Franzen Leads The Wings

So how about that Johan Franzen guy, huh? He scored 4 goals, including a natural hat trick, in last night’s 7-1 rout of the Sharks by the Red Wings.

Not only did the Wings win last night, but the Canadiens pulled out a 3-2 victory over the Penguins. Halak was stellar as usual stopping both Malkin and Crosby on breakaways.

That series is tied at two games apiece and the Sharks still hold a 3-1 series lead over the Wings.

As for tonight’s games, the Canucks will take on the Blackhawks again, down 2-1.

The Bruins will look to be the first team with a series sweep this postseason as they can eliminate the Flyers tonight.

NHL Playoffs Round Two

With the shocking elimination last night of the Washington Capitals by the Montreal Canadiens, the 1, 2 and 3 seed have all been eliminated from the playoffs in the East.

I went 5-3 on my preditcions, with Washington, Colorado, and New Jersey losing.

Tonight, the action kicks off with the Detroit Red Wings and the San Jose Sharks. The game is on VS at 9pm. This series will be a rough, tough series with two high scoring offenses. I think the most important factor of the series will be goaltending. How will Jimmy Howard fare versus one of the top lines in the NHL?

Prediction: Detroit wins in 6

The other match in the West is a re-match from last year as the Canucks will take on the Blackhawks. For the Hawks, this will be a tougher task than the Predators. Will Alex Burrows do something more than score one empty net goal? I think his success or failure will be the storyline of the series.

Prediction: Canucks win in 7

In the East, we have two snooze-fests if you don’t live in the cities playing.

First up we have Pittsburgh vs the Canadiens. The Habs shocked a lot of people when the quickly disposed of Alex the Great in the first round. I don’t think  history will repeat itself in this round though. Although, if Jaroslav Halak continues the way he’s been playing (.978 SV% and a 1.00 GAA in the past three games) you can throw all predictions out the window.

Prediction: Penguins win in 6.

Finally we have the big, bad Bruins, who will have the returning Marc Savard back in the line-up, against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers received stellar goaltending from Brian Boucher and that sprung them to a 4-1 victory over the Devils. I think this will be another goaltending battle. You have the young, but confident rookie, Tuukka Rask versus the veteran who’s is on fire, Brian Boucher.

Prediction: Bruins in 6.

First Round Winding Down

The first round of the 2010 NHL playoffs is quickly drawing to a close.

Philadelphia eliminated the Devils in 5 games and that may have played a role in the news today that Devils coach Jacques Lemaire announced his retirement from the NHL at age 62.

The Penguins disposed of the Senators in overtime Saturday evening, in the series that went 6 games.

Boston currently holds a 3-2 lead over the Buffalo Sabres, whom they play tonight at 7pm. The Sabres will have Thomas Vanek back in the line-up in all likelyhood.

Washington will look to finish their series tonight in enemy land as the Red Shirt Army will head north to Quebec for game 6 of this series verse the Habs.

In the Western Conference, the Canucks punched their ticket to the second round with a 4-2 come-from-behind victory, their 13th of the season, to eliminate the Kings.

The Phoenix Coyotes forced a game 7 with the Detroit Red Wings with a 5-2 victory over the Wings yesterday afternoon.

The Blackhawks took a 3-2 series lead in a game that featured Marian Hossa take a 5-minute major for boarding, Pat Kane scoring the game-tying goal, shorthanded with under 15 seconds left and Hossa scoring the game-winning goal after exiting the penalty box in overtime.

The Sharks eliminated the Avalanche with a 5-2 victory Saturday night and started off on the right foot to shake off the stereotype as the playoff choker.

So in the East we have Pittsburgh and Philadelphia that have moved on.

In the West, we have San Jose and Vancouver that have moved on.

Playoffs Push Onward

The Bruins had a hard fought victory against the Buffalo Sabres last night in the first series that went to two overtimes. After a bad too many men penalty, former Sabre Miroslav Satan made no mistake dispensing the puck in the open side of the net giving the Broooons a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Northeast division champs.

The Canucks ties up their series with the Kings last night with 4 goals in the third period en route to a 6-4 victory in the Staples Center, which sends the series back to Vancouver tied at 2.

Washington took a 3-1 series lead over the Canadiens with a 6-3 victory last night. Washington will look to wrap up the series at home on Friday.

Tonight the Penguins will look to eliminate the Senators at home tonight. With a strong playoffs by both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, one wonders if the Senators have any hope.

The Flyers will look to shock everyone (myself included) when they get a chance to eliminate the Devils tonight. If they are going to do it, it will be without both Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne, both scheduled to have foot surgery Friday. This series just got interesting.

The Sharks will try to take a 3-2 lead over the Avalanche with the momentum the carry from their overtime victory in game 4 of the series to tie the series at 2.

The Red Wings and Coyotes have an off day today and will resume tomorrow night with that series also deadlocked at 2 games apiece.

Nashville might have the upset of the playoffs if they can knock off the team many predicted to win the Stanley Cup, the Blackhawks. Already up 2-1 they will look to stretch it to 3-1 when they play tonight.

A reminder of my picks made on April 15th:

I have Washington winning in 5, looks good.
Boston in 7, looks good.
Vancouver winning in 7.
Blackhawks winning in 6.
Pittsburgh in 6, looks good.
Jersey in 6 (way off)
Colorado in 7.
and Detroit in 7.

Wild Weekend In The NHL

The Bruins tied their series with Sabres at one game apiece Saturday afternoon. Chara and Ryder each tallied two gaols and Mark Recchi had an empty netter to seal the game for the Bruins. Game Three is tonight and the Sabres will be without leading scorer Thomas Vanek after he was slashed in the knee and went heavily into the boards. Vanek said that he will return at some point in the series, but he isn’t sure when.

Philly took a 2-1 series lead over the Devils. Dan Carcillo had the overtime winner for the Flyers early in overtime to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.

Washington tied their series with the Canadiens at one with an overtime winner by Nik Backstrom about a half a minute into overtime on Saturday. The Canadiens will likely have Glen Metropolit back in the line-up in the coming days which will be a big help for the Habs.

Pittsburgh took a 2-1 series lead over the Senators after losing the first game.

The Kings and the Canucks have had both games of their series go into overtime. Mikael Samuelsson scored the winner for Vancouver in game 1 and Anze Kopitar scored the winner for LA in game 2 on the powerplay after a too many men penalty by the Canucks.

Colorado is showing that the Sharks are once again playoff chokers. 51 shots on goal last night by the Sharks and all were stopped by Craig Anderson. The game went into overtime tied 0-0 and just fifty seconds into the overtime period, Ryan O’Reilly put pressure on Dan Boyle, who tried to fling the puck around the boards, but ended up putting it past his own goalie.

Phoenix took a 2-1 lead on Detroit after a 4-2 win over the Wings yesterday afternoon. Former Ranger Pert Prucha had a goal and an assist in the victory over the Wings.

The Hawks tied their series with Nashville last night with a 2-0 victory. Antti Niemi had the first playoff shutout this year making 23 saves. Patrick Kane and Dave Bolland scored the goals for Chicago.

Canadiens Off With A Bang

The Canadiens rocked the hockey world last night when they defeated the Washington Capitals in the first game in the best of seven series in Washington last night.

The Capitals managed 47 shots in the game, which went about 14 minutes into overtime, and Alex Ovechkin had zero shots on goal. That will be a key for the Canadiens if they want to win this series.

Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said after the game that he didn’t think that Ovechkin played very well. He said the Canadiens did a good job preventing Ovechkin from playing his game, but the coach felt that Ovechkin was off his game.

Losing the first game is nothing new for the Capitals as they lost the first two games last year in the first round to the Rangers,. a series they would eventually win 4-3.

The Canucks also got off to a good start in a game that also went into overtime. The Sedins each had 2 points and Michael Samuelson had two goals, including the game-winner, leading the Canucks over the Kings 3-2 in the first game.

Both goalies played very well. The Kings came within inches of scoring after a shot by LA ricocheted off of Luongo’s shoulder and went behind him. He spun around and swatted the puck away with his glove as it danced across the goal line, but failed to go in.

Jonathan Quick made a huge glove save on a 2 on 1 for Vancouver in overtime as well.

But, the offense of Vancouver proved too much as Michael Samuelson ripped a shot passed Quick to win the game for Vancouver.

Buffalo had a real goalie battle with Boston. Ryan Miller made 35+ saves and allowed only one goal. Thomas Vanek, who has been red-hot since returning (6 goals in 3 games), tallied a goal along with captain Craig Rivet, whose goal turned out to be the winner.

Tonight, Chicago opens their series with Nashville. Philly and New Jersey will battle in game 2 along with Pittsburgh-Ottawa, Detroit-Phoenix, and San Jose-Colorado.

Playoff Preview

(1) Washington vs (8) Montreal

Montreal really ended up with the short stick here. Back-to-back years of playing the number one seed. This year, they’ll have some better goaltending with Jaroslav Halak taking over the starting role from Carey Price. I don’t think that any goaltender can really stop Washington’s potent offense though.

Season Series: Tied 2-2

Winner: Washington 4-1

(3) Buffalo vs. (6) Boston

Well, Boston has the lowest scoring offense in the NHL averaging just under 2.4 goals per game. Surprisingly, though, they have really played well against the Sabres this year going 4-2 in the season series. This one is going to shape up to be a battle of the goalies with Ryan Miller versus rookie Tuukka Rask.

Season Series: Boston won it 4-2

Winner: Boston 4-3

(3) Vancouver vs. (6) Los Angeles

This is one of my favorite playoff matchups. I’m really kind-of bored by the matchups in the East. This is a matchup that I will be watching. Los Angeles will have a tough task, especially with Jonathon Quick struggling in the past 10 or so games. Hopefully for LA fans the few days off will help him out.

Season Series: Vancouver won it 3-1.

Winner: Vancouver 4-3

(2) Chicago vs. (7) Nashville

This series doesn’t begin until Friday, but I’m going to preview it today anyway. Nashville has gone under the radar, going almost unnoticed by myself. I think Chicago could have some trouble in net if Nashville can score a few early goals. According to ESPN it will be Antti Niemi in goal for the Hawks and Rinne in net for the Predators.

Season Series: Chicago won 4-2

Winner: Blackhawks 4-2

Playoff Preview

I’m just going to preview the match-ups that start tonight because I’m short on time. Tomorrow I’ll have the rest.

(4) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (5) Ottawa Senators

The Senators are going to have a hard time defeating the defending Stanley Cup champs. Ottawa has been a fluky team this year going on long winning streaks and then completely sucking at some points. Brian Elliott is going to be the starter for the Sens and Fleury for the Pens. I really don’t think this will be a close match-up.

Season Series: Tied 2-2

Winner: Pittsburgh 4-2

(2) New Jersey Devils vs. (7) Philadelphia Flyers

People are calling for an upset here. I have one question for them. What the hell are you smoking? Look at the goalie match-up. It’s arguably the best ever for a third stringer. I really don’t think that Philly will win, even though they dominated during the season.

Season Series: Philly leads 5-1

Winner: NJD 4-2

(1) San Jose Sharks vs. (8) Colorado Avalanche

This one will be interesting. San Jose is the annual choke artists in the NHL. Will the trend continue this year? A very young Colorado team will look to take advantage here and I think this could be an upset this year.

Season Series: Tied 2-2

Winner: Colorado 4-3

(4) Phoenix Coyotes vs. (5) Detroit Red Wings

Detroit is on fire entering the playoffs having gone 12-1-2 in their past 15 games. I don’t think that Detroit winning is an upset because both teams are about equal. Phoenix will need Ilya Bryzgalov to be Superman in this postseason against Detroit’s offense.

Season Series: Tied 2-2

Winner: Detroit 4-3

Well, there you go. The previews for tonights series’ openers. Tomorrow I’ll have the other four series previews. I have a few good ideas for some posts coming up next week so be sure to stop by.