wrap my brain around that thought.

Also, Sid the Kid is now the league leader in points for the playoffs. Let's not forget how impressive that is seeing as how he's played in fewer games than any of the other guys near the top of the leader-board. If you'll also notice that Malkin is only one point behind Sid.

Pavel Datsyuk (17) and Henrik Zetterberg (18) are close to Sid who's got 19, but they have both played in 1 more game so far.

Like I said, I'm just numb right now. I don't want to get too excited about being one game from the Stanley Cup Finals since I've been on the good end of a 3-0 series lead being blown. (Thanks Yankees for giving us Sox fans the ultimate bragging rights for all eternity until you guys do the same to us.)

Game 4 is on Thursday and by then we may know who the Western Conference representative will be since Dallas has been awful against Detroit who also leads 3-0.

It's kind of funny how the best series of the playoffs were in the first round when the seeding was much more lopsided. We had three Game 7s in the first round and since then we've had one Game 6 and might not even see a Game 5 in the conference finals. Didn't think that would be the case, but yet here we are.

Pens Lead 2-0, I Should Go Away More Often

Ok, the title bears a little explanation I know. This past weekend I was sunning it up in Cancun, Mexico. Jealous? I am and I was just there. As a result of the trip I missed all of Game 1 and most of Game 2. I returned home in time to see Evgeni Malkin make a terrible pass that got picked off by Mike Richards who then scored shorthanded.

My timing is impeccable.

Before you start saying "Oh poor baby. Missed two hockey games because he was in paradise," think about this. There was no way for me to even know the score of Game 1. None. We got ESPN in the room, but it was ESPN Latin America or something. I watched 90 minutes of SportsCenter in Spanish for nothing. Even the bottom line failed to show anything about the NHL, but I saw enough NBA highlights to think I was still in the States.

Anyway, I got the score of Game 1 from the girlfriend's brother who was able to check it on his phone. Gotta love technology.

I didn't think this whole thing through either. In my head when we planned this trip I was all pumped to go. Then I realized that it would be playoff time and the further the Penguins advanced the more I realized I screwed myself. If you go back and look at a recent post about how you know you love your team too much, you'll see why I was amped up and fidgety this entire weekend.

I must say, if you've never been to Cancun...GET ON A PLANE AND GO RIGHT NOW. You won't get many travel tips from me, but this was an amazing trip and I can't wait to go back someday.

Now back to hockey.

I can't really say much about Game 1 other than that I'm happy we won. All I saw of it were the highlights and I was laughing hysterically at Malkin's shorthanded breakaway goal. He pulled his best Zdeno Chara penalty shot impression and put the game away.

As for Game 2. There was some controversy in the first period when a shot by Gonchar deflected off a bunch of things and appeared to cross the goal-line with Sid hacking away on the doorstep. Video replay was inconclusive and the Pens remained up 1-0. In my humble opinion and since I played goalie for some time, that puck was in the net. No question. I'm just glad this didn't come back and bite us later in the game.

I was not impressed at all with how they played in this game. They were real sloppy and at times lacked focus, yet somehow we found a way to win with of all people but Max Talbot.

Here's what I'm hoping for. The Penguins need to lock Talbot up for a few years and I'll have a new jersey. We named our cat Max because of Talbot. (The girlfriend refuses to admit this, but while she was suggesting names for the cat I waited for her to pick one that had a Pens player's name. As soon as she called out Max, I pounced.) He's by far one of my favorite guys on the team because of his work ethic and the energy he brings to the lineup.

Let's not forget that this whole thing was set up because of a Philly turnover at their own blueline and somehow they couldn't get the puck away from Georges Laraque who dumped it down to Gary Roberts in the corner. Roberts then makes a brilliant no-look pass to a wide open Talbot in the slot who made me jump out of my chair and scare my own little Max.

From that moment on, the Pens looked like the team that has gotten to this point. They absolutely shut the Flyers down for the last 10 minutes of the game and only surrendered one good chance. This new weapon in their arsenal is something I haven't seen out of this team forever. The discipline this team has at this age is what frustrates the daylights out of me when I see stupid penalties being taken. We have the guys to shut a game down like we did in Game 2 and that alone has been a huge factor in their success to this point.

Marc-Andre Fleury was great once again, as was Martin Biron. I was thinking about this earlier today. Biron hasn't played poorly in this series. Did anyone see the sprawling save he made on Crosby after a failed clearing attempt left him in no-man's land? I was half out of my chair dancing around when my jaw hit the floor to see Biron's glove snag that puck.

What has hurt Philly to this point is their turnovers. You can't turn the puck over against a team like Pittsburgh and expect to get away with it. The elite players the Pens have will kill you if you just cough it up to them. Look at Detroit for another example of this.

In any event, we head back to Philly up 2-0 with Game 3 tonight. Of course I'd love to sweep them out of the playoffs, who wouldn't? Again, I don't think we sweep this. All I'm really looking for out of these next two games is another split like we got against the Rangers in the last round. If we head back to Pittsburgh up 3-1 for Game 5 I'll feel pretty good about our chances.

Conferece Finals Predictions

The conference finals are upon us and we're left with 2 teams everyone expected to see and 2 teams that are raising eyebrows.

Most people expected the Red Wings and Penguins to reach the conference finals, while the Stars and Flyers were question marks to get this far.

I didn't expect to see either the Stars or Flyers make it this far. Philly has completely surprised me after how poorly they played with all the injuries they had. They had to fight just to make it into the playoffs and would have been the 8-seed had they not beaten Pittsburgh on the final day of the regular season to jump up to 6th.

The Dallas Stars were my post-trade deadline favorites to come out of the West after landing Brad Richards. Then they were one of the worst teams down the stretch and turned it on against the Ducks and Sharks and now sit one step away from the Stanley Cup Finals.

Let's do this shall we?

Let's start in the East.

Eastern Conference Finals

#2 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #6 Philadelphia Flyers

Well I said before the playoffs started that I was glad we didn't draw the Flyers in the first round because we finished the regular season with two games against them, which would have potentially set up for nine straight games against the same team. I don't care who you are, neither team would have made it out of the second round after playing nine straight games against each other in one of the most heated rivalries in all of hockey.

The Flyers do not get enough credit for how fast they are. When people think of the Flyers one of the first things that comes to mind is, dirty. Yes, they had a ton of suspensions this year and were even warned by the league office about it. Fine. That's never going to change while Bobby Clarke has anything to say about it.

They play a physical style that not many teams can compete with, but guys like Jeff Carter, Daniel Briere, Mike Richards and even R.J. Umberger can all skate pretty well. Umberger has been unbelievable during these playoffs and likes to play against his hometown Penguins.

Another big reason why the Flyers are in the conference finals is the play of goaltender Martin Biron. I can remember watching a couple games of the last series with Montreal and how Biron singlehandedly stole two games by standing on his head.

The big question mark for Philly is can they contain the big three from Pittsburgh in Marian Hossa, Evgeni Malkin and of course Sidney Crosby.

The Canadiens and Penguins are very similar. Both like to get out and skate and have exceptionally skilled players on offense. The biggest difference between the two teams is that the Penguins have Marc-Andre Fleury and not Carey Price.

I said before the playoffs even started that Price would be the reason the Habs would lose if they indeed did get knocked out. I'd like to see anyone try and argue with me that Price wasn't the reason the Habs lost in that series. Price got yanked twice, benched once and shelled in Game 5. He's going to be a great goalie in this league for many years to come and the lessons he learned from being abused in this series will go a long way. Have faith Montreal.

Now I'm not saying Fleury has a ton more experience than Price, but he's been in the league much longer and at least got a taste of playoff hockey last year so he knows what to expect. That experience alone and probably giving up his trademark yellow pads and gloves have carried the Penguins so far. With a 7-1 record with a 1.76 GAA and .936 save percentage are a big reason why the Flyers need to be concerned.

Montreal showed that Biron was capable of giving up goals and the Penguins have shown that they can win shootouts and tight games. Just look at the series against the Rangers as proof.

The Penguins defense has been unbelievable down the stretch and into the playoffs as well as the penalty kill. I hate to admit this, but the addition of Hal Gill has been a big (no pun intended) reason for this.

Two quick danger notes.

For the Penguins, watch out when Gill and Rob Scuderi are on the ice together. Both are great defensive defensemen who love to block shots. The problem is that they aren't exactly fast skaters. The Flyers could exploit this and force Michel Therrien to change it up a little.

For the Flyers, one of their best defensemen is most likely out for the playoffs after blood clots were discovered in his left foot. This is a HUGE loss for the Flyers. If there was one position besides in net that they could not afford to lose someone, it would be on defense.

Bottom Line This is going to get nasty and very quick. This could very well come down to who can keep their emotions in check. Special teams will be huge and the Penguins have the edge. Pittsburgh's PP is 4th in the playoffs clicking at 23.4%, while Philly is clicking at 24%.

The difference is that Philly is the most penalized team in the playoffs and has been shorthanded 57 times whereas Pittsburgh has only been shorthanded 38 and has killed off nearly 90% of them.

Penguins win in 6.

Western Conference

#1 Detroit Red Wings vs. #5 Dallas Stars

Can we say a classic battle of offense against defense? Let's throw another cliche out there. Defense wins championships.

I'm not saying that Detroit can't play defense, but their offense has been the story so far in these playoffs, especially Johan Franzen who has 15 goals in the playoffs including Game 1 against the Stars. (Yes, I'm aware this is a little late being posted, but if you knew the week I had, you'd understand.)

Marty Turco has been a big reason that one of the best defensive teams in the West has made it this far. They took out two of the most dominant teams in the conference in San Jose and Anaheim. I'm shocked really.

Brendan Morrow has been fantastic in these playoffs including ending the best game of the playoffs so far in Game 6 against San Jose to send the Stars into the finals. This team is coming together at just the right time and living up to the potential they have on paper to be one of the most suffocating teams in the entire league.

Detroit on the other hand, has cruised through the playoffs so far. The main reason for this is because they haven't played a team that has been able to force the issue and force them to skate.

Nashville did it for two games on home ice and won both. The problem was that their goaltending was suspect the rest of the time and Detroit pounced. The Stars might not have enough speed to be able to exploit this weakness, but if you look ahead to the Stanley Cup Finals, you can see where I'm going with this.

What the Stars should be able to do is clog up the ice and keep Detroit to the outsides and capitalize on turnovers. I still don't trust Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek with their AARP card memberships in the mail. Yes, Ozzie has played well so far while filling in for Hasek. I just don't trust his body holding up.

Bottom Line: If Dallas can stay out of the box and play the way they have against a high powered Anaheim team, they can pull off the upset here. Seriously. Marty Turco is finally playing like a playoff goalie coming off last season's great seven game series with the Canucks. That was not his fault at all, but he seems to have learned how to win in the playoffs. If the Stars align, it could be onto the Stanley Cup Finals.

Stars win in 7.

NHL Headlines 3/18/08

Pretty sad that I'm about 99% Irish and couldn't celebrate my heritage yesterday because I had to work.

Oh well, that's how it goes I suppose being in the "real world" and out making it on my own.

Let's get into what's going on in the world of pucks.

Hatcher, Umberger Out For Stretch Run

Should the Flyers hold on and make the playoffs as the 8-seed they will be without the slow-footed Derian Hatcher. It was announced that Hatcher is out for the season with a broken right tibia.

Also as another blow to the Flyers is being without R.J. Umberger who will miss at least the next two weeks with a strained MCL.

At this point I think the bubble has burst on the Flyers. They've had too many injuries this season and shown that the guys they have in their farm system are not quite ready to play in the NHL. I give them a lot of credit for turning the franchise around after finishing last in the entire league last year though.

The loss of Umberger is going to be felt mainly in their last two games of the season. They play a home and home with the Penguins. Any of you Flyer or Penguins fans know that Umberger was a big reason why the Flyers were 4-0 to start the series against Pittsburgh this season.

Canucks Win 3-1 Over Coyotes

I'm not one to comment much on individual games every day, but this was a huge win for the Canucks.

Heading into last night's game the Canucks were the 8-seed and had a five-point lead on the Coyotes who are trying to make the playoffs for the first time under Wayne Gretzky.

Henrik Sedin scored a pair of goals, which got my fantasy team off to a great start against Cheech this week. What also helped in terms of my match-up was that Cheech has Ilya Bryzgalov who took the loss and gave up three goals. Hooray for me.

As a result of the win last night, the Canucks are now the 7-seed in the Western Conference. They are tied with the Colorado Avalanche, but hold the the tie-breaker over them.

Enjoy these highlights from our good friends at NHL.com.



Halak Looking To Take Over No. 1 Role

You have got to be kidding me! I'm going a little off topic here and explaining why this might annoy me over the next couple weeks.

As I said yesterday, it's playoff time in my fantasy league. All year long I've had Ray Emery waiting patiently (by this I mean cursing him out at least twice a week) to return to form. It hasn't happened and now Martin Gerber is the clear No. 1 heading into the playoffs.

This gave me the excuse I needed to drop him and somehow Carey Price was available on the free agent list. I don't know how, but I took it as a sign from the fantasy gods.

Flash forward to this past Saturday in what was supposed to be Price's glorious debut for me. Wrong. Three hours before the game TSN.ca informs me that Halak is getting the nod.

Fine, Price can't start them all. I get that. Of course Halak goes on to pitch a shutout and now I'm reading this junk that he may contend for the starting role. He'll be in net tonight again so if you yourself have Price and have other options in net tonight, put them in.

Okposo To Make NHL Debut Tonight

Get used to the name Kyle Okposo especially if you're an Islanders fan.

I'm sure this isn't the scenario he wanted to make his debut in, but he's going to play up with the big boys for the rest of the season to get a taste of the NHL.

This move is the equivalent o waving the white flag on the season. I was actually surprised that the Islanders were as competitive as they were for most of the season and looked as if they would make the playoffs after ripping off six straight wins in February. What killed that was going 2-9 over the next 11 games. Better luck next year boys, but until then enjoy watching Okposo.

The kid is only 19-years-old, but is the best prospect the Islanders have right now.

He will make his debut tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

That's going to do it for the headlines today. It's a pretty quiet day s far. If anything comes up, you know I'll be commenting on it so keep checking back.

Until next time, thanks for reading!

This Week's Hot And Cold Teams

Normally I would have had a couple more posts up already, but things came up hence the delay. Life is like that I suppose.

Anyway, I was reading the latest power rankings on ESPN.com and got inspired to do something similar of my own. If you look at the comments section on the ESPN list, you’ll notice everyone yapping back and forth about why their favorite team isn’t #1.

Here’s the thing, the people doing the list aren’t rocket scientists. They’re normal people like you and me who actually get paid to write this fodder for the masses to chew on. I do get a kick out of reading the comments though. Inevitably there’s some poor sap who barely watches hockey who announces to the world that he/she is an idiot and the entire message board pounces on them like a pack of hyenas taking down an Impala in the African wilderness. (I just watched disc one of the BBC’s “Planet Earth.” If you haven’t seen it, go buy it and watch it on an HD television and prepare to be blown away like I was to see the boy-band era actually exist for longer than 30 seconds.)

Got a little off topic there, but here’s what I’m going to do every once in a while. Might be every week, but who knows. I’m going to pick the three hottest teams in the league and the three teams that should be acting like Tanya Harding asking the judges for a re-do. If you haven’t seen this crying fiasco by now, enjoy.



3 Teams On Fire

#3 Boston Bruins

The Bruins are currently the 6-seed in the Eastern Conference with 77 points. The team is 7-1-2 in their last ten games and is closing in on the Ottawa Senators in the division. They sit three points back of Ottawa and four back of division leader Montreal.

This team has been a pleasant surprise this season and gives the city of Boston another shot at a championship. The Bruins haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1971-72 and I don’t see the streak ending this season.

There is a lot of potential on this team especially in young guy Phil Kessel who will be the leader of this team for years to come. It remains to be seen if he will suffer the same fate as another young guy who was supposed to be the franchise player of the century in Joe Thornton. We all know how that ended up.

#2 New York Rangers

The Rangers are currently the 7-seed in the Eastern Conference with 77 points. Tied with the Bruins above but the B’s have more wins and thus have the 6-seed. They sit five points back of New Jersey and six points back of the conference leading Pittsburgh Penguins and are 7-0-3 in their last ten games.

To quote a famous rapper and then distort the line for my own no-good: “Will the real New York Rangers please stand up?”

Just because I can, I’m going to rant on the Rangers a little.

Where was this display all year? Why have guys like Brendan Shanahan and Jaromir Jagr been making me question why I even follow hockey in the first place if I can’t dominate my fantasy leagues like I have for years. (Shut up Gopher, you got lucky and you know it and I’ll see you in the playoffs this year to take back what is mine.)

Does anyone really want to face this team right now in the playoffs? A month ago I would’ve been jumping up and down with anticipation of the first-round bye, but now the Rangers actually look like the legit contender we all thought they would be at the start of the season. The only question now is, can they keep it up or is this just another chapter in the up and down season they’ve had?

#1 Anaheim Ducks

The Ducks currently sit as the 4-seed in the Western Conference with 83 points. They trail the Pacific Division leading Dallas Stars by four points and the conference leading Red Wings by 11. The Ducks are also 9-1-0 in their last ten games.

It finally looks like the Ducks are once again Stanley Cup contenders and could make a solid defense of their title.

The team really started to turn things around when Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer opted out of retirement and decided to come back for one more year.

Selanne has 12 points (7 goals, 5 assists) in 12 games since returning to the lineup and Niedermayer has brought more stability to the back line.

It’s not a far fetched idea that they could catch and pass the Stars and head into the playoffs as the two or three-seed.

3 Teams Who Should Forget This Week Happened

Normally I would include teams like the Thrashers, Kings, Lighting etc., but it would get old saying the same thing week after week so let’s look at the playoff chasing teams who are slipping.

#3 Detroit Red Wings

This may look weird being on this list, but the Wings have been struggling recently. To keep form with the rest of the team intros: the Wings are currently the 1-seed in the Western Conference with 94 points and lead the 2-seed Stars y seven points.

There’s not much to say about this team. They got out to such a huge lead from the start of the season that this slump isn’t even hurting them. If anything it shows they are human and can be beat. Chris Osgood has finally returned to Earth after being on one ridiculous streak and has now been told he’ll be starting only five of the team’s remaining 15 games so Dominik Hasek can get some WD-40 into his joints and be ready to go for the playoffs.

#2 Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers are currently clinging to a one point lead over the Buffalo Sabres for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 74 points. They are 3-4-3 in their last 10 games.

After losing 10 straight games the Flyers have put together a better week and are back in the playoffs right now, but the injuries they suffered appeared to show that their younger players and farm system are not ready to carry the load just yet.

If they can get healthy they could return to mid-season form where they were leading the Atlantic Division. They’ve shown (much to my utter annoyance) that they can hang with playoff teams, especially Pittsburgh who they would face in the first-round right now.

They better start winning and winning fast because not only are the Sabres one point back, but the Capitals are two points back and the Islanders are only three points back.

#1 Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators are currently the 5-seed in the Eastern Conference with 80 points. They trail the 4-seed New Jersey Devils by two points and Northeast Division leading Montreal by one point.

My my, I guess the saying “the bigger they are, the harder they fall” applies as if it was written about this team. Like the Red Wings, the Senators looked unstoppable at the start of the season, but since the All-Star break the team has been in a tailspin.

They have had some injuries to key players such as Dany Heatley and captain Daniel Alfredsson, but the team has looked like they don’t care about playing hard on some nights. It’s almost as if the rest of the team quits when “The Big 3” (Jason Spezza being the 3rd Musketeer in this equation) are in the lineup.

Let’s also look at the goaltending situation. Martin Gerber has shown moment of brilliance, but has also shown he can’t stop a beach ball at times. His poor wife must spend hours rubbing aloe on his neck to ease the pain of the sunburn.

Same goes for Ray Emery who I believe thinks he’s Muhammad Ali (who’s depicted on his helmet.) Most enforcers don’t even want to throw down with Brian McGratton and yet Ray-Ray has done it on a couple of occasions this year alone.

Unless something drastic happens in Ottawa in the next month, this team is going to be a pushover in the first-round. Emery showed last year that he can be a solid goalie that can carry a team deep in the playoffs, but he hasn’t even resembled his former self for more than a handful of games this season.