Tag Archive for San Jose Sharks

Wild Start To The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs

April 16, 2012 NHL

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are underway and with just about 3 games played in each match up there has been some surprises thus far for the first round. We have seen everything from brawls, to higher seeds with the lead in the battle, head slamming on the glass and a series with over 30 goals in just 3 games!

The first interesting and possibly shocking outcome in the 1st round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs would be the number 8 seed Los Angeles Kings versus the number 1 seed Vancouver Canucks. The Kings hold a 3-0 series lead over the Canucks who were the winners of the Presidents Trophy during the regular season, finishing with the most points in the NHL. The Kings have really proven that a hot goal tender can very well steal a series, and the Kings have one of the best young goalies in the league in Jonathan Quick. In just 3 games Quick has given up only 4 goals, while shutting the Canucks out in game 3 last night in a 1-0 win. Can the defending Western Conference Champs bounce back from a 3-0 deficit? Something that has only been done 3 times in all of Hockey’s time? Or will Jonathan Quick put a stop to it and send the 8 seeded Kings to the 2nd round?

Staying in the Western Conference we have the match-up between the 3 seed Phoenix Coyotes and the 6 seed Chicago Blackhawks. Many, including myself had predicted that series would end early and the Blackhawks offense would be too much for goalie Mike Smith of the Coyotes. But with this series tied at 1, with game 3 tonight, and seeing 2 overtime games in the first 2 games, nobody knows how this series will end up. Both games the Coyotes had a 1 goal lead with under 30 seconds to go in the game, the first game the Blackhawks tied it with 15 seconds to go, but Martin Hanzal went on to score the overtime winner for the Coyotes and give them the 1-0 series lead. Phoenix in game 2 had a 1 goal lead with under 30 seconds to go when a shot was fired from the point and deflected in the net to tie the game with 5 seconds left in the 3rd period. Chicago went on to win the game with a goal from Bryan Bickell in overtime. With game 3 tonight in Chicago, who will prevail to take the series lead? Will Smith keep the Coyotes in the game with his goal-tending or will the high-powered offense of Kane-Toews-Hossa-Sharp, be too much for Smith the rest of this series? I still this series going to the Blackhawks, but in 6 games.

The Nashville Predators and the Detroit Red Wings are in an intense battle in the Western Conference 4 vs 5 match up. A series that is led by the Predators at 2 games to 1. A series that has seen some great goal-tending from Pekka Rinne and Jimmy Howard, to an illegal hit to the head on Henrik Zetterberg from Predators Captain Shea Weber. Shea Weber towards the end of game 1 took Zetterberg by the head and slammed it into the glass. As you can see in the video here, you be the judge on whether or not this hit was suspension worthy.


Download Video from YouTube | YouTube to MP3: Vixy

After the game there was talk that Weber could be suspended for a few games, but in the end he was only hit with a $2500 fine and was able to return to action in games 2 and 3 of the series. Had Weber been suspended, this series may have gone in Detroit’s favor but with Weber still in the series and no suspension, this makes the Predators still a strong candidate to win this series.

The St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks are tied at 1 a piece in their series and with an injury to Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak, we will now see a recent injured Brian Elliott back between the pipes for game 3 of this series tonight in San Jose. These games have gone back and forth and we will see which team will prevail with a win tonight and take a 2-1 series lead.

Heading over to the Eastern Conference we have the battle between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers, the 5 seeded Flyers have the series lead with 3 games to 0. This is a series that has seen 30 goals scored in just 3 games. Both goalies are at the bottom in the playoff leaders for goals against average in a game and both bottom in save percentage leaders. Aside from the mammoth amount of goals being scored in this series, we have seen plenty of clean and dirty hits and also some big fights in this series. This is a heated rivalry for the two interstate teams and that has carried over into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. We have seen plenty of players fight and land some big hits on each other and in last nights game alone, we saw some major hits that could end in suspensions and fines for some players.


Download Video from YouTube | YouTube to MP3: Vixy


Download Video from YouTube | YouTube to MP3: Vixy

As you can see from these hits the Penguins have been letting out some frustration on the Flyers by laying out some of some big illegal hits on some of their big name players. Asham who is a repeat offender and often suspended player, cross checks Brayden Schenn in the neck and proceeds to punch him while he is defenseless on the ice. Neal who is not often a dirty player and one of the cleaner players in the NHL, takes a charge at Sean Couturier and lays him out and minutes later takes a shot at Flyers superstar player Claude Giroux, which then lead to a huge brawl between the two teams with many players thrown out of the game.


Download Video from YouTube | YouTube to MP3: Vixy

In the 1 vs 8 seed match up in the Eastern Conference we have the 1 seed New York Rangers and the 8 seed Ottawa Senators locked up in a 1-1 series tie, with game 3 tonight in Ottawa. This has also been a very dirty series with plenty of big hits and some fights to go along with the games. The Rangers won the first game 4-2 and looked like they could dominate this series the whole way, but with some bad bounces in game 2, we saw the Ottawa Senators win a 3-2 game in overtime and split the series in NY. In a series that just saw Rangers rookie Carl Hagelin suspended 3 games on what was deemed a dirty hit on his fellow countrymen Daniel Alfredsson, and a 1 game suspension for Senators Matt Carkner for blind siding Brian Boyle with a big hit then punches on the ground while defenseless, this series will have a lot of bad blood for it and with a potential 5 games left to play this series can get ugly fast. Is this hit suspension worthy? Or was Shea Weber’s hit more suspension worthy and this one just a fine? You be the judge of it and see if what was handed out to Hagelin was fair.

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With the other 2 series in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals, they are all tied up at 1 after each team won an overtime game in Boston. The Florida Panthers and New Jersey Devils are also locked up at 1 win a piece as they head to game 3 tomorrow in New Jersey. With the way these games have been played and the way the officiating has handled them, we can see a few more games get out of hand, and with many more games to be played, we expect the intensity to only raise higher and higher for each game.

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The NHL 2011-2012 Playoffs Are Here!!

April 8, 2012 NHL

The NHL season has finally come to an end, and after a year of surprises of good and bad, it is now crunch time and the next few months will decide who will win hockey’s most coveted trophy in the league, The Stanley Cup. The 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs open up on Wednesday April 11th with 3 games on opening night. In this article I will discuss each match-up and my predictions for the first round of the playoffs.

Starting with the Eastern Conference bracket. We have the following games.

1 Seed, New York Rangers Vs 8 Seed, The Ottawa Senators

The number 1 team in the Eastern Conference for over 3 and a half months, the New York Rangers open up their series with the Ottawa Senators who have a record of 3-1 against the Rangers this season. This series opens up on Thursday Night at 7:00 PM on MSG and the NHL Network. This series can go either way, a lot will rely on the psychical play of the Rangers and their ability to wear the Senators down, who might not be able to hang with King Henrik and the Rangers in a 7 game series. Though the Senators have the Rangers number this year, everything is different in the post-season. We have potential to see a 6 or 7 game series here but I will go ahead and say Henrik Lundqvist, Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards will be too much for the Senators to handle and the Rangers will take this series in 5.

2 Seed, Boston Bruins Vs 7 Seed, Washington Capitals

This series features the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins going up against one of the best players in the world in Alexander Ovechkin. The Capitals come into this series ready to give the nod to 22 year old rookie goalie Braden Holtby after goalies Michael Neurvith and Thomas Vokoun have went down with injuries. The Boston Bruins were the first team in the NHL to lock up their division title in the regular season and look to come off a strong playoff performance last season. With the experience of net minder Tim Thomas and most of their team returning from last years cup run, I see this series going the Bruins way and them winning this series in 6.

3 Seed, Florida Panthers Vs 6 Seed, New Jersey Devils

The Panthers are coming off their first ever South Division Title and their first playoff appearance since 2000. The Panthers have lead their division for most of the regular season but towards the end of the year, only closed it out with a 2 point lead over the Capitals. The New Jersey Devils are coming off a major turn around season from last year when they were a bottom dweller to now the 6th seed in the playoffs. Martin Broduer has shown some signs that he can still be an everyday goalie in the NHL even at his old age, and with superstars Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk, I can see the Devils making this an easy series for them, and finishing out the Panthers have in just 5 games.

4 Seed Pittsburgh Penguins Vs 5 Seed Philadelphia Flyers

In probably the best series of the first round of the playoffs, it features two of the biggest rivals in all of hockey, with just miles separating the two teams and them meeting 6 times a year, this series is going to be the longest and most hardest fought out series in the entire playoffs. With the brawl that happened in the 2nd to last meeting of the regular season occurring between the two teams and the hatred they have for one another, I see this series going to 7 games, a very tiring series that will wear each other down, leaving the winners with many bruises into the next series and the loser with a bitter taste in their mouth. Ultimately I see this series going to the Flyers in 7.

Over in the Western Conference we have some new comers to the playoffs and some regulars, there are some good match-ups in this first round. Starting with

1 Seed Vancouver Canucks Vs 8 Seed Los Angeles Kings

The Vancouver Canucks are coming off of their second straight Presidents Trophy and a runner up in the Stanley Cup Finals last season, are facing a very good Kings team who were in 3rd place and leading their division up until the final night of the regular season. In this series it features two of the best goalies in the league in LA Kings Jonathan Quick and Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo, this is a series that may not see many goals in it, but can see some 1-0, 2-1 games and some possible shutouts. This may be one of the best opening series in the Western Conference, but I think we may see an upset here with the Kings taking out the Canucks in 7 games.

2 Seed St. Louis Blues Vs 7 Seed San Jose Sharks

These teams after only one season have basically switched spots in the standings. Last season the Blues saw themselves on the outside of the playoffs looking in while the Sharks saw themselves as the 2 seed last year but now sit in the 7th spot, something they have not been used to seeing over the last few seasons. The St. Louis Blues have some of the best goal-tending in the league that is followed by up by one of the best defense’s of the league. The Sharks are a team that is normally bounced out early after finishing strong in the regular season, this year finishing 7th and having to face the Blues in the 1st round I see them getting knocked out in just 5 games. I give this series to the St. Louis Blues in 5 games.

3 Seed Phoenix Coyotes Vs 6 Seed Chicago Blackhawks

The Phoenix Coyotes have won their first division title in the franchise history, though it took them till the 82nd game of the season to clinch it, the Coyotes come into this post-season with a potential to advance to the 2nd round. The Blackhawks, who won the Stanley Cup two seasons ago against the Philadelphia Flyers, enter as the 6th seed, but they have the scoring power and young goal-tending to get by in this series. But they are facing one of the hottest goalies in the league in Mike Smith, Smith has been on a tear towards the end of the season and is one of the main reasons they won their division. The high power offense of the Blackhawks may provide too much pressure for Smith, and I think the Blackhawks and that offense will be able to sweep the Coyotes and advance to the 2nd round.

4 Seed Nashville Predators Vs 5 Seed Detroit Red Wings

In probably the second best series of the post-season, we get to see two Central Division rivals, the Red Wings and the Predators. Both featuring two of the best goalies in the league in Detroit’s Jimmy Howard and Nashville’s Pekka Rinne. Each of these goalies can take over a series for their team and help them advance, but the high power offense of the Wings lead by Pavel Datysuk and Henrik Zetterberg may be too much for the Predators in this series. If Rinne is on he can steal this one from the Red Wings and send them home early, but ultimately I think Jimmy Howard has a strong first round of the playoffs and helps his team advance in a long and hard fought 7 game series. So the Detroit Red Wings will advance in 7.

 

So lets sit back and enjoy the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and lets see if there are any upsets or any shockers in the 1st round. In the NHL you never know what can happen, and this is why they play 7 games.

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NHL Playoff Race Heating Up With Just Under A Week To Go

April 2, 2012 NHL

The NHL season is coming to an end in the next week, with most teams having just 3 or 4 games remaining on their schedule, the Eastern and Western Conferences are seeing some pretty close races taking part at season’s end. The East has a 2 team race between the Capitals and Sabres, while the West has a race between the Coyotes, Sharks, and Stars. All 5 teams have just 3 games remaining each and will need to win at least 2 out of 3 of them to make the playoffs.

Lets start with the Washington Capitals. They have 3 games left against the Tampa Bay Lighting tonight, the Florida Panthers Thursday and the New York Rangers on Saturday. The Lightning who are mathematically out of the playoffs will look to play spoiler against their division foe and try to hurt their chances of making the playoffs. The Capitals are still in the race for their division title, being only 3 points behind the Panthers for the lead, this could make them jump from the 8th seed in the East all the way to the 3rd for winning the division. Can Alex Ovechkin and Co. take them back to the playoffs or will they be on the outside looking in?

The Buffalo Sabres are just 2 points out of the 8th seed which belongs to the Washington Capitals. The Sabres have 3 games left on the season, Tuesday night against the Maple Leafs, Thursday night against the Flyers and Saturday afternoon against the Bruins. Two out of the three games are against division rivals, and with Boston already winning their division the only hope for the Sabres is to sneak into the playoffs as an 8 seed. Each year the Sabres are in the same position when it comes to the playoff race. Come March and April they play some of the best hockey in the league, Ryan Miller always seems to turn it up in these two months and jump-start them to a playoff appearance. And this year it is the same thing all over again, but with a 2 point deficit, can the Sabres make another run again? Lets see if Ryan Miller can once again bring his team to the playoffs.

Starting off in the West we have the 7th seeded Phoenix Coyotes who sit with 91 points on the year and a 1 point lead on the San Jose Sharks for a playoff spot. The Coyotes have 3 games remaining on their schedule against the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday, St. Louis Blues on Thursday and the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. The Coyotes who have not been great on the road this season will have to play 2 of the final 3 games on the road and try to get the wins to secure their playoff spot. Can the Coyotes overcome their bad days on the road and remain in the playoffs? Only time will tell for the Coyotes.

The San Jose Sharks sit in the 8th seed of the Western Conference with 90 points on the year and 3 games remaining. They play the Dallas Stars who they are ahead of by 1 on Tuesday night, and then they begin a home and home series with the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night in LA and finishing the season off against the Kings on Saturday night in San Jose. The San Jose Sharks who are usually a top seed in the West have struggled all year, after trading away key players in Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi, they acquired Martin Havlat who has been hurt most of the year and Brent Burns who has been very good for the Sharks all season long. The Sharks are not used to battling it out for a final spot in the playoffs, but this year will provide a big test for them not only to get into the playoffs, but to see how deep this good team can actually go. Will the tandem of Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski carry them deep into the playoffs or will they be on the outside looking in? Lets see if the Joe’s can provide a late spark for the Sharks.

Our last and final team, the Dallas Stars, a team that saw top Center Brad Richards leave in the off-season to head to the Broadway Lights of NY, and traded away superstar Left Winger James Neal, they are still fighting and crawling their way into a playoff race. They have 3 games remaining which features games against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night, Nashville Predators on Thursday night and the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night. The Stars have been led by young up and comers Jamie Benn and Loui Erikkson, also with great goal tending help from Kari Lethonen and solid defense from solid players like Trevor Daley, Sheldon Souray and Alex Goligoski, the Stars have put together a pretty good season. The future looks bright in Dallas with this team, but can they get over the hump and make the leap into the playoffs after all the moves they made?

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NHL Trade Deadline Winners & Losers.

February 28, 2012 NHL

So yesterday the trade deadline came and went, and though it started off slow it picked up around 1:30 EST. The first trade started at 10:45 in the morning when the Nashville Predators and Montreal Canadians exchanged some players and picks. From there 15 other deals were made before the clock ran out. Today we will discuss the winners and losers of the 2012 NHL Trade Deadline.

Winners:

1. Buffalo Sabres- The Sabres had a pretty busy day yesterday. They were getting a lot of interest from teams about center men Paul Gaustad, but with their high price of a 2012 1st round pick plenty of teams backed out. Until the Nashville Predators had contacted them where they received Nashville’s 2012 1st in exchange for Paul Gaustad and a 2012 4th round pick. With Gaustad leaving for Nashville, the Sabres were in need of a center, where they than had contacted Vancouver and agreed upon the biggest deal of the NHL trade deadline, Sabres traded off Zack Kassian and Marc-Andrei Gargnani to Vancouver for young Calder trophy candidate Cody Hodgson and defense men Alexander Sulzer. The Sabres were the clear winners from this deadline with these two moves they made.

2. San Jose Sharks- They made just one deal yesterday and though the players aren’t household names or superstars the deal they made can impact them now and in the playoffs and make them a stronger team. The Sharks had come to agreement with the Avalanche to send out youngster Jamie McGinn and two prospects for left wing T.J Galiardi and right wing Daniel Winnik along with a 7th round pick.  This gives the Sharks are solid 4th liner in Winnik and a nice young player in Galiardi who can fill in on the 3rd or 2nd line in San Jose.

Losers:

1. Toronto Maple Leafs- Now they did make a few trades yesterday but they were minor deals at most. they first shipped off prospect Keith Aulie to the Tampa Bay Lightning for former 1st round pick Carter Ashton. They also shipped out Dale Mitchell to Anaheim for Mark Fraser. Now coming into the deadline it was rumored the Leafs were looking at acquiring a steady goalie along with a big time scoring forward. There name came up plenty of time for 2002 1st overall pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Rick Nash, who has a limited NMC and can choose where he wanted to play. The Leafs were said to be “all in” for Nash and were putting together an offer, but GM Brian Burke had backed out after hearing about the large price for Nash. The Leafs did not help themselves get any better for the playoff push and this is why they are one of the deadline losers this season.

2. Calgary Flames- They stood pat this trade deadline after acquiring Michael Cammarelli a few weeks back from the Canadians. But with the obvious reason of needing a rebuild and having to get younger the Calgary Flames did not address that at all this deadline. A few of their older players could have gotten them some pretty nice returns had they put them on the block, Alex Tanguay who can have provided some goal scoring for another team, Captain Jerome Iginla whose whole legacy is in Calgary, but they could have gotten a great young package for him had they shipped him out and finally their star goalie Mikka Kippursoff, a team on the bring of the playoffs who need a goalie like the Capitals, Leafs, Blackhawks, Panthers, Lightning could have very well be in on him but they decided to stand pat and that is why they are considered a loser of this deadline.

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Red Wings Stay Hot At Home

February 13, 2012 NHL

Last night after defeating the Philadelphia Flyers, the Detroit Red Wings tied a record of most consecutive wins at home with 20 straight.  Ironically, the Red Wings tied the Flyers in the 1970′s and the Boston Bruins in the 1930′s for their 20th straight win at home.  Their next game comes Tuesday at home to face the Dallas Stars with the chance to break the record and ultimately own it all to themselves.  The last time the Detroit Red Wings lost at Joe Louis Arena was all the way back in November on the 3rd when they lost to the Calgary Flames 4-1.

With their next 3 games being home against the Stars, Predators and Sharks, who they have sometimes struggled against this season we can very well just see the record remained tied or continued on. The Sharks really seem to have the Wings number this year going 2-0 against them and outscoring the Wings 9-4 so far. The Sharks are a very tough game and though it is the 3rd game coming up, I’m sure the Sharks would love to spoil the Wings fun and potentially ruin the win streak.

During this 20 game win streak the Wings have outscored opponents at home 84-30 which is a tremendous amount of goal differential. Two other milestones were reached during this 20 game home win streak, Captain Nicklas Lidstrom became the NHL’s league leader for games played with a single franchise at 1,550, which he accomplished last night in the win over the Flyers. One other milestone was by Left Winger Tomas Holmstrom who just played his 1,000th career game on Febrauary 10th against the Ducks. Holmstrom has also spent his entire 15 year career with the Wings.

[polldaddy poll=5940127]

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