Although it is impossible to truly follow all of the games here are some reflections and opinions from the forth day of playoff action:
1) The Bruins are a playoff fraud! Argue all you want Bruins fans, the B’s have lost 6 straight playoff games, which includes the Fukushima like meltdown last year against the Flyers. Check out their playoff history http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=bostonpost. This link does not include this year or last year. Think about this… the Bruins have never seen what are called the “Eastern Conference Finals.” Their last conference finals appearance was in 1992, when it was called the “Wales Conference.”
2) The Canadiens have a game plan, and they are following it to perfection. They are making sure Carey Price can see the puck, they are clearing rebounds, and they are letting the Bruins discipline problems crush them. The Bruins are taking too many penalties, and seem to be preoccupied with P.K. Subban. Time for players like Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic to score goals rather than chase P.K. around.
3) The NHL has the playoff schedule done perfectly! Who doesn’t like a Saturday when you can watch hockey from 1pm EST to 1am? What a day of hockey!
4) Instead of using two goalies, the Flyers may use three this year. It took one game and 12:30 to see the Flyers use their second goalie. Coach Peter Laviolette waited one goal too long to pull Sergei Bobrovsky as he was flopping around, looking very shaky. Buffalo capitalized with three goals on 7 shots, but had trouble breaking Brian Boucher once he came in. Boucher allowed only one goal on 21 shots, and made some great saves immediately after entering the game. Boucher has to get the start for game three in Buffalo Monday. Michael Leighton is back with the team after playing most of the season in the AHL with Adirondack. When will he see action?
5) When was the last time you saw a period like the first period of the Flyers/Sabres game? It saw 6 goals, one fight, a disallowed goal that was blocked by a players head, and a goalie pulled. It was a very undisciplined period from both teams, but who cares, it was one of the most entertaining periods of hockey I have seen in a long time.
6) Drew Doughty is back. All year there has been talk about Doughty regressing. Last night proved he still has it. The Kings climbed back to even the series at one game each. Doughty dominated offensively and defensively. Without leading scorer Anze Koptar someone on the Kings needed to step up. Doughty ended the game with 2 goals and 2 assists, and more importantly the Kings shutout the Sharks, winning 4-0.
7) If you did not see the game, make sure you see the highlights of the Red Wings/Coyotes game. http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=35&id=109063
Pavel Datsyuk was a one man show. He finished the game with one goal and three assists, but that doesn’t tell the complete story. Datsyuk owned the puck. He mesmerized the Coyotes defensemen all game and it was the best performance of the playoffs thus far.
Here is the schedule for today’s games.
Washington @ NY Rangers 3:00pm EST
Anaheim @ Nashville 6:00pm EST
Vancouver @ Chicago 8:00pm EST
Tweets tonight of the Canucks/Blackhawks game @getrealhockey. I will also be tweeting the Flyers/Sabres game tomorrow @getrealhockey.
Follow my articles and tweets @Chyz1
-Mark Chyz
No comments:
Post a Comment