Off Wing Opinion

Colorado 4 Dallas 3, OT: First comes denial, then anger, then bargaining and then acceptance. From Texas, here's Bob Sturm:

I hate to belabor this point, but I just can

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 27th, 2006 at 12:29 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Edmonton 4 Detroit 3: After blowing a two-goal lead in the third period, Edmonton got the game winner in the second OT from Jarret Stoll to take a 2-1 series lead. Dwayne Roloson continued to outplay Manny Legace, stopping 44 of 47 Detroit shots, including 18 in the two OTs.

Initially, it looked like Jason Williams had won the game in the first extra session, but the video said otherwise:

However, video replay showed that the puck slid under the side of the goal after Oilers netminder Dwayne Roloson bumped into it and caused it to lift up slightly.

"It is tough when you think you win," said Detroit's Kirk Maltby, who scored at 2:39 of the second overtime in the opening game of the series. "We were hoping if we got off the ice soon enough, they wouldn't review it."

With all the guff the league has gotten since Brett Hull's OT goal that won the 1999 Finals deep into the night in Buffalo, there isn't a chance in Hell that the league will ever let that happen again.

Here's Colby Cosh, who thinks the Oilers are getting it done with an awfully tiny margin of error:

Until the Oilers caught a break in front of Manny Legace, Detroit had all the good chances in the 5th period tonight. And even leaving age aside, Chris Chelios, who once played the "rover" position for the Ottawa Silver Seven, arguably appears better-conditioned than some of the younger Edmontonians.

Of course, this isn't good news for the Wings or their fans. If they were buffaloed after the two games in Detroit, when the Oilers formed a hoplite phalanx in the neutral zone and were accused of playing "Minnesota Wild hockey," what would you call them now, after losing a relatively open game on a proper surface? (Maybe you guys were hoping we'd play "Columbus Blue Jackets hockey"?)

Here's Covered in Oil:

[S]eeing Williams celebrate with some bewilderment, with a lip-read "I'm not sure how it went in," coupled with Roloson looking more confused than utterly crushed, the video review offered some hope. Seeing the puck nowhere near the red line has to be one the great moments of the season, single-handedly offering the Oilers a chance to change the storyline of the series, and more importantly, as MacT put it, forcing Manny Legace to "skate 100 feet back to his net" after dancing "a jig" on the redline.

Eeek. Premature jocularity is never a good thing. Of course, with what happened last night in the O.C...

Edmonton leads series, 2-1:

Calgary 5 Anaheim 2:...We're two games closer to seeing the Canadian prairie catch fire again after Calgary's workmanlike victory over Anaheim.

Then again, you need to keep in mind where all the work was done:

Five players scored for Calgary, and coach Darryl Sutter, asked who played especially well, said, "I don't think you can single out anybody. You can single out 27 minutes of special teams, and that's where it paid off."

Toss in Anaheim's seven power plays, and that's more than half the game played with at least a man advantage. What does it all mean? For more, click here.

More bonus video: Here's the montage the Flames play at home to get the fans riled before the opening faceoff. Lots of blow torches and melted steel:

Calgary leads series, 2-1:

Ottawa 8 Tampa Bay 4: It was 5-0 before John Tortorella mercifully lifted John Grahame in favor of Sean Burke. The rest might as well have been windown dressing, as Martin Havlat surged into the spotlight with a pair of early goals, looking all the more like his long layoff in the regular season left him without much rust at all.

Here's Chris McMurtry:

A point was made by someone who I

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 26th, 2006 at 7:04 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

New Jersey 4 New York 1: No Jagr, no Kaspar, no Lundqvist.

And not a chance in Hell.

As soon as I heard that Kevin Weekes was starting for the Rangers, I knew the postseason was over for the Broadway Blues. There were two reasons that the Rangers excelled this season: Reason #1 was Jaromir Jagr, but rookie goalie Henrik Lundqvist was definitely Reason #1a.

Without one, they were already doomed. Without both, John Madden of New Jersey potted a hat trick. And Jay Pandolfo, relieved from shadowing Jagr, managed three assists.

Here's Jim@Hockeybird:

Unlike Saturday, this was much closer than the score indicated. The Blueshirts out-shot New Jersey 26-25, but the Devs blocked 18 shots. How many times did the Rangers miss the net looking for a high corner? And how many times did they pass the puck off instead of hammering away at Brodeur? Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot the puck on Martin. Did you see what happened on Betts' goal? Did you see what happened when Moore put the puck on net from a wide angle? If Hossa had just a little better body position, he gets a shorthanded tally.

This series ain't over. I am not trying to be a cheerleader or a homer. I think they have the chance to travel back to the swamp next Sunday 2 games all, but we have a long way to go before we can talk about that.

For more whistling past the graveyard, click here.

I'll give today's last word on this series to Steve Ovadia's wife:

Why do you need [Jaromir] Jagr to score on a five-on-three? I could score on a five-on-three.

Indeed.

Devils lead series, 2-0.

Buffalo 8 Philly 2: This game was 5-0 before the end of the first period, and was effectively over way before that. How shell shocked must Flyers fans be this morning? My guess is a lot of them are feeling like poor R.J. Umberger.

There was some good news: Buffalo's number one scoring threat, Daniel Briere, who had 14 shots in Game One, didn't score. Unfortunately, both Jason Pominville and Islanders castoff JP Dumont posted hat tricks against the dazed Flyers defense.

Boy, is that Derian Hatcher signing looking brilliant now.

After his players were unable to fight back against the Sabres on the ice, Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock jumped to their defense after Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff referred to them as idiots.

Click here (not safe for virgin ears) for Hitchcock's classy reply (thanks to iN Da bUff for that pointer). Or just watch the video:

Here's a triumphal Mark@BFLOBLOG:

The Sabres are obviously not being intimidated by the old-school, goon style of hockey that Philly is trying to play right now. If Philly keeps it up, Friday night might be their last game of the season. Even if the Flyers change their style of play I can

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 at 12:43 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Edmonton 4 Detroit 2: This afternoon in Hockeytown, the Detroit faithful discovered that you can't count on Kirk Maltby scoring twice every game. Dwayne Roloson kept up his superior play by stopping 33 Detroit shots, while the Oilers got goals from four different players, including Chris Pronger, who is simply the most intimidating presence on the ice in this series.

Here's a thumbnail from Matt Saler:

The Wings were solidly in control until a couple lousy turnovers killed them in the second and they couldn't recover. They were much more physical than we've seen them for most of the year and actually ended up out-hitting Edmonton. Scary thing: Edmonton opened the game up a little to make their comeback and then went back to the trap. Either way, the Wings' offense was muted. No one really stood out offensively, though guys like Schneider and Chelios did defensively. Schneider's shot is not a given goal any more. Datsyuk not a positive factor, looked tentative, still somewhat in pain. Legace looked bad on the third Edmonton goal.

Yes, the questions will be coming fast and furious about Mr. Legace once again. Is it fair? No, not at all. But this is playoff time, and fair doesn't have much to do with anything at all these days.

Hey Wings fans, Covered in Oil is calling you out:

Looking at the half-hearted crowds in Game One and Two, Detroit fans look like they're a little too used to having a winning team in the playoffs, with even the ubiquitous tradition of throwing octopi on the ice looking staid and routine.

Granted, this is coming from a fan of team that once won five Stanley Cups in a seven-year stretch. But please forgive me for interrupting:

Luckily, some brave Oil fans upstaged this farce of fan-ery and added a new twist: Grade A Alberta beef thrown over the boards in an attempt to please the hockey gods. The deities must have been pleased with our fandom, as our other sacrificial offering, playoff virgin Brad Winchester, ended up with the game winner and his first NHL goal.

Colby Cosh is feeling a little empathy for the Detroit faithful:

At the end of the second period in Game One, the crowd at the Joe Louis Arena was lustily booing the Wings' power play. At the disastrous tail end of the second period in Game Two, they didn't even bother--you could have heard a jock clatter to the floor of the locker room. Right now the Red Wings and their fans around the world are tallying the toll from back-to-back home games, and they can't like the math: one exhausting win backed into on fluke goals, one loss as sharp and sudden and deflating as a pistol shot, a crucial home-ice advantage scattered to the wind, and the ghosts of first-round defeats to low seeds swarming all over the Motor City like hornets. I still wouldn't bet real money against the Wings, but I wouldn't trade places with any of their supporters right now either.

This series provides a great example of why I don't like to make predictions. You see, if I had actually picked Detroit to defeat Edmonton, I'd be more concerned with being right than seeing a humdinger of a series. So when you take off the analyst hat, you get to be a fan. And I'd rather be a fan than an analyst anytime.

We got a series my friends. And boy does it feel good.

Series tied, 1-1.

San Jose 3 Nashville 0: San Jose shook off the rust and a loss in Game One and shutout the Predators in Nashville. Most significant score: Jonathan Cheechoo breaking the seal on this playoff campaign with his first goal. All three San Jose goals came on the power play, something that didn't surprise Sharks head coach Ron Wilson:

"Hey, they're calling penalties as advertised," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "Everyone's still shocked, `Why are they calling penalties in the playoffs?' They're supposed to because they want to work, and Gary Bettman was here so, hello!

"I mean it doesn't take a rocket scientist or even a sports writer to figure that one out."

Here's one Predators fan who didn't like what he saw:

Ref 57 (McCreary?) was calling the game like he had Cheechoo on his fantasy team...

While we pretty much dug our own hole by not being able to convert opportunities, that may have been the worst, most one-sided refereed game I've ever seen...

It kills me that with 4 zebras on the ice...not one of them seems to ever be looking at the guy with the puck.

I don't think this issue about the reffing is going to go away anytime soon. Like I said on Sunday night, when the guy who is anchoring coverage on the playoffs calls out your refs on the air, things are so running off the rails they can't be ignored.

To relive the game blow by blow, click here to see some liveblogging from Sharkspage.

Series tied, 1-1.

Tampa Bay 4 Ottawa 3: Back in 1995, I distinctly remember watching a first round series between the Rangers and the Quebec Nordiques. As many probably recall, the Nordiques moved to Colorado at the end of the season and won the Cup the very next year. But despite all the talent they had, they couldn't vanquish a Rangers squad that had sputtered its way through the lockout-shortened season.

Lesson: Never take the defending Stanley Cup Champs lightly. Which is the lesson the Ottawa Senators and their fans are learning tonight after Tampa Bay's 4-3 win in Kanata. Let's talk to Jon Fontana:

If anything can be said about Sunday Evening

This entry was posted on Monday, April 24th, 2006 at 12:01 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Buffalo 3 Philadelphia 2, 2OT: This series marks the eighth time that the Flyers and Sabres have met in the playoffs, and after watching last night's series opener, it would be easy to conclude that the Sabres and their fans still haven't gotten over the first time the teams met in the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals.

For you youngsters, Philly won that series, much of it played in ice-level fog at the old Aud, in six games.

For anyone who doubted Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock knew what he was doing when he named Robert Esche his playoff starter, doubt no more. For most of the game, Esche was the only thing standing between the Sabres and a 1-0 series lead. He had 55 saves, including 15 in the first OT, while Philly could never manage more than nine in a full period.

Buffalo took a 2-0 lead on goals by Tim Connolly and Jay McKee, Esche kept it close, and a second period goal from Mike Knuble made it 2-1. Knuble had another goal disallowed when the refs ruled he had used a high stick to bat a rebound into the net, but Philly tied it up on a power play goal late in the third by Simon Gagne.

The game was chippy all night, with Philly regularly getting frustrated with Buffalo's team speed, but the Sabres gave as good as they got, nevermore than when Brian Campbell took out R.J. Umberger in the first OT:

Hitchcock told NHL.com that Umberger is "good to go," while Campbell had this to say:

"He got a suicide pass. I stepped up and just hit him," Campbell said. "I feel bad that he's hurting. You hope you make a hit like that and he pops up and gets going."

Hitchcock said Umberger needs to learn to keep his head up.

"He's a young player in his first series. He got welcomed in a big way. He'll be back," Hitchcock said. "You could see it coming from the bench. He was trying to get the puck up the ice, either get a breakaway or a 2-on-1."

The game stayed tied through that first OT, but the Sabres broke through in the second, as Jochen Hecht found Daniel Briere for the game winner.

Here's Thomas Luongo examining the cloud with the brilliant silver lining:

Am i worried that our Power Play went 0 for 9 in this game? Sure, a bit. Most of it seemed like nerves to me, Briere, Afinogenov, Roy and others all had a case of Happy Hands and their decision-making wasn

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 23rd, 2006 at 10:51 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Ottawa 4 Tampa Bay 1: With Dominik Hasek looking on, Ottawa starting goalie Ray Emery stopped 35 shots and kept his team in the game before they exploded for four goals in a dominant third period. Things may very well have been different if a Vincent Lecavalier shot didn't hit the crossbar, but it wasn't to be. But while Emery deserves plenty of credit, Hockey Country says Ottawa's fourth line deserves some plaudits as well:

I remarked, after Tuesday

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 22nd, 2006 at 1:53 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.