Devils, Red Wings, and Canucks Advance
Devils Defuse Lightning
From April 16th: ...Another surprise is the 1-1 tie between New Jersey and Tampa. The Devils don't lose at home in the playoffs so Saturday's 3-2 loss was a shocker, especially since the Lightning only had 20 SOG. Holmqvist shook off the game 1 loss (5 goals on 24 shots) and made 34 saves. Tampa will try to build on that momentum as the series heads south.
From April 19th: Scott Gomez got the game winner in OT last night to help the Devils tie up their series with Tampa at 2. It's back to NJ Friday.
From April 23rd: The New Jersey Devils have beaten the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2. This series got off to a rocky start for future Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur. In each of the first 4 games, he allowed 3 goals, far above his 2.18 GAA during the regular season. But game 5 was the turning point, as he shutout the Lightning with 31 saves. By game 6, he made 32 saves to send New Jersey into the next round.
Until he got his game on, the Devils actually had to muscle up some offense. Sophmore Zach Parise, who had 31 goals in the regular season, led the way with 6 goals. He was followed closely by Brian Gionta with 5 goals. Scotty Gomez had 9 points while Rafalski and Elias had 7.
The Devils really only had to deal with three guys: St. Louis, Lecavalier, and Richards. These guys had 11 of Tampa's 14 goals in the series. It was this lack of depth coupled with an inexperienced goalie that did them in.
Red Wings Douse Flames
From April 16th: The Red Wings have a 2-0 lead over Calgary. Although the scores have been 4-1 and 3-1, they could just as easily have been double that. Kiprusoff has made some fantastic saves in what looks to be a one man effort to keep the Flames in the series. Game 2 opened with 5 penalties for Calgary in the first 8 minutes. Detroit had two two-man advantages over the stretch. Although they only capitalized once (Datsyuk scored in the opening minute), it left Calgary down 2-0 and drained for the rest of the game.
From April 19th: The Flames were all ablaze in game 3. Once back home in the Saddledome, they were re-energized. Jarome Iginla got his first goal of the series and it was the game winner. They look to even up the series before it heads back to Detroit.
From April 23rd: Except for their dismal power play (2-25 in the first three games), it looked like the Detroit Red Wings were going to sweep the Calgary Flames. The Red Wings completely dominated the Flames in the first two games. The only reason why the scores weren't twice as high as they were was because Kiprusoff made a ton of phenomenal saves.
But then the series went to Calgary and suddenly the Flames were a different team. Of the 16 teams that made it to the playoffs, Calgary had the worst road record: 13-20-8. As the series headed back to Detroit, it was all tied up.
Game 5 was Detroit's again. Once again Calgary's inability to do anything constructive outside of the Saddledome killed them. So, they decided to get brutally physical. They could've billed it as "Thugs On Ice" for all that went on. As soon as the game was lost, the Flames played to injure, rather that score goals.
"It was really about getting some fights going at that point to keep our energy up and carry some anger into the next game," Iginla said with several new stitches over his left eye. "We're not going away."
Back up goalie Jamie McLennan deliberately slashed Johan Frazen twice in the back of the legs and then attempted to eviscerate him. I had a Chris Simon flashback it was so bad. I mean, it was with a goalie stick! McLennan complained that the Red Wings were all over Kiprusoff and he needed to fight back. He was on the ice for a total of 18 seconds. This was an obvious and deliberate attempt to injure. There's no place for this in hockey.
McLennan got a meager 5 game suspension while the coach was fined $10,000 and the team was fined $100,000. I'm hoping the NHL's message was loud and clear.
In game 6, Joahn Frazen scored the series winning goal in OT in Calgary. Revenge couldn't have been sweeter.
Canucks Outlast Stars
From April 12th: The very late Vancouver - Dallas game was televised. I watched some of it through the first OT, but the game went on to a staggering 4th OT before it was settled in Vancouver's favor 5-4. The Stars played harder than I thought they would and the Canucks blew a 2 goal lead in the 3rd period. Ladislav Nagy, a trade deadline acquisition from Phoenix (it wasn't like they were going anywhere) scored the tying goal for Dallas. The Sedin brothers each had a goal, Henrik's was the game winner. It was Vancouver goalie Robert Luongo's 1st playoff game, and likely his longest. Fortunately for both teams, they have tonight off.
From April 16th: Vancouver leads Dallas in their series 2-1. It took OT, just one this time, for the Canucks to win game three 2-1. Despite trailing, Marty Turco has played exceptionally well. Since allowing 4 goals on just 22 shots in regulation on game 1, Turco has only allowed 2 goals on 95 shots! Now if only his teammates could help him out a bit and score some goals.
From Today: Speaking of the Canucks, I wasn't too sure that they wanted to win their series against Dallas. Then again, I wasn't too sure the Stars wanted to win either.
Neither team excelled on the power play. Dallas was 10% while Vancouver was 7.9%.
Marty Turco, Dallas' goalie, was amazing. He had 3 shutouts, a 1.30 GAA, and a save percentage of 95.2. But he couldn't get his team to score many goals. The team scored 12 goals in 7 games. Look at it this way: any time that Vancouver got a goal, they won their game.
Luongo, Vancouver's goalie, was no slouch either. He had a 1.41 GAA and a save percentage of 95%. Vancouver had 13 goals in the series. Well 4 games actually. They'll need to pick up the goal scoring if they want to beat Anaheim's tough pair of Giguere and Bryzgalov.
\_/
DED
From April 16th: ...Another surprise is the 1-1 tie between New Jersey and Tampa. The Devils don't lose at home in the playoffs so Saturday's 3-2 loss was a shocker, especially since the Lightning only had 20 SOG. Holmqvist shook off the game 1 loss (5 goals on 24 shots) and made 34 saves. Tampa will try to build on that momentum as the series heads south.
From April 19th: Scott Gomez got the game winner in OT last night to help the Devils tie up their series with Tampa at 2. It's back to NJ Friday.
From April 23rd: The New Jersey Devils have beaten the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2. This series got off to a rocky start for future Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur. In each of the first 4 games, he allowed 3 goals, far above his 2.18 GAA during the regular season. But game 5 was the turning point, as he shutout the Lightning with 31 saves. By game 6, he made 32 saves to send New Jersey into the next round.
Until he got his game on, the Devils actually had to muscle up some offense. Sophmore Zach Parise, who had 31 goals in the regular season, led the way with 6 goals. He was followed closely by Brian Gionta with 5 goals. Scotty Gomez had 9 points while Rafalski and Elias had 7.
The Devils really only had to deal with three guys: St. Louis, Lecavalier, and Richards. These guys had 11 of Tampa's 14 goals in the series. It was this lack of depth coupled with an inexperienced goalie that did them in.
Red Wings Douse Flames
From April 16th: The Red Wings have a 2-0 lead over Calgary. Although the scores have been 4-1 and 3-1, they could just as easily have been double that. Kiprusoff has made some fantastic saves in what looks to be a one man effort to keep the Flames in the series. Game 2 opened with 5 penalties for Calgary in the first 8 minutes. Detroit had two two-man advantages over the stretch. Although they only capitalized once (Datsyuk scored in the opening minute), it left Calgary down 2-0 and drained for the rest of the game.
From April 19th: The Flames were all ablaze in game 3. Once back home in the Saddledome, they were re-energized. Jarome Iginla got his first goal of the series and it was the game winner. They look to even up the series before it heads back to Detroit.
From April 23rd: Except for their dismal power play (2-25 in the first three games), it looked like the Detroit Red Wings were going to sweep the Calgary Flames. The Red Wings completely dominated the Flames in the first two games. The only reason why the scores weren't twice as high as they were was because Kiprusoff made a ton of phenomenal saves.
But then the series went to Calgary and suddenly the Flames were a different team. Of the 16 teams that made it to the playoffs, Calgary had the worst road record: 13-20-8. As the series headed back to Detroit, it was all tied up.
Game 5 was Detroit's again. Once again Calgary's inability to do anything constructive outside of the Saddledome killed them. So, they decided to get brutally physical. They could've billed it as "Thugs On Ice" for all that went on. As soon as the game was lost, the Flames played to injure, rather that score goals.
"It was really about getting some fights going at that point to keep our energy up and carry some anger into the next game," Iginla said with several new stitches over his left eye. "We're not going away."
Back up goalie Jamie McLennan deliberately slashed Johan Frazen twice in the back of the legs and then attempted to eviscerate him. I had a Chris Simon flashback it was so bad. I mean, it was with a goalie stick! McLennan complained that the Red Wings were all over Kiprusoff and he needed to fight back. He was on the ice for a total of 18 seconds. This was an obvious and deliberate attempt to injure. There's no place for this in hockey.
McLennan got a meager 5 game suspension while the coach was fined $10,000 and the team was fined $100,000. I'm hoping the NHL's message was loud and clear.
In game 6, Joahn Frazen scored the series winning goal in OT in Calgary. Revenge couldn't have been sweeter.
Canucks Outlast Stars
From April 12th: The very late Vancouver - Dallas game was televised. I watched some of it through the first OT, but the game went on to a staggering 4th OT before it was settled in Vancouver's favor 5-4. The Stars played harder than I thought they would and the Canucks blew a 2 goal lead in the 3rd period. Ladislav Nagy, a trade deadline acquisition from Phoenix (it wasn't like they were going anywhere) scored the tying goal for Dallas. The Sedin brothers each had a goal, Henrik's was the game winner. It was Vancouver goalie Robert Luongo's 1st playoff game, and likely his longest. Fortunately for both teams, they have tonight off.
From April 16th: Vancouver leads Dallas in their series 2-1. It took OT, just one this time, for the Canucks to win game three 2-1. Despite trailing, Marty Turco has played exceptionally well. Since allowing 4 goals on just 22 shots in regulation on game 1, Turco has only allowed 2 goals on 95 shots! Now if only his teammates could help him out a bit and score some goals.
From Today: Speaking of the Canucks, I wasn't too sure that they wanted to win their series against Dallas. Then again, I wasn't too sure the Stars wanted to win either.
Neither team excelled on the power play. Dallas was 10% while Vancouver was 7.9%.
Marty Turco, Dallas' goalie, was amazing. He had 3 shutouts, a 1.30 GAA, and a save percentage of 95.2. But he couldn't get his team to score many goals. The team scored 12 goals in 7 games. Look at it this way: any time that Vancouver got a goal, they won their game.
Luongo, Vancouver's goalie, was no slouch either. He had a 1.41 GAA and a save percentage of 95%. Vancouver had 13 goals in the series. Well 4 games actually. They'll need to pick up the goal scoring if they want to beat Anaheim's tough pair of Giguere and Bryzgalov.
\_/
DED
Labels: hockey
posted by DED at 9:21 PM
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