Caniac Carnival September 21

On Sunday September 21, the Hurricanes will be hosting the ninth annual "Caniac Carnival" to kick off the season. Full details are here. In addition to the normal stuff -- live music, autograph sessions, interactive games, kiddie inflatable games, Stormy, the Storm Squad, and a red-white scrimmage, the Hurricanes will officially unveil their third sweater, which will make its on-ice debut on October 13 against the Red Wings. This event starts at 10:00am and will last until 2:30, followed by the scrimmage at 3:00. Parking, the Carnival, and the scrimmage are all free.

Earlier in the summer, I read that the sweater would be unveiled at the Carnival, but not available for sale until a few days later. However, I have heard that it will be available for sale on the 21st. I've saved up enough dough to pay for one. The question is simply whose name and number. I have a Williams home sweater and a defunct Vasicek home sweater. I'm not really interested in getting a Brind'Amour or a Staal. Those are too common. However, there's no safer bet than a Staal. He's not getting traded, and he's not going to have a crummy season. Also, it's a sure thing that those will be fully stocked. Still, I'm considering LaRose and Samsonov. I'm even considering Corvo.

Anyway, I was reading Behind the Jersey today, which was the impetus for this post. It seems the Red Wings are throwing a two-day Fan Fun Fest similar to the Caniac Carnival. The first day is open to season ticket holders only, and the second day is open to the public at a cost of $5 a head.

Christy alluded to a three-day "convention" put on by the Blackhawks (and sponsored by the Ferrara Pan family of candies) this summer. They sold out the event at -- get this -- $50 a head. Free is awesome. I'd happily pay $5, but $50 is a little much. For that, I'd expect Stan Mikita to take me out for pizza and beer afterwards.

As an aside, I'm completely befuddled by the "Chewy Atomic Fireball". What? Chewy? That's just wrong. Fireballs aren't chewy. You're supposed to break a tooth if you attempt to chew a Fireball. I'm no candy head (I am, after all, a grown man), but I love Atomic Fireballs. I'm as disgusted by this as I am by Chocolate Skittles. And Gus Van Sant's disgraceful redux of Psycho. Those are all wrong. Just wrong.

Okay... I'm off my soapbox now.

I don't know who else is going, but the 21st is a Sunday, and I plan on being at the Carnival. Whoever wants to meet up, just give me a holler.

As god is my witness, I thought penguins could fly.

To toot my own horn, I predicted this a year ago. Sort of. I predicted that Pittsburgh would be the Cup runner-up, and the nineteenth different team in a row to do that. However, I was a little off the mark with my prediction of Calgary as the winner.

Apologies to station manager Arthur Carlson and the entire staff of WKRP for stealing their joke. Unfortunately, the punchline isn't delivered in this clip, but here's the setup:



The Red Wings captured the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night, winning the series four games to two. After game one, I thought it might not be such a good fight. After game two, I changed my pick to "Wings in three". After game three, which the Pens won, I was cautiously optimistic.
The Wings took the lead with about seven minutes to go, in game four, and it seemed like they would salt it away. However, their celebration was postponed when Maxime Talbot scored with about 36 seconds left to tie it and force overtime. It was postponed even more when Petr Sykora won the game for the Pens halfway through the third overtime period.

Henrik Zetterberg got the game-winning goal on a bit of a lapse by Emma Fleury, who made the stop but knocked it into his own net with his butt. By then, the Conn Smythe voting had already taken place, but getting the Cup-clinching goal certainly justifies what might have otherwise been a controversial award.

With the Wings win, one long NHL tradition ended. Nick Lidstrom became the first European captain to hoist the Cup.

Another completely ridiculous trend continued. Pittsburgh became the 19th different Cup runner up in the last 19 Cups. Although The Minnesota NorthStars (1991) and the Dallas Stars (2000) both lost during this streak which started in 1989, there were different fans, different cities, different arenas. Technically speaking, the Stars are and aren't a continuation of the NorthStars, but that's a different discussion. Check here for details about this streak of different runners-up.

What this means is that there are 12 teams who are not on that list. In order to keep the streak alive, one of the following teams must LOSE in the Stanley Cup finals next season:
Atlanta
Tampa
Toronto
Islanders
Rangers

San Jose
Phoenix
Nashville
Columbus
St. Louis
Colorado
Minnesota Wild


My guess is the Sharks. Fans in San Jose should go ahead and prepare themselves for the heartbreak that will be theirs next June. Who will win? Perhaps Montréal.

Last June 7, I correctly predicted that Pittsburgh would be this year's runner-up. Today, I'm predicting that the Sharks will find themselves added to that ridiculous list. I'll write more about this later.

An historical look at the Stanley Cup finals

Because there's an off day and I have nothing better to do, I did some research about the history of Stanley Cup finals. There's some interesting stuff about power outages, forced evacuations, neutral site games, entire series played in one arena, and even ties in the Stanley Cup finals.

Using this as a starting point, I did some investigating into how many times the team with "home ice advantage" has won and how many times the Cup was presented on "home ice".

In the "modern" NHL-only era, which began in 1927, the Cup has been presented 80 times. The best-of-seven format began in 1939, but it hasn't always used the 2-2-1-1-1 format. In 1944, for example, the series only needed four games, but it appears that the format would have been 1-2-2-1-1. In 1984 and 1985, they used the ridiculous 2-3-2 format which the NBA still uses. It gives the "road" team the advantage. Edmonton was the "road" team both of those seasons. Each time, they split the first two games, then swept their three straight home games for the "road" team. Thank goodness the NHL did away with that.

In 1988, there was an oddity in that game four at Boston was canceled when the power went out at 16:37 of the second period with the score tied 3-3. The series moved back to Edmonton where they played what was technically game five. They had three home games out of four official games, and completed the sweep.

In 1940, the Rangers only got two of six games at home despite being the "home" team. The circus ran them out of town, as they often did in the 1930's.

Between 1931 and 1938, a best-of-five series was used. Theoretically, the format was 2-2-1, but it didn't go that way very often. In 1932, 1933 and 1937 the Rangers were only availed Madison Square Gardens for one game while the circus held court. 1932 was especially odd in that game two between the Rangers and Maple Leafs was played in BostonIn 1928, the entire best-of-five series between the Rangers and the English-speaking Montréal Maroons was played at the Maroons' barn due to the circus.

In 1929 and 1930, the NHL experimented with a best-of-three format. Both years saw the winning team sweep the series 2-0.

In the first year of the "modern" era, Ottawa and Boston played a best of three series that required four games, and was won 2-0. Yeah. That's not a typo. In those days, if a game was still tied after one overtime period, it just ended as a tie. Even in the Stanley Cup finals. Games one and three ended in ties, but Ottawa took games two and four to win the best of three series 2-0 in four games.

Out of 80 cups, 55 have gone to the team who had home ice advantage. Nine in a row have gone to the "home team".

The Cup has been awarded on the winning team's home ice less frequently: just 48 times. Nine of the 32 "road ice" presentations occurred after a four-game sweep. The same occurred once after a two-game sweep of a best-of-three series.

Anyway, the point is that if the Penguins can rally, they will accomplish something that only the 1945 Maple Leafs and the 1971 Canadiens did. They'll be trying to win a SCF game seven on the road.

Of course, they still have to win game six at home for that last stat to be relevant. If not, the Red Wings will be the 33rd team to hoist the Cup on enemy territory, and the first since the 2000 Devils.

Click on the little image on the left for a full-size view of the spreadsheet I created after gathering the data.

Petr Sykora ends marathon game after calling his shot.

Petr Sykora was a hero on Monday night Tuesday morning when he scored the game-winning goal he promised Pierre McGuire he would score. He didn't quite point to the left field bleachers, but not far from it. During the second overtime, he pointed to himself indicating to NBC's ice-level crew that he would score the game winner. He did.

I'm amazed.

Amazed that he called his shot. Amazed that he came through with the promise. Amazed. Just amazed.

Way back in the third period when the Wings took a 3-2 lead with about seven minutes to go, I started writing a eulogy for the Penguins. Almost three full periods later, at 12:51 in the morning, Sykora forced a game six in Pittsburgh.

Emma Fleury was absolutely awesome. I hate that word, but in this case, I was literally awe struck by his play in periods three through six. The Wings were applying relentless pressure, crashing the nets hard and shooting a ton. Fleury answered the bell every time.

Pittsburgh still has a very steep hill to climb, but they are by no means out of it.

Game six will be Wednesday night at Mellon Arena.

In a lot of ways, this series is really reminding me of the Canes-Oilers series in 2006.

Zetterberg to get Conn Smythe?

With a possible Cup-clinching game five in Detroit on Monday night, it's a foregone conclusion that the Red Wings will eventually sew it up. It's a pretty common opinion that they'll do it on Monday night at home. There are, however, different opinions about who will win the Conn Smythe trophy. My vote is for Henrik Zetterberg.

If I remember correctly, the people who participate in the voting do so during the second intermission of a potential cup-clinching game. While the trophy most often goes to a member of the Cup-winning team, it has gone to a member of the losing team five times.

If Zetterberg wins the playoffs MVP trophy, he will be just the third non-Canadian to do so in its 43-year history. Fellow teammate and fellow Swede Nick Lidstrom won the hardware in 2002, and American Brian Leetch won in 1994.

Zetterberg has 23 (12/11) points in the playoffs, which is second to Sid Crosby's 24 (6/18). He leads all players in the playoffs with a +16 rating. He has also proven to be a very valuable two-way player. The play he made against Crosby during the five-on-three sequence was one for the ages. You know the one. That was an epic shift for him as he probably took away a goal with his stick-on-stick play against Crosby, then created a quality shorthanded chance (three on five, no less!).

There's also a lot of buzz about Chris Osgood, who has been sensational in the nets. In this finals series, he has only surrendered four goals. He has two shutouts in the Stanley Cup finals and one other in the playoffs. To be fair, though, Detroit's vice-like defense has made his job pretty easy, limiting the other teams to very few quality chances.

If Ozzy has a shutout going at the second intermission on Monday night, it'll be hard for the voters to dismiss him, but I still think Zetterberg deserves it.

All that said, I hope the Penguins can eke out at least one more win. Just to make it interesting.

If the Wings close it out on Monday, fans will witness the third Stanley Cup presentation at the Joe. If they need to take it to game six, it will be Mellon Arena's first Stanley Cup presentation. Both Penguins Cups were won on road ice.

Pens waddle home down 2-0

On Monday night, the Penguins came up empty in game two against the Red Wings, falling 3-0. They are down 2-0 in the series and will go home for games three and four on Wednesday and Saturday. Winning game three is absolutely imperative.

If the Penguins made any adjustments rather than subbing Roberts in and Laraque out, it didn't look like it. They still looked lethargic. They still looked about a step slower than Detroit. They still looked frustrated and exhausted. They still couldn't get the puck deep. They still missed the few quality chances that they had. Ryan Malone and Maid Marian Hossa still looked confused.

It isn't so much that the Penguins were playing like crap. The Wings have had some unbelievably good defense. Osgood hasn't really had to work that hard, and even when a shot gets through, he paddles it down to a sea of red sweaters. They're keeping the Pens forwards out of the house. They're dominating the neutral ice play, they're getting to all the loose pucks behind the net. The Red Wings blueliners have even drawn defensive zone penalties.

Through two games, the Penguins have only mustered 41 shots on goal. This isn't going to get it done.

For game three, the Pens are gonna have to juggle the line combinations. They're gonna have to find a way to get the puck through the neutral zone. They're gonna have to find a way to keep it deep. They're going to have to take some shots and put some big bodies down low. In short, they're gonna have to figure out how to play against the Wings suffocating defense.

On top of all this is the most obvious thing. They're gonna have to find the net.

The good news is that Pittsburgh has won 16 straight games at the Igloo. The last time they lost there was a 2-1 shootout loss to the Sharks way back on February 24.

Pens hotel has false alarm

Last night in Detroit, the fire alarm at the Penguins hotel went off at 1:30 am. The Post-Gazette does not suspect foul play. Whether it was foul play, a routine test, or a false alarm, the point is that the Pens players were roused from their sleep at 1:30 in the morning and forced to evacuate their rooms.

After getting the "all-clear" to go back in the building, there was a hotel-wide announcement 30 minutes later that it was a "false alarm" and that everything was okay. By that point, it was at least 2:00, and Penguins players were still unable to get the much needed sleep before today's morning skate and tonight's game.

None of the Red Wings players were roused from their sleep, but $50 Canadian says their team hotel will have a fire drill of its own when they visit Pittsburgh.

The Post-Gazette also reports that The Mule will play tonight. Even after missing six games, including game one of the SCF, he leads all players with 12 goals this playoff season.

Emma Fleury has been practicing his ice-entering routine after falling flat on his face Saturday.

Game one: Wings

M-A Fleury came charging out of the tunnel, leading the Penguins on the ice for game one on Saturday. He fell. This was not a good way to get things started in hostile territory, and the game was already over at that point.

The Pens were pretty sharp for the majority of the first period, but both teams went into the first intermission with no score.

After that, the Pens were lifeless. Between the blue lines, they were sluggish and mistake-prone. They never really did get the puck deep in the Detroit zone, and even when they did, they didn't do anything.

Detroit capitalized on a couple of Penguin miscues, and after building a two-goal lead, they clamped down defensively. It was frustrating to watch, but very impressive.

At the end of it all, the final tally was 4-0.

Pens need to work on a lot of things before Monday's game two.

More details later.

Maggie makes her pick, Pens doomed

Recently, TSN's Maggie the Monkey made her Stanley Cup Finals pick. She picked the Penguins to win, which may be their demise. In 2006, she wrongly picked Edmonton. In 2007, she wrongly picked Ottawa. This is meant to be fun, and certainly has no weight, but her track record in picking the Stanley Cup champion is a horrible 0-2.

Last year, her overall picks were 8-7. In 2006, she was 9-6. This season, she is 8-6 so far. By comparison, in the same time frame, I have been a perfect 2-0 in my finals picks, and a perfect 6-0 in my conference final picks. I was 9-6 overall in 2006, 9-6 overall last season, and 8-6 so far this season.

Just to re-iterate, I am rooting for the Penguins. However, I think that the experience and the overwhelming offensive firepower and the stronger defense will prevail for the Wings. They might not be as prepared for the Pens as they should be. The Pens will make it tough, but I think the Wings will prevail in 6. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Pittsburgh wins game one, but I would be (pleasantly) surprised if the Pens win the series.

In particular, I think the experience of two Stanley Cup wins by Chris Osgood will give them the crucial edge in nets.

The Mule, who has been out of the lineup for five games, and will miss game one of the Finals, is still leading the playoffs in goals scored with 12. Henrik Zetterberg is right behind him with 11. Pavel Datsyuk has 9. Maid Marian Hossa and Gino Malkin have nine apiece for the Pens. The Kid has just 4, but has been an assist machine with 17 of those to pace all players.

Each team has their weapons, but I think that Detroit just has too many of them. Still, I'll be rooting for the Pens.

Wings finish Stars; Pens will become 19th different runner-up

On Monday night, the Red Wings finally finished off Dallas with a 4-1 victory to take the series four games to two. They advance to the Stanley Cup finals against Pittsburgh.

Make no mistake. I'm rooting for the Pens. I went so far as to order some Pens gear from the NHL shop. As a secondary team, I like the Pens anyway, and I didn't mind jumping on the bandwagon by buying a couple of t-shirts.

This guy, this girl, these guys, and this guy are among the millions of Penguins fans who are about to burst with excitement and nervousness. I will be standing behind them and I will be rooting hard for the Pens.

However, I think the Red Wings are just too damn good.

That's my inexpert analysis.

Also, there's this game the hockey gods are playing with us. Pittsburgh has been to the Stanley Cup finals twice before and won both times. But the hockey gods have this game they've been playing with us since 1989. Take a look at this list of Stanley Cup runners-up:

• 1989 Montréal Canadiens
  
• 1990 Boston Bruins
  
• 1991 Minnesota NorthStars
  
• 1992 Chicago Blackhawks
  
• 1993 Los Angeles Kings
  
• 1994 Vancouver Canucks
  
• 1995 Detroit Red Wings
  
• 1996 Florida Panthers
  
• 1997 Philadelphia Flyers
  
• 1998 Washington Capitals
  
• 1999 Buffalo Sabres
  
• 2000 Dallas Stars
  
• 2001 New Jersey Devils
  
• 2002 Carolina Hurricanes
  
• 2003 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
  
• 2004 Calgary Flames
  
• 2005 no cup
  
• 2006 Edmonton Oilers
  
• 2007 Ottawa Senators
  
• 2008
  

That's a list of 18 different teams. No team is on there twice. The NorthStars and the Stars are "sort of" the same team. Different ownership, different fans, blah blah blah.

I wrote about this last June 7, and even offered this bit of advice:

"Pittsburgh fans, prepare yourselves for heartbreak."

For the Wings, check out this gal, this guy, and these guys.

I may or may not make a more detailed post about the whys and hows, but for now I'll predict the Wings in six. Just to be clear, though, I'm rooting for the Pens.

Buckle up!

Penguins can't close the deal

On Thursday, the Penguins failed to complete the sweep of Philly. After an explosive three-goal first period, the Flyers were able to hold on, win the game 4-2 and live for at least one more day.

I predicted a seven game series, but after the Penguins took a 3-0 lead, I thought there would be a sweep. The Flyers, who had played without verve for the first three games, came flying (sorry) out of the gates. Although Jordan Staal and the Penguins had a late surge, they couldn't quite make up the difference.

The Series will shift back to Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, in the AHL, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton "Baby Penguins" lost their game to the Portland Pirates (Ducks). That Eastern Conference final series is knotted at one game apiece. There isn't any standard for series set-ups in the AHL. Some series go 1-2-2-2; some go 2-3-2; most go 2-2-1-1-1. This one happens to go 2-3-2, meaning the next three games are in Portland.

Detroit also failed to complete their sweep of Dallas on Wednesday, and that series will shift back to Detroit on Saturday.

In IIHF action, the two semi-final games are today. Russia will take on Finland, and Sweden will play Canada. Good luck to the Canes players in IIHF play. Tuomo Ruutu for Finland; Nic Wallin for Sweden; Cam Ward and Eric Staal for Canada.

The Mule sits out

Johan Franzen, leading goal scorer in these Stanley Cup playoffs, was forced to sit out of Saturday's 2-1 win in game 2 between the Red Wings and the Stars. He will also miss game three Monday in Dallas. Apparently, is suffering from "concussion-like symptoms" which have been persisting since the Colorado series. He will remain in Detroit where he will undergo baseline testing among other medical examinations.

The Wings have had a fairly balanced attack and some marvelous goaltending, but this is a huge loss. If the baseline tests are not favorable, Franzen will be forced to miss at least a week or more.

Unfortunately, there is a tendency for the team doctors and the players themselves to look the other way concerning concussions. I've written about this before with specific points about how concussions need not be taken so lightly because of the long term and devastating consequences they might bring about. The Toronto Star ran a two part piece about concussions that everyone should read. Even if you've already read it, you should revisit.
Part one
Part two

Even though this is a crucial time for a team to be without one of its best players, they really need to take his health quite seriously. Just ask Kevin Kaminski.

In addition to leading the playoffs in goals (12), Franzen is the author of the prizewinning novel The Corrections. Okay. He's not, but I never get tired of that joke.

Conference finals set

The second round of playoff games are over, and we're down to just four teams remaining.

In the first round, I correctly picked half of the series winners, while Maggie the Monkey was good on five and wrong on three. In the second round, I again got half of them right, and Maggie got just one. For the third year in a row, after 12 playoff series, I'm tied with a monkey in my prognosticating skills.

This round, I correctly predicted that the Pens would beat the Rangers, but I guessed that the Habs would beat the Flyers. Out west, I missed badly when I said that the Sharks would beat the Stars, but I was good in picking the Red Wings to advance. Maggie only correctly picked the Wings.

Here are my picks for the conference finals, followed by some brief analysis:






The Eastern Conference final promises to be excellent. The two teams, separated by 300 miles of Interstate 76, don't like each other one bit. The Flyers won five of the eight regular season games between the teams. They have met in the playoffs thrice before, and the Flyers have won all three series. Most recently, in 2000, the Flyers beat the Pens 4-2 in the Eastern Conference semifinal.

For the Penguins, they've been getting it done with a balanced offensive attack and a very stingy defense. M-A Fleury has allowed just 16 goals in nine games, and the penalty killers have killed 34 of 38 manpower disadvantages.

The Flyers have been getting it done with some spectacular goaltending by Marty Biron. Save a couple of stumbling blocks, he's been very solid. He's certainly been challenged way more than Fleury has. Biron has faced 395 shots at an average of 32.9 per game. The next guy on that list, Evgeni Nabokov, faced 333 shots at an average of 25.6 per game. Fleury, for comparison's sake, has faced a total of 256 shots at an average of 28.4 per game.
They've also been getting it done by "Mr. Playoffs" Danny Briere, who stumbled in the regular season but has 14 (8/6) points in 12 playoff games. Also, RJ Umberger, who had 50 points in the regular season, has 11 (9/2) in the playoffs.

The Penguins have three guys with 10 or more playoff points. Evgeni Malkin has 14 (6/8). Sidney Crosby has 14 (2/12) and Maid Marian Hossa has 10 (5/5).

By contrast, the Flyers (who have played three more games), have four guys with 10 or more. Briere leads the Flyers with 14. Umberger has the aforementioned 11. Vaclav Prospal (whom I refuse to call "Vinny") has 12 (3/9) and Mike Richards has 11 (4/7).

After cruising through the first two rounds, this will be a challenge for the Penguins. The Flyers are a more physical, more motivated group than the Pens have seen thus far. I fully expect this one to go the distance, with lots of road games won and lots of overtime. And some spectacular goaltending. Oh, and probably some fighting.

Out west, I haven't been folowing as closely, but I don't think the Stars can put up much of a fight against the Red Wings juggernaut. The Stars have been playing some low-scoring games, and that won't cut it against the Red Wings. The Wings have been averaging 3.8 goals for per game, while the Stars have only been managing 2.9. In the six game series against the Sharks, they scored just 15 times for an average of 2.5.

The Red Wings have been on fire, thanks largely to the outstanding play of Johan "The Mule" Franzen, who leads all players with 11 goals. To that, he has added 3 assists, for a total of 14 points. Henrik Zetterberg (7/6) and Pavel Datsyuk (5/8) have 13 points apiece.

Detroit won the season series 3-1. Including the Minnesota North Stars days, the Wings and Stars have met three times in the playoffs, and the Wings have won all three series. Most recently, the Wings won 4-2 in the 1998 Western Conference final.

The Stars, like the Flyers, have four players with 10 or more points. In 12 games played, Mike Ribeiro has 14 (3/11). Brendan Morrow (7/4) and Brad Richards (2/9) each have 11, and Mike Modano has 10 (4/6)

While Marty Turco has been good, I think it will come down to the even better goaltending of Chris Osgood and a superior Wings team dictating the flow.
I think the Red Wings will have a pretty easy time of this, with the Stars winning their lone win at home.

So far as I can tell, Maggie hasn't made her picks yet, but we have a few days off before the series start. The West will begin on Thursday and the East will start on Friday.

Red Wing nation pushes collective panic button, then breathes collective sigh of relief

On Monday night, the Red Wings and Avalanche met for the final time this season. Both clubs were mired in losing streaks. Detroit ended their six-game losing streak, but suffered an injury to their Captain. Despite the "worst-case scenario" cryings from the Winged Wheel nation, Nicklas Lidsrom is only expected to be out for a week to ten days with a minor knee injury.

The Red Wings entered the game clinging to a narrow 18-point lead in the Central division and were able to give themselves some much needed breathing room with the win over their most hated rival. While they're happy to have won the game, they're more concerned right now with the fact that they have just become the only team in the history of the game to see one of its star players get injured.

After reading around some of the Wings blogs, it's clear that most of the "ZOMG, it's the end of the world!" posts were hastily written before details were available, but it still reeks of hubris to whine about a minor injury, as if that kind of thing can't possibly happen to the Red Wings.

Part of the uproar stems from the fact that Lidstrom was hurt by an Avalanche player, and some are viewing the hit from Laperriere to be dirty.
Part of the uproar also comes from the fact that the Red Wings blue line was already banged up going into the game. Brian Rafalski and Niklas Kronwall are both out with injuries.

This is far from a "worst-case scenario". Rafalski is day-to-day with a sore groin. Kronwall is about a week away from returning from a shoulder injury. Lidstrom is not expected to be out for more than 10 days.

As expected, Aaron Downey went out and got some of that "frontier justice" stuff by going after Laperriere once in a fight and once in an open-ice hit. After the game, Downey, who has barbells for brains, delivered what has to be the quote of the year. From the Detroit Free Press:

"(W)hat you’ve got to do is, you’ve got to have a good head on your shoulder and you don’t want to put your team in jeopardy even though you’d like to go out there and run (Ryan) Smyth or you’d like to run one of their skill guys. Sure it’d be good to go out there and goon the guy, but that’s not hockey. Let’s play good, hard, passionate hockey like they did in the Roman times. I’m not going to run their guys to prove a point but you know what, I’ll go out there and get him back. Fair justice is fair justice."

Yeah. Who can forget that epic championship series between Capri and Naples back in 23 BC? Augustus Caesar had four goals in game seven alone.

Canes fall in Detroit

After playing a very solid sixty minutes in Montréal on Saturday night, Carolina had very little time to rest and prepare for the best team in the NHL. Against Detroit on Sunday, they looked good. "Good" wouldn't be enough, though. Detroit won 5-2, which looks like a blowout. It was, however, very much in question until the final moments. Although they were badly outshot, Carolina held in there and they should be happy with the amount of effort.

Valtteri Filppula started the scoring at 4:35 of the first with a tip-in of a rebound from a Jiri Hudler shot. Nick Lidstrom got the secondary assist. The game was delayed briefly while they reviewed the goal. I think they were looking to see if the whistle had blown, but it was a short review and the goal stood up.

That was the only scoring of the first, but the shots on goal were 16-4 in favor of the home team. Still, Carolina looked very much in it.

Before the scant crowd could even get back in their seats for the second period, Erik Cole made it a tie game with a fantastic individual effort. Tim Gleason fired a shot from the right half-wall and Cole was there for the rebound. Hasek answered the bell, but there was another rebound coming. In a matter of just a split second, Cole located the airborne rebound and batted it into the net from about knee level. Time of that goal was 0:46 of the second.

Johan Franzen, author of the bestselling novel The Corrections scored at 6:02 of the second to restore the one goal lead. Tim Gleason was in the box for delay of game (clearing the puck over the glass), and the Wings were putting on a passing display. After some really nifty passes, Daniel Cleary fired a shot that was very subtly re-directed at the top of the crease. Jiri Hudler got the other assist on the power play marker. I'm well aware of the fact that Johan Franzen and Jonathan Franzen are different people. The latter was the one who actually wrote The Corrections, but I still like to make the joke.

Erik Cole answered the call with his second goal of the night at 10:36. Hank Zetterberg was off for tripping and Cole let one rip from the right circle. Hasek didn't have a chance. Scott Walker and Frantisek Kaberle had the assists on the power play goal.

Andreas Lilja put the Wings back on top at 12:40. His rising shot from the high slot beat Cam Ward pretty badly. Niklas Kronwall and Jiri Hudler got the helpers.

The second period ended 3-2. It was still very much a game despite the 26-11 shots on goal count favoring the Wings. If Carolina was tired, they didn't show it much

In the third period, the fatigue started to show. Carolina's passes weren't very crisp and they looked a little confused at times. Detroit was penalized two times early in the period, giving the Hurricanes every chance to tie it up, but they just couldn't get it done.

Pavel Datsyuk made a really pretty play to breakaway on Ward and beat him cleanly at 17:22 to make it a two goal game. The goal was unassisted

Since this is a non-Conference game, the coaching strategy is a little different. Whereas normally the goaltender would be pulled with about 1:15 to play, Laviolette was a little more aggressive. Cam Ward was trying to come off the ice with about 2:15 to play. Unfortunately, Carolina couldn't get the puck deep enough for Ward to come off. He was all the way to the bench, but had to backpedal with Zetterberg storming in. Somehow, Ward got there in time to make a great stop on the Zetterberg breakaway, but the rebound went into the low slot where Tomas Holmstrom banged it in at 17:58. Zetterberg had the only assist.

The shots on goal were 38-17 and although the five goals stand out in the box score, Cam Ward was pretty sharp. On the other end, the Dominator looked pretty shaky. For the home team, however, it was good enough.
Detroit will travel to Nashville for a Monday night game while Carolina will go home and be idle until Wednesday when the Senators come to town.

The "official" three stars were Hudler (third), Cole (second) and Lilja (first). I'm not so sure about that. Sure, Lilja got the game winner -- and it was a beauty, but I just don't think he was one of the best players on the ice. And I think Hudler was way better than he's being given credit for. The RBH three stars:
THIRD STAR Niklas Lidstrom, DET --- two assists
SECOND STAR Erik Cole, CAR --- two goals
FIRST STAR Jiri Hudler, DET --- three assists

A tale of two cities

While Carolina is unbeatable in Montréal, they can't buy a win in Detroit. Add that to the difficulties of a 19-hour turnaround from the end of Saturday's game to the start of Sunday's.

Entering last night's game, Carolina had eight consecutive wins at the Bell/Molson Centre, dating back to the lockout. The 5-1 win stretched that streak to nine, including postseason. Detroit is a different tale altogether. Carolina won game one of the 2002 Stanley Cup Final at the Joe, but aside from that, Carolina/Hartford hasn't won a game there since 1989. Unless I have it wrong, that's a run of 0-10-0-2. Throw in the 2002 Stanley Cup, and it's 1-12-0-2. That's a terrible record.

Thanks in large part to that 2002 Stanley Cup disaster, the Hurricanes count Detroit as one of their rivals. They don't fool themselves into thinking that the feeling is reciprocated, but it's always a big game against the Wings. Carolina has done a little better against the Winged Wheel at the RBC Center, but not at the Joe.

Ray Whitney will be playing there for the first time since they bought out his contract coming out of the lockout. He's not looking at it as a sort of homecoming. He doesn't say so, but I think it has to be a red letter game, going against a team that essentially threw him away.

Chad LaRose, who is from nearby Fraser, Michigan is viewing this as a homecoming. He's snatched up about 60 tickets for relatives and friends. He's played in the Joe before, but not as a professional. As a seven year old, his team played a game there. According to Lord Stanley's Blog, he has a painful memory of that game

“I had a penalty shot and I missed,” LaRose said. “I cried all the way home.”

Defenseman Tim Gleason is also from the Detroit area. His hometown of Clawson is just 20 miles north of the Motor City. The paper doesn't mention it, but I'm sure he's got dozens of friends and family there as well.

In order for Fox Sports South to air "The best damn archery shots" or "the best damn arm wrestling bouts" or some other such dreck, they won't show this game. Their excuse is that there's a college basketball game scheduled to air at 7:30. One that doesn't feature any of the teams from the FSS viewing area. You can still catch the game on Center Ice. Fox Sports Detroit is also scheduled to show a college basketball game at 7:30, but they're going to air the Red Wings game in its entirety, sacrificing the first seven minutes of the basketball game, joining it in progress.
I wonder why FSS didn't consider the option of running the hockey game in its entirety, picking up the basketball game on a (roughly) seven minute tape delay, then catching up to live time during halftime. Seems like that would work.
Anyway, it doesn't matter. I'll pick up the FSN Detroit broadcast.

The Red Wings have been off since Friday, and are a red hot team. They're leading the league in goals per game at 3.36. Carolina is third with 3.2. Also, they're third in the league in goals allowed per game at 2.21 while Carolina is 23rd at 2.93.

Chris Osgood, who has a league best 1.79 Goals Against Average, will thankfully have the night off. Dominik Hasek, though, is no slouch. His numbers this season are way less scary than they used to be, but he's still "The Dominator".

Carolina will be very tired. They played in Montréal last night while the Wings were sleeping. However, they skated seven defensemen and really only rolled three lines last night. Since there was one healthy scratch (Jeff Hamilton) and two guys (Craig Adams, Trevor Letowski) who played sparingly on the fourth line, they'll be asked to contribute a lot tonight. Chad LaRose is all geeked up, so there won't be any problem getting effort from him, but it's going to be hard for the other guys.

The second period will be the deal. That's when fatigue will most likely be the biggest factor working against the Canes. Maybe, just maybe, they'll get lucky and catch the Wings napping. I wouldn't bank on it though.

Around the Wings blogosphere:

Abel to Yzerman

Behind the Jersey

On the Wings

Daniel Alfredsson wins game, guarantees Sens will lose Cup

On Saturday afternoon, the Senators eliminated the Sabres in game five of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Sens will now wait for the Western Conference Final between the Wings and Ducks to conclude.

The city of Buffalo continues their Championship drought.

Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson scored the game winner 9:32 into the overtime period on a really nasty play. He came in the Sabres zone on a one-on-three situation, used Sabres defenseman Brian "Soupy" Campbell as a screen, and bistered one through Ryan Miller's five hole from the top of the left circle.

There was jubilation in the Canadian capital city.

For about 30 seconds.

The NHL folks quickly brought the Prince of Wales trophy out on the ice for presentation to Alfredsson. During the perfunctorily quick ceremony, Alfredsson committed the cardinal sin: He touched the Prince of Wales trophy.

Everyone knows you don't skate with, pick up, or even touch the Prince of Wales. You really don't even look at it. Ron Francis and the Carolina Hurricanes learned this the hard way in 2002. When they got their second chance in 2006, they made a point to not touch the POW. Of course, Detroit was by far the better team, but Carolina angered the hockey gods with the touching of the POW.

EDIT: -->In 2003, Asshole Scott Stevens of the New Jersey Devils skated with the Prince of Wales, and his team went on to win the Cup.

This Senators team looks unbeatable right now. Buffalo struggled with focus and effort in this series, but they played well today. Not well enough, though. I don't think anyone could have played well enough.

If the Red Wings advance out of the West, I will be rooting for Ottawa.
If the Ducks advance out of the West, I will be rooting for them.

Buffalo avoids sweep; Chris Pronger is made an example of (kind of).

On Wednesday night, the Senators had a chance to complete a sweep of hockey's best team, and they had that chance in front of their home crowd. Unlike the previous three games, Buffalo decided to show up, and they won the game 3-2.

At 8:06 of the second period, Chris Drury gave the Sabres a 3-0 lead. They had no way of knowing it at the time, but it turned out to be the game-winner.

I didn't see even one second of the game, and I didn't get to chat with any of my Buffalo friends, but I'm sure they're all happy. Just before game four, I saw one of my Buffalo peeps, and he had pretty much sent the white towel up the mast.

As fate would have it, the Sabres benefitted from a five-on-three situation, scoring their first power play goal of the series.

Will this give the Sabres life? Sure. They head back to Eerie Coutie with a chance to instill hope in their fans. Those fans, by the way, have scooped up every ticket to every game this season and of course during the playoffs. Something like 60 straight sellouts.

Do they have a chance to win the series? Probably not.

In the West, which I have had a very hard time caring about, Detroit dominated game three with a 5-0 shutout. Game four is tonight in Anaheim.
By now, we've all read about or seen the thing with Chris Pronger.
He and Rob Neidermeyer crushed Tomas Holmstrom into the boards, knocking him silly and opening a gash on his forehead. Neidermeyer was given the boot for boarding, and after reviewing the tape, Pronger was suspended one game for "a blow to the head".

As regular readers know, I support the institution of stiff penalties for blows to the head. I'm glad that the League decided to do something about it. I find it a bit odd, though, that they capriciously handed down this one game suspension. There is no provision in the rulebook, and no precedent in NHL play. Huzzah for taking a stand, but I have to say that it seems like they're changing the rules in the middle of the game.
Several times during the season, players threw very hard head-high checks, causing injury. Those players were often unpenalized, and when they were given supplementary discipline, it wasn't consistent.
Like I say, good for the League for deciding to do something about it. During the summer, I very much hope that they'll write some verbage in the rule book pertaining to blows to the head. At the very least, they should have some defined supplementary discipline. A yard stick, if you will. They should know that such behavior carries a two, three, five game mandatory suspension.
That brings me to my other gripe. If the League wants to be serious about punishing players for this type of hit, they need to be more firm in their punishment. A one game suspension during the playoffs is a big deal, but the League cannot allow that to be the precedent. It needs to be more severe.
As a guy who doesn't care about the Ducks, and a guy who actually has dislike for the Redwings, I can look at the tape with a slight bias against the Wings. However, that hit looks almost predatory in nature.

As you may remember, Canada's Shea Weber (Nashville) was suspended for three games during the IIHF World Championships for delivering a head-high check to Germany's Yannic Seidenberg. There is nothing set in stone (relating to supplementary discipline) there either, but they do have a stance against head-high hits.

Anyway, that Ducks-Wings series continues tonight in Anaheim. Detroit is up 2-1, and the Ducks will be without their best defenseman.

Sens lead 1-0, Wings/Ducks start tonight.

On Thursday night, the Senators took a 1-0 series lead over the Sabres with a 5-2 victory in Buffalo. They have, in effect, stolen the "home ice" advantage by winning game one on the road. If Buffalo should win game two (and I think they will), Ottawa will have three of the remaining five games in their building.

Due to a long-standing Thursday ritual, I didn't watch the game. This ritual has only been broken a few times. Namely, when the Hurricanes were in the playoffs last season and an occasional home game in the regular season this year.

From my conversations with my Sabres friends, I've gathered that the home team didn't play very well. Their special teams, which have been under criticism all playoff season, stunk. Apparently, their effort was lacking or completely absent in the closing stanza.

For a more qualified opinion on the matter, I highly recommend BFLOBLOG, as I always do. Mark has his detailed analysis here, and the always on-point Kevin has a very terse review here.

For Sens opinion, I suggest Hockey Will Tear Us Apart. As of the moment, "AQuietGirl" hasn't posted a game review, but she had some excellent series preview stuff.

Finally, here's the play of the game, Mike Fisher's shorthanded breakaway goal in the first period:



Wings and Ducks start tonight. I'll predict the Ducks in game one.

Also, the United States lost to Finland and was eliminated from IHWC play on Thursday. Meanwhile, Canada soldiers on.

Third round predictions

I have one foot out the door for work, so I have to make this quick. No shiny graphics, no elaborate analysis. I need to get my third round picks in, and if I get around to it, I'll detail them before Thursday's action begins.

After going a respectable 6-2 in the first round, I was a dreadful 0-4 in the second. I'm still at the break-even point, which isn't that bad.

Ottawa over Buffalo in seven games.
I think Buffalo's stagnant power play is going to become a problem. There's the potential for the bad blood between the teams to boil, but since it's the ECF, I think the players will cool it. Jason Spezza will be the star for the Sens, and Chris Drury will be Buffalo's best player.

The hockey gods' little joke has something to do with this pick. I really think, though, that the Sens will be too much for the very talented Sabres to handle.

Anaheim over Detroit in six. Teemu Selanne deserves this. Chris Pronger does not, but it's acceptable. My heart refuses to let my head say anything good about the Wings. The ducks are en fuego, anyway. They're too good.