All Hockey Talk

The second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs are over, and how unexciting was that? Two sweeps against teams that should be more evenly matched against each other than their first round opponents. It was a sore dissapointment for general hockey fans as there was minimal intrigue throughout both of the series.

Washington did not feel like showing up apparently, as they were dominated in every facet of the game pretty consistenly. They couldn't seem to score with some powerhouse players, including of course Alexander Ovechkin, and they had no answers for the Lightning's style of defense, and offense for that matter. Some of the games were close, but you just had that feeling that Washington just was not going to get it done. The Lightning played solid in every area, and Roloson has been outstanding for the most part throughout these playoffs. Neuvirth did not play badly for Washington either, but he didn't have the support that he needed very often. The difference in the upcoming series will be that Tampa Bay beat a team that was rolling right along and playing good, strong hockey. Boston beat a struggling Flyers team that rode their early and some mid season success into a high playoff seed.

The Flyers and Bruins series could essentially be summed up in one word: goaltending. The Brian Boucher that showed up for this series is not the one that helped the Flyers to a Stanley Cup berth by any stretch of the imagination. It was a terrible showing by Boucher, while Thomas was THE series changer. You could say that the majority of the periods in the series belonged to the Flyers, but you saw way too many routine saves turn into goals. The Flyers didn't play their best hockey at all, but it wasn't terrible, and a large part of that was that they seemed to be playing too defensively to compensate for the lack of goaltending. There were way too many free outs for Boston, and the Flyers seemed to be trying to fill lanes to block shots rather than be aggressive on the puck in the defensive zone. The series really can be summed up by Tim Thomas's outstanding play in net though. Without that kind of play in net the Flyer's are leading the series heading into victory lane, not getting swept.

The upcoming series between Boston and Tampa Bay should be interesting, but I would have to say Tampa has the best shot of making it to the Stanley Cup. They have very good goaltending right now, solid defense, and an explosive offense. They should be able to outscore the the Bruins where the Flyers couldn't mainly from their goaltending. Also, the Bruins are not very disciplined, and the Tampa powerplay has been lethal so far throughout the playoffs. There will be no sweep here, but the Lightning shouldn't be too nervous throughout the series. Tampa Bay advances to the Stanley Cup with a 4-2 series win.

Well, this year seems to be an atrocious year for the referees in the NHL playoffs. There are a lot of ticky tacky things being called, and then you see some plays that leave you staring blankly at the television wondering exactly how 2 sets of eyes possibly couldn't call something. The playoffs so far have been like watching someone suffer from schizophrenia, and I don't know if there is any rhyme or reason as to why. A good example is Chris Kunitz coming across and completely stretching out the elbow and pre-meditating it, and only getting two minutes. Mike Richards is in a more defensive position and not being the agressor, and gets a 5 minute major for his elbow. Now of course Kunitz did get a game suspension, but how could you not call a major on that? And then in turn, how do you give Richards a major? Richards deserved what he got, I will agree, but for a seemingly less vicious hit, I don't know how you call a major on that.

There needs to be some consistency in hockey, especially in the playoffs. Buffalo didn't score on that 5 minute major, but what if they had on those extra three minutes? Or look at it this way, what if the Flyers didn't have to kill 3 extra minutes of a penalty? The game may have completely changed. As aforementioned, I agree that it was acceptable to call a major, or probably more appropriate a double minor, but as also aforementioned, there is no consistency. The game is very fast paced, so calls can be extremely difficult to make that quickly. Things may look worse than they are, or vice versa. This part of it is completely understandable. But when you see that the referee is looking straight at where an infraction occurs, and watches someone get slashed repeatedly and hooked down to the ice, or watch Ian Smith's face get plastered into the dasher and make no call. Then you watch for a few more minutes and see a light grazing of a defenseman's stick on a forward's glove and call a penalty, when the hands didn't even get pushed, leaves you in disbelief. I am not trying to say the refs are favoring one team over another, because I don't believe that's the case at all, but there is no consistency, and consistency is key in any sport. The players need to know what they can and can't do, and in the playoffs, you should always be allowed to do a little more than in the regular season. This is a game of grit, skill, will, and of course teamwork. Allowing the players to play the game a little more and not call such ticky tacky penalties, and call penalties that should be called, would make the game less frustrating for the players and the fans. The calls may even themselves out over the course of a series, but a few bad calls in one game just might determine the outcome of it, and that is not good for anyone. On the other side of it, any team worthy of lifting Lord Stanley's Cup will have to be worthy, but every team has needed just a little luck putting their hands on it.

Well, this will be about the Eastern Conference in particular, as we have the Rangers against the Caps, the Flyers vs. the Sabers, the Bruins vs. Canadiens, and Pens vs Lightning.

It looks like the Caps may be getting past the first round this year and defeat an offensively challenged Rangers team. I think a lot of the frustration for the Rangers comes from not effectively being able to pressure Washington at all in the offensive zone and not being able to score on rookie goalies, both which are recipes for disaster in the playoffs especially. The only way the Rangers have a chance is is king Henrik can play beyond lights out for the rest of this series, but I still don't think that will be enough. I don't think the Caps will be going to the Cup finals though, they still lack some grit in all areas that will be critical against teams like Philly, Boston, Montreal, or Pittsburgh. As for this round though, they will win this pretty easy against a shabby 8th seed this year. Series ends 4-1 Caps.

The Flyers had some problems against the Sabres, but the score is surely not a tell all in this one. The Flyers have themselves to blame for the loss in game 1. Miller surely played a great game in net, but the Flyers had golden opportunities and just flat out failed to capitalize. The controlled the flow of play for 75% of the game and spent more time in the Sabres end than their own, but couldn't find the back of the net. I give Miller a lot of credit, but the Flyers are much more talented that than. I wouldn't count on this holding up though, I think the Flyers will come out and show their true talent soon enough. The Sabres have too few weapons and the Flyers have too many. Flyers win series 4-2.

The Bruins and Canadiens, I guess this would be my first call for an upset. The Canadiens are just a better team. Boston is an overachiever and a big underachiever in the playoffs, last year for example. It is never good to go out like they did last year, and then to start these playoffs getting dominated? It doesn't bode well, but I thought the Canadiens were the better team from the get go. Boston is a solid regular season team, but I just don't see this team winning a cup. Lucic is good, but nothing special, and the Bruins have little else for offensive talent. Good defense and a great goalie, but that hasn't been the recipe to win the Stanley Cup for a few years, although it plays a big part. I am not saying defensive and goaltending are not key to winning a cup, but I am saying you can't play Devils style from the 90's anymore. You need some good talent up front to win. Canadiens win 4-3.

And for the series no one knows anything about. You have the patchwork Pens against the playoff unknown Lightning... well this generation at least. They do have some playoff experience, but not much throughout the entire team. The goalie and the vets have a good bit, Cup experience and a few a Cup win, but for the majority of the team, very little to none. It's hard to say how this one will go, but after tonight's game I think the Lightning take this one is a tightly matched 7 game series. Lightning 4-3... but don't quote me on that.

Well, the Flyers have pulled him back from the Phantoms, the AHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers, back up to the big club. Sergei Bobrovsky hasn't played all that bad though for the Flyers in recent weeks, so this move comes as a surprise to some. Brian Boucher hasn't been very steady in net though, so this may be a back-up move for Bobrovsky throughout the playoffs. No one is really sure how Leighton will perform though, in his one game back from in the NHL for the Flyers, he did not perform very well. Also, his numbers are not very good down in the AHL either so this is why the move is kind of unsettling to alot of Flyers fans as the team must have very little faith in their current goaltending situation even though Bobrovsky has had very nice stats. Maybe Leighton will be able to pull off another miracle run for the Flyers this postseason, but he didn't get the regular season warm-up that he had last year to do so. The playoffs are looming, so we will shortly find out exactly what their plans are.

Alot of the Flyers current problems seem to stem from the absence of Chris Pronger. Since Pronger has been out, the Flyers have just been stumbling through games, barely winning games that they were easily winning earlier in the season, and losing games that should never be lost. The power play has just completely sputtered and died, and with all the offensive talent the Flyers have, you wouldn't think a defensemen would really make that much of a difference, but apparently it does in the Flyers case. It is obvious that they miss his breakout ability, as the breakouts for the Flyers have oft times been horrendous and leave you with a shocked look on your face wondering exactly what it was that a predominantly veteran team was thinking. It also leaves to question, what is the future of this young team? Without Pronger's veteran leadership abilities on and off the ice, the team is collapsing. He is getting up there in age, so who knows where this team will be when he can't put anymore good years in. The core of the Flyers is here to stay it seems like, so if this is the team they will be minus Pronger, they have a long way to go. Other players need to step up and carry the load, this is too good of a team to be failing as bad as they are. Laviolette has to get this team in gear or he might find his head on the chopping block, even after the Flyers amazing run last postseason. Philadelphia is a sports town of here and now, and they haven't been able to bring the championships home. Let's see how this pans out.

Well, Sid has been skating and working out regularly with the team now for a few days, so the Penguins have an interesting decision to make. A lot of fans would automatically just jump in, get excited, and throw him into the mix which would help the team tremendously in the upcoming playoffs. The Penguins seem to be taking a different approach, a more cautious one to protect their superstar player. And who can blame them? Would it be worth the risk if he isn't 100% when he goes back out? It will also be playoff time, and the hitting will be a lot heavier than during the regular season. Personally, I won't really be surprised no matter what happens. The Penguins of course want to win another Cup, but would it be worth possibly the future and the face of their team? It will be an interesting decision, and one I will be sure to keep an eye on.

If there is a single rule that needs desperately changed in the NHL, it is goaltender interference.  This has gone way too far.  How can an offensive player that is pushed into a goaltender be called for interference?  I understand technically the goalie is being interfered with, but come on, there has to be a line where the defensive team can't just push an opposing player and get a bogus call for it, and this happens too often, and too many goals are impacting games because of this.  It is in desperate need of being changed.

So, I am sure all of you that follow hockey have heard about the some players, coaches, GM's, owners, and of course the media talking constantly about what should be done about headshots.  It is a big issue and isn't likely to go away anytime soon my friends, as I believe it will be hard to come to a consensus on what should be done.  Some people say to look at football, but I don't think you can.  They are not even close to being the same sport.  Football is a much slower paced game with constant breaks, 4-5 second plays, an average of 5-6 minutes of actual in motion gameplay, and of course, people aren't on collision courses going 25-30 mph each. 

Look at some of the big hits this year, the Crosby incident with Steckel, Chara's ridiculous hit on Max Paciorett, and a slew of Matt Cooke's, who is quite possibly the dirtiest player in the league right now.  But let's start with Crosby and Steckel.  Where was the malicious intent?  Where did he even lean into nailing Crosby?  He turned around and started skating up ice, which is completely normal.  This type of incident happens all the time, it just usually doesn't end up with a player hitting another player's head.  I agree with the NHL and no suspension for this play, you cannot start suspending players because a star got hurt, or because they made a legal hockey play and made no attempt to make contact with another players head.  I just do not see where the outrage is about this play, there wasn't an ounce of dirty in this, Steckel isn't even looking at him.


Now for Chara, and I will say this first; I played hockey for 14 years, when I was near the benches going toward center ice, I was fully aware of my surroundings.  Yes the game is fast, and no this wouldn't be an issue if Max didn't get put into a partition, but that's just it, Chara is turned completely, the puck is not in the area, and he knew exactly what he was doing.  Did he intend for the outcome to be that bad?  I doubt it highly.  But as for whether or not he knew the partition was there and Max was going to get drilled into it, I'm pretty sure he did and this was absolutely a malicious play.  Can't agree with the NHL here, not sure what they're looking at.

For Cooke... wow.  Are there many players right now as dirty as he is?  I mean, come on.  Your team strongly voices their opinion on this type of thing, and you do that?  Against the Rangers, could that elbow have been any more planned and labeled for his jaw?  I doubt it.  That is poor hockey.  That is not what fans want to see.  If you do want to see it, you are watching the wrong sport, as that type of play has no place in hockey.  This should be completely outlawed, and severe penalties should be imposed, just as Cooke received.

To finish this up, I don't think all headshots should be eliminated, reason being that it is a fast game and hits like Steckel's happen.  Hits like Chara's and Cooke's cannot use the "it's a fast game" excuse.  There was malicious intent there.  The current rules are fine; don't aim for the head, don't leave you feet, and don't play maliciously with intent to injure someone's head, or anything for that matter.  But if a player ducks down at the last second, why should another player be responsible for that?  Ask yourself that question and think about the situation, and that should help clarify some things for you.