Off Wing Opinion

Just saw the shot that Ville Nieminen just delivered to Vincent Lecavalier that resulted in a 5-minute major against Calgary with less than four minutes to go. Some thoughts:

1) I've loved the way the Nieminen has played this post season, but this penalty was as dumb as they come. A shot to the head, from behind, with your team down a goal. As they say at Mastercard, priceless. . .

2) Normally, this shot would have simply been a two-minute penalty (probably a boarding call) -- but the severity of the injury was exacerbated by Lacavalier's own carelessness. The force of the blow alone was enough to dislodge the helmet from Lecavalier's head before he ever hit the boards, in part, because his chin strap was unfastened. Furthermore, like most NHL players, Lecavalier wears a rather loose-fitting helmet that is easy to dislodge.

Why does this continue to happen? Ask the players. For most of them, comfort and convenience trump safety every time -- even as careers are potentially cut short by severe injuries.

As the horn blew to end the game at 1-0 for Tampa Bay, Jarome Iginla was yelling at the refs because of the call. But he really doesn't have a leg to stand on. They made the right call, and we're going back to Tampa Bay tied at two games each.

Tampa Bay 4 Calgary 1: Tampa Bay head coach John Tortorella didn't panic, stuck to his game plan (including dressing seven defenseman), and watched Vincent Lecavalier take control of the game and even the series for the Lightning.

After his incredible shorthanded goal in Game One, everyone was talking about how Jarome Iginla was going to save hockey. But now that Lecavalier has made his presence felt with a pair of assists, as well as a play where he banked a pass to himself off the back of the net on the way to assisting on a Ruslan Fedotenko goal, we can expect the storyline to shift again as the series shifts to Calgary.

As speedy as the Flames might be, they don't come anywhere near matching up with Tampa Bay's depth up front, and it showed last night as they were outshot 31-19, and went scoreless on their first five power plays. If the Flames had been able to pick up a defenseman with even minimal skill at quarterbacking the power play -- even perhaps a Jason Wolley-type -- there's no telling how much faster they might have ripped through the first three rounds.

New potential storyline: Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff is 4-0 with a 1.24 GAA in this year's playoffs in games after the Flames have lost. Of course, Game Three will be played in Calgary, where the Flames are under .500 for the postseason.

And to top it all off, it looks like these two teams are beginning to despise one another, as they piled up the most penalties minutes in a Finals game since a 1986 game between Calgary and Montreal. A little hate never hurts a playoff series

Series tied 1-1.

At first, I was really annoyed when I read this column by Newsday's Shaun Powell about the continuing woes of the NHL as a business -- after all, it is a pretty easy storyline. Then I read this report, that said ratings for Game One on ESPN were the worst they'd ever been for a broadcast of the Finals, and I remembered just how desperate things really are for the sport financially.

Frankly, I'd rather think of what's happening on the ice. Here's the Tampa Tribune's Erik Erlendsson on the Lightning's dilemma after Game One:

The Lightning said all the right things after capturing the Eastern Conference title, how they still had unfinished business, how they were going to be ready for the speedy Flames.

But all the video work in the world, no matter how many times you watch it, can't prepare you for game speed. Seeing the Flames up close and personal, seeing how quickly they are on top of you, how they challenge everything was like watching an instructional video on how to swim and then dropping to the bottom of the pool the first time you venture into the water.

OK, so you're John Tortorella: what do you do?

1) Ask your team to focus, and keep with the gameplan;
2) Ditch the gameplan and open things up, thinking the less offensively talented Flames won't be able to handle the superior firepower on your top two lines?
3) Ditch the gameplan completely, and give the Flames a taste of their own medicine, adopting their forechecking tactics in an attempt to create the kind of turnovers the Lightning regularly created in the first three rounds of the torunament?

My guess is Tortorella won't panic. He'll stick with what's gotten him here -- at least for one game. If not for a fortuitous bounce, and one all-world play by Jarome Iginla, Game One would have been 1-0 headed into the third period.

One other thing to consider -- the ice in Tampa is really soft. Maybe Tortorealla asks management to turn up the heat and make the ice even softer -- something that might hurt the faster Flames.

If losing the opening game of the Stanley Cup Finals weren't enough, Tampa Bay defenseman Dan Boyle's evening took a turn for the worse last night when he discovered a fire had caused about $300,000 damage ($U.S.) to his Tampa home.

Back in the Tampa Bay locker room, many of Rick Dudley's friends from his time as Tampa Bay GM were shocked at the news of his firing from the GM post with their cross-state rivals. Meanwhile, las Panteras made it official -- Keenan and Martin are in as GM and head coach next season.

Here's Chris Corrigan from the Hockey Pundits:

The game means more here in Canada than it does in Tampa Bay. I don't buy the "pillaging" argument, but it is not too much of a stretch to say that this series is being taken entirely differently on either side of the border.

In the NBA or the NFL the Championship is the Championship. In the NHL it's very market dependant. If it wasn't for the fact that there was a Canadian team in the finals, hockey would be on it's deathbed right now. If San Jose had won the West, thirty people would have been following the final.

Indeed, more folks in Calgary might care right now when it comes to the Stanley Cup Finals. But know this, a win by the Bolts would do a lot more to cement the future of the NHL South of the Mason-Dixon line, and virtually guarantee that the Lightning will continue to be a going concern in Tampa. Just ask the ownership groups in Dallas and Denver.

At a press conference before last night's game, Commissioner Gary Bettman was rattling the management sabre.

Earlier today, I said team speed was the critical factor in Calgary's win last night. Steve Ovadia thinks it goes deeper -- it was all about joy. ESPN's crew weighs in here.

Calgary 4 Tampa Bay 1: This has been a very difficult recap to write, as I'm not sure I've been this surprised at the result of a Game One in any championship series since the opener of the 1988 World Series. So, instead of trying to put something coherent together up top, why don't I walk through things step by step:

It's easier to throw sand in the gears than to keep running the well-oiled machine. Though it might have only been a one-night only event, Calgary actually appeared to have far more team speed than Tampa Bay could handle. Granted, Tampa Bay may have still been a little fatigued after their seven-game dogfight with Philadelphia, but that little extra jump helped the Flames disrupt Tampa Bay's attack all game long. If not for a stupid penalty from Calgary's Ville Nieminen in the third period, this is a 4-0 game.

All the usual suspects. How fitting was it that Martin Gelinas scored the first goal of the series -- one he wasn't probably sure he scored until he saw the replay in the locker room after the end of the first period? In the second, we saw Jarome Iginla erase any talk that Philadelphia's Keith Primeau might get any votes for the Conn Smythe with a shorthanded goal that was an object lesson to young players all over the world as to why you never give up on a play until you hear the whistle. Throw in a Stephane Yelle goal that's trajectory simply defied my understanding of physics and geometry, as well as a final tally from Chris Simon that demonstrated incredible patience with the puck, and the rout was complete.

Perhaps Tampa Bay wakes up in time for Game Two. Perhaps Not.

Calgary leads series 1-0.

Over at About.com, Jamie Fitzpatrick has uncovered an epidemic of Florida-bashing on the eve of the Stanley Cup Finals. Does anybody remember this kind of silliness when Dallas won the Cup in 1999?

Here's ESPN.com's Terry Frei in response:

But the deal is -- seriously, folks -- that unless the NHL is going to try to turn back the clock four decades, everyone needs to get past this chauvinistic attitude about, ahem, "non-traditional" markets making the finals.

It gets old. Even older than Dave Andreychuk.

Here, here. Thanks to the Hockey Pundits for the link.

Steve Ovadia got a good look at the Jarome Iginla action figure, and has found a significant flaw.

NHL2Night might be gone forever, but thankfully, John Buccigross is still with us.

A little less than a year after dumping Mike Keenan from behind the bench, it looks like the Panthers actually want to bring him back in order to replace deposed GM Rick Dudley. If things hold to form, we should expect the Panthers to be the surprise Eastern Conference entry in the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals.

The Czechs and the Finns have named their World Cup rosters.

A report from Radio Canada said that Montreal goaltender Jose Theodore received an anonymous death threat during the team's playoff series with the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier this month:

[A]n anonymous letter was sent to the Bell Centre just before Game Three of the series, allegedly threatening the Habs' netminder and members of his family with physical harm.

The Canadiens lost the Apr. 27 game by a score of 4-3. Following the defeat, Th

Tom Benjamin on the results of a Harris Poll about America's favorite sports:

While only 3% of Americans declare hockey to be their favourite sport, the number of people who follow hockey increased significantly between 1985 and 1994. It has stayed flat at 20% since then. It also surprises me that football is no more popular than it was in 1985, while baseball is slightly less so.

Is hockey less popular than most other sports in the U.S.? No doubt. But with 20% of the population saying they follow the sport? How can that be bad?

It isn't bad at all, but with interest in the U.S. stuck at the same percentage for the last decade, that hasn't exactly helped the league at the box office, or with television ratings. What ought to concern the suits at NHL HQ, however, is the growing popularity of other sports -- sports with far less of a history than the NHL, but nearing NHL-levels of popularity according to the Harris Poll.

So while 20 percent of fans profess to be following the NHL, 15 percent say they are following the WNBA -- a league that hasn't yet reached its tenth birthday. As for Women's College Basketball, a sport that is piggy-backing on the incredible popularity of the men's game (built-in rivalries, arenas and fan base), 19 percent of Americans say they follow it closely. Another big factor in its favor: it won't be long before the Women's NCAA Tournament becomes as popular a vehicle for casual office betting as its male counterpart.

There are plenty of people who are tired of the quality of the officiating in the NHL. But only the Hockey Rodent has a plan to do something about it -- namely, banashing the referees from the ice to the video booth:

First of all, the game improves immediately with the removal of two bodies from already-crowded NHL rinks. How often do we see them getting in the way of a forechecker, or a defender attempting to clear the puck away from intense forechecking?

Keep the two linesmen on the ice. But remove the referees.

Secondly, if we equip the linesmen with wireless transceivers, it would be simple for a remote individual to signal a penalty to the rink in real-time.

Say a rules violation is identified by referee Stephen Walkom in the studio. Word is instantly radioed to linesman Ray Scapinello on the ice. Scapinello then raises his arm and awaits the proper moment to blow the whistle.

While I'm sure there are obstacles I haven't thought about (not the least of which would be getting the referees to agree to such a significant break with the past), this seems like a pretty exciting proposal that ought to be experimented with.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post is annoyed that neither Bobby Holik nor Scott Gomez will be playing with Team USA at this Fall's 2004 World Cup of Hockey:

It's more than unfortunate that the U.S. won't have its best players performing in this summer's tournament. It's outrageous. It's outrageous that politics - the politics of exclusion - should have been permitted to trump talent and taint the team.

But then again, this is the same Pleau who three years ago as GM of the Blues chose to trade for Doug Weight rather than for Dominik Hasek when the-then Sabres goaltender was there for the taking and immediately thereafter was snatched by the Red Wings.

Holik was snubbed because he isn't eligible to play for Team USA in the IIHF World Championships or the Olympics, owing to his status as a naturalized citizen who played for Czechoslovakia in the 1989 and 1990 World Juniors. Gomez is being punished for reneging on a promise to play in the just completed World Championships in Prague.

Whatever the reasoning, it's inexcusable not to put the best team on the ice for political reasons -- witness Canada's mistake in 1972 when it refused to name Bobby Hull to Team Canada for the famous Summit Series against the Russians (a decision that might have made that series closer than it desereved to be). Then, Hull was essentially punished by NHLPA head Alan Eagleson for defecting to the renegade WHA.

Primary assist on the link to Hockeybird.

For fans who were perhaps expecting a rerun of the colorful repartee of Tampa Bay head coach John Tortorella in the Stanley Cup Finals, you might want to think again:

[A]ccording to Tortorella, there will be no yapping from the Lightning during the Stanley Cup finals against the Flames and Coach Darryl Sutter.

``I will tell you right now I am not getting involved in any [of that] in this series,'' Tortorella said shortly after the Lightning eliminated the Flyers. ``I have too much respect for that man, Darryl, with Calgary and their team and how they have done it. Don't expect me to be involved in [anything].

``This is the finals.''

He might not bite, but Tortorella probably will be tested during the series because he'll be dealing not only with the national media, but also the Canadian media, which still ask how Tortorella and Vinny Lecavalier get along at nearly every opportunity.

``We're going to go after them just like they are going to come after us,'' Tortorella said. ``As [Sutter] says and as I believe, it's about the players. They are going to decide this series.''

Then again, if Tortorella thinks his players need a healthy distraction to take the heat off, I don't doubt that he'll go back to the well. Stay tuned.

It's sort of a given that most athletes don't exactly enjoy talking to the media. That's not the case with Calgary's Craig Conroy, who's rapidly becoming one of the most popular Flames because of his skill at on-air banter:

Conroy's rendition of what was going through his mind in the final moments of the Flames' overtime series win against Vancouver Canucks, complete with gasps and groans, have become must-hear radio in Calgary, repeated dozens of times in recent weeks.

``We ask him questions, but Craig goes in the direction that Craig wants to go,'' said Rob Kerr, host of Overtime, a fan call-in show that stays on air after Flames games until no one wants to talk anymore.

``He's a real character and he speaks from the heart,'' said Kerr. ``In this day and age, with so many prepared statements and media training, he's a real breath of fresh air.''

Apparently, Conroy has become famous for a blow-by-blow radio account of the final moments of Calgary's Game Seven victory over Vancouver in the opening round of the playoffs. If anyone has a link to the interview, please send it my way.

I found this announcement to be a bit curious. Read on, and I'll tell you what I think:

Lorne Molleken resigned as an assistant coach with the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday to take over as general manager and head coach of the WHL's Saskatoon Blades.

Molleken, a Regina native, returns to his WHL roots having coached the Blades from 1991 to '95, earning WHL coach of the year honours in 1994.

``The opportunity with the Penguins this season put a fire in my stomach to be a head coach again,'' Molleken said in a release. ``As for my family, this is a chance for all of us to return to our home in western Canada.

Molleken was also once head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, a tenure best remembered for his brief fist fight with Washington Capitals GM George McPhee following one preseason contest.

Now, while I'm sure being head coach and GM of a junior team like Saskatoon is a great job, one would think the best way to stay in the spotlight for an NHL head coaching position would be as an NHL assistant. But then again, with the prospect of a long lockout in the offing next season, perhaps Molleken decided that the best way to keep his name in the spotlight (and to keep getting a paycheck) was to pack it in for the WHL.

POSTSCRIPT: And speaking of junior hockey, congratulations to the Kelowna Rockets, winners of the CHL's 2004 Memorial Cup.

Tampa Bay 2 Philadelphia 1: Congratulations to Tampa Bay for making the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history.

As for heroes, there were plenty for Tampa Bay. Early in the first period, Nik Khabibulin kept Philadelphia off the board as the Flyers controlled much of the run of play. Then Ruslan Fedotenko game Tampa Bay a lead it would never relinquish, as he scored on a power play to make it 1-0 Tampa Bay. It was his sixth goal of the series for the ex-Flyer, who only scored 17 goals in the regular season. Early in the second period, Fred Modin made it 2-0, with Brad Richards getting his second assist of the night.

Though Philly managed to close the gap to 2-1 midway through the second period, they would never seriously threaten the rest of the way, and had goalie Robert Esche to thank for only being down one at the end of the period after being peppered with 17 Lightning shots. But the game was essentially over, as Tampa Bay continually disrupted the Philadelphia attack, and mostly kept them penned inside their own zone.

The loss was hard to take inside the Philly locker room, as the realization probably sank in that the combination of a lockout and roster shake up meant the end for the current Flyers lineup. But even there, Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock saw something positive for the game in Tampa Bay's victory:

``My feeling is there are trends that develop in the NHL,'' he said. ``You had the Edmonton Oilers and then you had the 1-2-2 system and now you have the way Tampa plays. If other teams follow suit, Tampa is capable of setting a trend back to how the game was played in the 1980s. Hopefully, they are able to sustain this kind of presence.''

That's nice of him to say, but you have to wonder if Hitchcock isn't talking out of both sides of his mouth. After all, he was one of the coaches who helped solidify the hold that defensive play has on the professional game right now.

Some other thoughts. I happened to catch the abbreviated version of the NHL2Night postgame show. In an instant analysis of the Stanley Cup Finals, both Ray Ferraro and Barry Melrose said that Calgary was better at penalty killing than Tampa Bay -- this despite the fact that Tampa Bay's penalty killing was better than Calgary's by several percentage points, something I found out by simply looking at the graphic that ESPN2 was running on the screen. Which makes me wonder, do these guys have any idea what they're talking about?

Tampa Bay wins series 4-3.

UPDATE: Barry Melrose amended his comments on the later broadcast of NHL2Night, explaining he had to give Calgary the advantage in just one matchup. As it turns out, the 1:00 a.m. edition of NHL2Night was the last ever, as ESPN has cancelled the program. Thanks to the team that put together the program for nine years, and tried to sell hockey as best they could, without a whole lot of help from the game they love so much.

Philadelphia 5 Tampa Bay 4: This game delivered just about everything you could ask for in a Game Six: multiple lead changes, multiple storylines (Lecavalier, Fedotenko, Primeau, Gagne), and finally, a thrilling OT period that sends us off to a Game Seven. Again, it was another example of why playoff hockey is so exciting, and just the kind of game you'd like to expose a hockey novice to in order to introduce them to the game.

Heck, even the folks in Calgary have to be happy this morning, knowing that whoever they play in the Finals is going to have to endure an emotional trial in another Game Seven. As for the Bolts, they were simply manhandled by the Flyers, though they managed to stay in the game until the end by dint of their incredible ability to capitalize on the limited scoring opportunities they managed to generate -- especially in the second period when they were led by the relentless Ruslan Fedotenko:

Fedotenko's two goals punctuated a period dominated by the Lightning. The Bolts outshot the Flyers, 13-5, and didn't allow them a shot in the first 11 minutes of the period. The problem was that one of the shots, by Kapanen, went through the leg pads of Nikolai Khabibulin from a tough angle for a 3-2 Flyers lead.

But this had been a series in which shifts in momentum have taken place within the games rather than from game to game. In the third period, Tampa Bay may as well have been wearing different colors. Overwhelmed and appearing gassed, the Lightning did not play like the same team.

Roy Cummings from the Tampa Tribune put it this way:

The portion of the scoreboard that tallied the shots on goal told the story of the Flyers' 5-4 victory in Thursday's Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. It told a good portion of it, anyway.

On the Flyers' side of the board was a big, fat 43. That's far too many, even for a game that stretched well into overtime. Simply put, this was not one of the Lightning's better defensive efforts.

``Except for the second period, they pretty much dominated us,'' Lightning forward Tim Taylor said. ``At the end, we were just kind of hanging on there. We got away with it last game, but not this time.''

Of course, none of the defensive breakdowns was more obvious or damaging as Daryl Sydor's giveaway in the first period that turned into another Keith Primeau goal and a 2-1 Flyers lead.

But despite the Philly win, I couldn't help but be struck by the fact that Tampa Bay didn't put together nearly enough of an effort to win, yet still came within inches of closing out the series last night. What we saw last night might very well be the kind of loss that sends a message to the Bolts about what it really takes to win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. See you on Saturday night.

Series tied 3-3.

Off Wing reader Jeff Grimshaw shot us this missive yesterday:

How about yesterday's TV contract announcements?

Here's a question for hockey fans who once played the game: how old were you when you were first told to never, under any circumstances, attempt to clear the puck up the middle of the ice while you're in your own defensive zone?

Was it age 6? Maybe 7? Well, however, early on you first heard the word, it seemed a few moments ago if Tampa Bay's Daryl Sydor had forgotten, and it cost his team a goal.

With Jeremy Roenick harassing Sydor as he retreated behind his own net, Sydor absentmindedly backhanded the puck straight up the slot, where Vlad Malakhov intercepted it and found an open Keith Primeau in front of Tampa Bay's net. The result -- Philly 2 Tampa Bay 1.

UPDATE: What is it with ex-players coming back to haunt the teams that traded them? Out West, we have Miikkaa Kiprusoff, but in the East we have Ruslan Fedotenko, who has now scored five goals against Philly in this series. The guy was essentially an afterthought in a draft day trade a couple of years back when Tampa Bay realized they didn't have enough money to sign a first round draft pick. Amazing. . .

OT UPDATE: Keith Primeau seems determined to keep the Flyers in the playoffs. On the game tying goal, the puck actually caromed off his skate and through the crease behind Nik Khabibulin travelling left to right. Primeau shuffled behind the net, and tapped in the rebound before Khabibulin could figure out where it was. Welcome to the fourth period.

ANOTHER OT UPDATE: One move too many, and Jeremy Roenick misses an opportunity to put the game away. . .

TAMPA BAY CALLS TIMEOUT: Not a bad idea, as Philly has absolutley dominated the first OT period.

SIMOOOOON GAGNEEEEE SCORES!!!: And we're going to GAME SEVEN!

OT WRAP-UP: ESPN just showed some footage of Rasheed Wallace of the Detroit Pistons wearing a Reggie Leach Flyers throwback jersey (NB: it was Orange, like the team's road jerseys should be) as he arrived for Game Seven of the Pistons' series with the Nets. Turns out he's a Philly native, and a big Flyers fan. The cameras were in the locker room when as Wallace watched Gagne score the OT winner, and he celebrated like a little kid.

And the NHL love continues -- now Pistons coach Larry Brown is wearing a Steve Yzerman jersey during his post-game press conference.

Calgary 3 San Jose 1: That giant boom you heard late last night was the Off Wing Stanley Cup pool collapsing under its own weight. With the Sharks crashing out of the playoffs with last night's loss, we only have four contestants remaining. But some props have to go to Liz from Breakfast of Losers, who actually picked Calgary to win it all.

As for the Sharks, exactly what team came out onto the ice for last night's game? It was apparent after only a few seconds that they had no energy at all, almost resigned to the inevitability of losing the game and the series. One hates to point fingers, but where the heck has Patrick Marleau been since the hat trick he scored in the series against the Avalanche? Though he wears the 'C' in San Jose, Marleau was completely shown up by Calgary's Jarome Iginla.

But you have to wonder just how chagrined the entire Sharks front office is this morning. Essentially, the Sharks' season was ended back in November when they traded Miikka Kiprusoff to the Flames for a second round draft pick in 2005. And if that didn't hurt enough, they were dispatched by Darryl Sutter, the head coach they had most recently dismissed, a man who took a team that hadn't been to the playoffs in years, and revived them working as both the coach and the general manager.

The Sharks won a Pacific Division title with a 104 point regular season, and went further into the playoffs than any other time in their short history. They'll be back next year (or perhaps not), but it doesn't mean a heck of a lot now.

As for Calgary, here's a priceless moment from Ray Ratto:

Darryl Sutter was trying to celebrate what just happened to the Calgary Flames while at the same time trying to plan what is about to, when he got a phone call.

"It was the prime minister (Paul Martin)," the head coach said with one of his best you-can't-make-this-stuff-up smiles. "And the thing is, he's a Liberal, and out here, we're not. So I had to watch what I said. I didn't want to say something like, 'What are you gonna do about this mad-cow thing?' "

So he held his tongue, accepted gracefully, and went back to preparing for Calgary's first Stanley Cup Final in 15 years.

15 years? That's 15 years since Lanny McDonald helped Joe Nieuwendyk, Joey Mullen and Al MacInnis eliminate the Montreal Canadiens on home ice at the vaunted Forum? Wait no longer Calgary. Welcome back to the Finals.

Calgary wins series 4-2.

Yesterday, Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said the key to winning Game Five on the road is surviving the first period. Last night, the Flyers couldn't manage that in Tampa. Tonight, the Sharks are doing their best to follow the same script in their Game Six in Calgary.

That this game remained scoreless for as long as it did is simply a credit to Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabakov. But like any goalie, Nabakov had his breaking point, one he reached courtesy of Calgary's Jarome Iginla when he scored in the midst of a 4-minute power play with time running down in the period.

The Flames have taken the play to the Sharks from the opening drop. I wonder what Sharks head coach Ron Wilson will have to say in the locker room between periods to light a fire under his team.