2013-2014 NHL Season...

[frae]

Pretty dirty hit by Seabrook on Backes. Your team is up by one in the third and you take a major. StL ties it then wins in OT. Fitting....

If that hit doesn't come with a suspension than I don't know that anything will during the playoffs.

[frae]

I know I haven't been happy watching the Pens play and have thus stayed away from posting, but they finally seemed to look good in the 2nd and 3rd period last night. It hasn't been pretty, I was glad to see Fleurry bounce back after the rough ending to game 4. It sure would have been nice to be done with this series now. CBJ has played and instead of bashing the Pens I'll give them credit. That said, the Pens need to play like they did to end game 5 more often and they really need to end this in Columbus.

Habs and Bruins rolled easily to setup their 2nd round matchup.

Rangers got the Flyers today to take a 3-2 lead there. I called the Rangers in 7 so I'll stick with that.

[Piney Boy]

Anyone watch those final 3 minutes of regulation in the Stars/Ducks game last night? Wow that was fantastic to watch. Ducks pulled their goalie 3 times to score two goals to tie the game. Action was awesome. Lehtonen could not stop every shot. I could not stay up for OT though.

[frae]

I did see those 3 minutes, but like you I was too tired to stay up for OT. I still haven't even see the OT goal. Gotta feel terrible for Dallas, what a gut wrenching way for your season to end. Heck of an effort from the Ducks.

[frae]

It was 50 minutes of great hockey last night and then about 10 minutes of here we go again. Pens looked great for the first 50 and did just about everything right while they built a 4-0 lead. Of course giving up a chance while on the PP and allowing a shorty swung the momentum. Give CBJ a lot of credit for not quitting and creating chances, but seriously the Pens made a 4-0 game with less than 10 minutes left suspenseful. Also some credit to the Columbus fans, while even they were a bit quiet at 4-0 they stayed and used the one goal to get themselves back into it and were very into the game.

Rangers or Flyers are on the horizon now. Hopefully Sutter isn't too injured, he was probably the Pens best forward in the first 6 games. Either way I will not call the Pens prohibitive favorites against any opponent now, they certainly still have the talent to go far, but they sure look very beatable in many moments.

[Grinch]

Just got back from the Rangers win. What a game. Mason was fantastic for Philly, the Rangers went for the old NY football 'prevent defense' for the 3rd period with a 2-0 lead......it almost cost them.

OK, we got half of Pennsylvania eliminated, time for the other half!

[frae]

Always happy to see the Flyers lose. They have still not won a Stanley Cup in my lifetime and I hope they never do.

Anyway, not that it is a huge accomplishment, but I got all 4 winners in the East right and actually got one series game count correct. Onto round 2...

I like the Penguins, shockingly, against the Rangers. The Pens biggest strength is at center and I assume Crosby and Malkin go back to their normal lines now that Geno got it going. The Rangers just don't have the centers to matchup with those 2 and on top of that Sutter looks great right now and is apparently healthy. Still the Rangers are good and Henrik can steal a game anytime, but I like the Pens in 6.

The Bruins are the favorites and they should win, that said I give Montreal a real chance. If you are gambling bet on the B's, but I want to root with my pick and for that I'll take the Habs in 7.

I didn't watch much in the West, but it really does seem San Jose finds some painful ways to lose playoff series. Ouch. Nice to see the Wild have some success too. These will be bad picks based on seeing very little hockey, Hawks in 6 and Ducks in 7.

[BuckyBuckner]

Always happy to see the Flyers lose. They have still not won a Stanley Cup in my lifetime and I hope they never do.

Anyway, not that it is a huge accomplishment, but I got all 4 winners in the East right and actually got one series game count correct. Onto round 2...

I like the Penguins, shockingly, against the Rangers. The Pens biggest strength is at center and I assume Crosby and Malkin go back to their normal lines now that Geno got it going. The Rangers just don't have the centers to matchup with those 2 and on top of that Sutter looks great right now and is apparently healthy. Still the Rangers are good and Henrik can steal a game anytime, but I like the Pens in 6.

The Bruins are the favorites and they should win, that said I give Montreal a real chance. If you are gambling bet on the B's, but I want to root with my pick and for that I'll take the Habs in 7.

I didn't watch much in the West, but it really does seem San Jose finds some painful ways to lose playoff series. Ouch. Nice to see the Wild have some success too. These will be bad picks based on seeing very little hockey, Hawks in 6 and Ducks in 7.

If you are talking about offensive talent sure, but it doesn't matter where the production is coming from. Plus the Rangers centers are very good defensively, crap the entire team is very good defensively, even Rick Nash. It's gonna be a great series. Having said all that, I can't argue that the Penguins have more offensive talent overall but their D and of course Hank can overcome a lot of that talent.

[BuckyBuckner]

Just got back from the Rangers win. What a game. Mason was fantastic for Philly, the Rangers went for the old NY football 'prevent defense' for the 3rd period with a 2-0 lead......it almost cost them.

OK, we got half of Pennsylvania eliminated, time for the other half!

That third period was one of the more stressful periods of hockey I've watched in a long while (well, probably specifically since last years playoffs). I still can't get over how great that pass by Zuc was last night. The announcers actually compared it to a Wayne Gretsky pass.

[Mithrandir]

As it usually does, it will come down to the goalies. Fleury gives no reason to think he can win this series. Lundquist does.

[frae]

I actually think Fleurry played very well against CBJ. After the bad bounce and the only real bad goal he have up in OT in game 4 he looked great in game 5 and the end of 6 was the guys in front of him collapsing. That said until he takes the team deep again questions will remain.

[Grinch]

That third period was one of the more stressful periods of hockey I've watched in a long while (well, probably specifically since last years playoffs).

I called my cardiologist this morning and told him to cancel my stress test as I just had one.

[frae]

Two pretty entertaining games. Henrik looked great last night and for most of the game I was worried he was going to steal it. Sid also looked great for the first time in the playoffs and I need to give credit to Letang, who was brutal in the first 2 or 3 games of the Columbus series, but has been excellent since game 5. I know the Rangers themselves wont' use the schedule as an excuse, but 6 in 9 days coming up tonight, there has to be some fatigue. That said I'm sure the home crowd will give them a burst.

The refs were terrible both ways last night, you can't call it tight to start, then start letting things go. Call the game one way for both sides the entire game. That said here will be my one biased dig, does Carcillo also play for the Italian National soccer team?

Tonight should be good, this series is shaping up to be a very entertaining series.

[frae]

Flower power! Gotta love hearing the boos in MSG...if you are rooting for the Pens. I don't want to jinx it, but the Rangers PP is just killing them. They couldn't even get anything 6 on 4 at the end.

Anyway, that can all change Weds, but I feel good right now. Fleury looks great, Sid is on the board, and the Rangers PP is abysmal.

[Judge Jude]

to be fair, this is the Rangers' 5th game in 7 nights and 6th in 9.
even granting that they could have helped themselves by not needing 7, it's ridiculous to be playing back-to-back nights in Game 6-7 first round (only one of 8 series skedded that way), and then back-to-backs, again different cities, in Games 2-3 of next round.

The Canadiens finished their first-round series while the Rangers were in the middle of Game 3 of a 1-1 series vs Philly....