habs vs bruins

French Canadians. It's more surprising that they didn't boo their own anthem.

Radcliffe,

I am with you now, regretfully. I am catching strong whiffs of the cooked goose smell emanating from our nation's capital.

Yeah, seems so. But don't totally count 'em out yet. The Caps have amazing young players that have to figure out this play-off brand of hockey. They're talented enough that they could still pull it together. Regardless, this year's experience will make them way stronger next season.

True enough. They gave a stat on CSN last night though that in the history of the 7 game series, teams that are up 3 -1 in a series win 91% of the time. Yikes.

The Rangers have done such an amazing job of shutting down the Caps offense. I mean, after getting Theodore out of net, the 20 year old Varlamov in three games has a .962 save percentage and a 1.01 GAA yet has a record of 1 and 2. WHAT!? haha

I was 5 minutes away from turning off the B'Hawks- Flames game when Chicago pulled a rally out of their butt. Glad Calgary won and got to hit the reset button on the series, too bad for them it's now a 3 game series and two of those games are Chicago where they haven't won yet. If San Jose hits the reset button tonite they reclaim home ice and that could mean the series. Hope the Ducks realise this is as much a must win for them as it is for the Sharks.

Too bad the Habs were so beat up they couldn't put up much of a fight.


Oh who am I kidding I enjoyed all 240 minutes of it and have been waiting a year for it. Actually I do feel sorry for Schneider, one of my favorite ex-Kings. Getting traded to ATL in a salary dump from a media market he choose to play in twice as a UFA wasn't bad enough, having to be injured in the playoffs has got to be worse. Especially since he knows how important that Habs v Bruins match up is being a returning Hab.

Still don't know why Gainey was so concerned about the Bruins physical play when their scoring depth is what was really scary. Bruins got 2 or more goals from more players (5) than the Habs got goals from period (4). You can win a game without being as physical as your opponent, but you are not going to win a game when your opponent outscores you. Gainey is a genius, this should be a slam dunk.

Bruins hopefully get on Versus/NBC a lot next round. I am guess the Rangers would help in that more than Carolina. It's funny how the Rangers draw such a big TV audience when MSG might be the leagues worst building for TV. Can the cameras be any further from the ice?

i hope to enjoy watching claude giroux for a long long time. he's really fun to watch.

Its nice to see the Wings playing they way they should.

as much as I dislike the ducks, I'm glad to see San Jose losing. If they lose to the ducks, then the canucks end up playing the winner of the hawks/flames series, instead of going up against the red wings.

No f'n doubt. This kid has great vision and can pass with the best of them and he hasn't even had a full season under his belt int he NHL. If he didn't struggle and start in the AHl, he could be up there with the Rookie of the year candidates and have a good chance to win it..And he's doing all this with 3rd line minutes.

And to think Clarke forgot his name at the podium when they drafted him..

A San Jose loss does seem to look better for the Canucks. On paper, at least. Although I think the 'Nucks are built to beat the Wings - but I've got no complaints about seeing Anaheim and Detroit beat the bejeebus out of each other.

Sharks were just lifeless. I guess I know why Roenick gets such prime ice time, he's the only one with any fire (it's JR so it could be an act). But Jesus this team is totally emotionless.

Marty B with the 44 saves. That was awesome. That's been a great series, from the highlites I have seen. Too bad barely any of the games have been on national TV.




And you still have vanRiemsdyk to break in, lucky bastards.

I think Giroux is great, but there's nothing in his numbers if multiplied over a full season that trump 31 goals in 64 games or 10 shutouts. If Brian Burke hadn't F'ed up in Anaheim and left no room under the cap for Bobby Ryan coming out of camp, Ryan could have hit 40 goals and not wasted 6 weeks in Iowa before Beauchemin got hurt and freed up cap space for him to return.

There's definately a list of rookies who will (Doughty) or could (Wheeler, Giroux), end up better than Versteeg. But Ryan and Mason look like two kids who not only deserve the Calder, but will both be among the top 3 of this rookie class for years to come.

And don't forget Brassard on Columbus. He was tearing it up before an injury cost him the season.

or Bryan Little and Zach Bogosian in ATL

edit: Stamkos in Tampa

Yeah but we should have had Kane..We were the worst in the league that year by a good bit and we get 2nd in the ping pong tourney..Just our Luck..But the kid has talent, I hope his work ethic is there and he can compete in camp next year.

I'd just like to say one thing:

Varlamov:

In 4 games, .969 sv. %; .76 GAA; 2 shutouts. 20 YEARS OLD.

Speaking of Flyers draft picks

Sounds like someone Clarke would draft

Tortorella suspended for one game. Apparently the fan didn't just randomly dump beer on him. Allegedly Torts squirted the heckling fan with water which then led to the fan dumping beer on him


Either way, crazy turn of events.

hawks beatin that ass last night

Mufugger, Brashear just got a six game suspension for playing hockey. Somewhere, Barry Beck is crying.

I am a Caps fan and that was a dirty ass hit, late as hell and arguably done with the intent to injure Betts.

With Betts, NYR had only allowed 1 PP goal on 17 tries in the first 5 games. 1st two PP chances for WSH without Betts leads to 2 PP goals. I'd say NYR lost out more significantly in this one. Plus, there is some discussion that the orbital bone breaking could be a career ender for Betts.

The biggest upset in my mind is that San Jose was eliminated in the first round. Had anyone in here predicted that? God knows I didn't.

Huge game 7 for me tonight in the NYR/WSH series. *crosses fingers*

Yeah, I knew it'd be a close series, but I thought this was the year SJ would show up to the dance. Seems like it took the team 2 games to realize there was an extra gear needed for the playoffs.

The Anaheim/Detroit series will be nasty. Vancouver/Chicago? Nasty. This should be a hugely entertaining 2nd round in the west.

Hit him with his shoulder, didn't use the stick, didn't go for the legs, hit him from the front...these two teams have been knocking each other after the whistle for the entire series--this was no isolated incident.

A Game Misconduct *maybe*, but 6 games during the playoffs? After Avery has been cheap-shotting players with the butt of his stick all series long?

Regardless, tonight will be brutal.

I think the issue with Brashear was that (well one game anyway) was his little instigating bit in warm ups with Orr and then the fact that while the hit would have been fine in any normal situation, the puck was well into the zone, the hit happened in neutral ice, and he had to find Betts. It wasn't just an incidental contact situation where Brashear just overpowered. He sought him out to do that. At least from the replay's I watched. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGwrm3sGU8E