Why we think the Chicago Blackhawks will win the Stanley Cup

One of the most exemplary postseasons in years culminates with the Stanley Cup Finals beginning on Saturday night. Both teams enter the series hungry for their first championship in some time. Philadelphia last won the cup in 1975, and Chicago has the NHL's longest cup drought, by not winning since 1961.

(7) Philadelphia vs. (2) Chicago

The Flyers will look to keep the momentum going from their improbable playoff run. Since clinching the playoffs on the final day of the season, Philadelphia has shocked the hockey world. It began with a surprising series win over the second seeded Devils in five games. All the Flyers did in the second round was come back from an 0-3 hole to defeat Boston, even after starting goalie Brian Boucher was injured in Game 5. Philadelphia made quick work of Montreal in the conference finals and have won 8 of their last nine games this postseason.

Philadelphia is not only winning with quality goaltending by Michael Leighton, but the team is also supplying the scoring punch they lacked at certain times this regular season. They may not have the same offensive talent as Chicago, but they are pretty close with Mike Richards leading the charge. If they continue to get offense from Danny Briere(leads team with 9 goals), Claude Giroux, Ville Leino, Simon Gagne, and a healthy Jeff Carter, than this series has the potential to go the way of the Flyers.

On defense, when the Flyers acquired Chris Pronger, they specifically got him for the playoffs. He has teamed with Matt Carle to form a dynamic shutdown defensive pair. Dustin Byfuglien of Chicago, had his way with Vancouver and San Jose, but you can expect Pronger to slow him down. Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Colburn give the Flyers a very solid second pair of defensemen, which will be necessary to match the explosive Blackhawk forwards.

For Chicago their game is simple. They are the fastest team in the league, the deepest team in the league, and are riding a hot goalie. Antti Niemi allowed only 7 goals in four games against San Jose in the conference finals. The defense in front of Niemi has played much improved as the postseason has moved on. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook log most of the icetime for the Hawks and are two of the leagues best. Brian Campbell is another Hawks defensemen that has enormous offensive potential, but has only registered 3 points thus far. Brent Sopel and Niklas Kjalmarsson have been rock solid in their own zone.

Offensively, the Blackhawks spend lots of time in the other teams zone, win faceoffs at a high percentage, and have showed more grit than they get credit for. In our opinion Marian Hossa is going to be needed for offense and we expect him to supply that for Chicago. He signed a huge contract this summer with Chicago, after losing the last two Stanley Cup Finals, and should be motivated to have a huge series. With Pronger expected to be on the ice to match the Hawks best line of Toews-Kane-Byfuglien, they will need Hossa and others to add offense. Dave Bolland had a huge series against the Sharks, by chipping in goals and being a pest towards Joe Thornton. Patrick Sharp has averaged a point a game this postseason, and plays on a line with the talented Kris Versteeg.

Both team have tremendous home ice advantages as both buildings will be bona fide madness. The Hawks struggled at times at home, but seemed to remedy that by beating the Sharks twice at United Center. The Flyers have turned Wakovia Center into an actual horror show for opposing teams. On paper the Blackhawks are better, but the Flyers have something special going on right now and are hitting their stride at the right time.

Prediction: We felt all along the the Blackhawks are the best team in hockey and although it is tempting to pick the Flyers, we are not jumping off the Chicago bandwagon. We feel that Philadelphia will score some goals on Niemi, but we also think that Chicago will get to Michael Leighton just like they did to Luongo and Nabokov. Philadelphia will play spirited and physical, and probably will give Blackhawk fans a scare at certain points in this series. However, with players like Toews, Keith, Seabrook, Kane,Byfuglien, and our pick for leading scorer this series, Marian Hossa, its hard to pick against Chicago.

Chicago in Seven

Tuesday Timeout

Stanley Cup Finals begins Saturday

Thank you Gary Bettman for starting the Cup Finals on Saturday night. I was afraid we were going to get an afternoon tilt on NBC. Thank goodness for that! My initial thoughts on this series is that this will not be a walkover as many are predicting. Everyone will bring up how strong the Western Conference is, which I agree with, and the fact that the Flyers were a 7th seed in a bad conference. But I say throw all of that out the window. This is a different Philadelphia team from the regular season. They are healthy and very talented with young players like Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, and Claude Giroux. The Flyers are a faster team than San Jose, and in my opinion they have better depth than the Sharks. This promises to be a very entertaining final that may go six or seven games. HockeySureShot will have an in-depth preview of the Finals in the next day or two.

The Hossa Curse?

2008 Stanley Cup Finals Marian Hossa's Penguins lose to Detroit.

2009 Stanley Cup Finals Marian Hossa's Red Wings lose to Pittsburgh.

2010 Stanley Cup Finals Marian Hossa's Blackhawks ?

If you believe in curses you probably should bet the Flyers. Marian Hossa is in our opinion one of the keys for Chicago to win. He has only registered two goals this postseason and will look to improve on his flimsy three points in last years Stanley Cup Finals. We expect him to be motivated and compliment the Kane-Toews-Buf line very well. One would expect to see Pronger on the ice every time Byfuglien jumps off the bench, so Chicago will need Hossa to produce.

Steve Yzerman named new GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning

With Ken Holland firmly assuming the GM duties in Detroit for as long as he wants, Steve Yzerman had to go to another organization. The man who was responsible for putting Canada's gold medal winning team together, will face a big challenge with the Lightning. First and foremost is goaltending. Mike Smith is signed for next year, but it is very questionable if he is a true #1 goalie in this league. Backup, Antero Nittymaki is an unrestricted free agent. When looking at Tampa's salary cap, lots of money is locked into, Ryan Malone, Mattias Ohlund, Andrei Mezaros, and Vinny Lecavalier, who is signed through 2020 at $7.7 million per year. There is a load of talent on the roster led by Steve Stamkos as it will be very interesting to see what they do this summer and who will coach the team.

What do the Sharks do from here?

The San Jose Sharks have once again disappointed fans in the post-season. It's not shameful to lose to the current Chicago Blackhawks team, but to go out in 4 straight, and get out worked in every aspect of the game is. The Sharks were consistently outworked in front of their own net, behind the net, beaten to loose pucks, and Antti Niemi seriously outplayed Evgeni Nabakov. Since the lockout, the Sharks have failed to reach 100 points only once, a 99 point season in the 05-06 campaign and have finished 1st or 2nd in the Pacific Division. Yet only this season have the Sharks advanced to the Conference Finals. San Jose was ousted in the first or second round the previous four seasons.

When most fans look at the Sharks, they seem surprised as to why this team hasn't won more in the playoffs. Let's break apart this team and see what went wrong:

1. No depth. As good as the Sharks top 6 players are, their bottom six are so weak (Malhotra excluded) that Sharks coach Todd McLellan went with 7 defensemen and 11 forwards for their playoff series against Chicago. You can't trot out players like Logan Couture, Jamie McGinn, Torrey Mitchell and expect to be able to roll four lines with the NHL's best.

2. Poor defense. The Sharks have very good defensemen. Rob Blake, Doug Murray, Dan Boyle and Marc Vlasic can match up with just about everyone in the NHL. However, the drop off after that is staggering. Kent Huskins, Jason Demers (give him the benefit of the doubt only 21 yrs old) and Niclas Wallin are brutal. And coach McLellan dresses all of them? We will get to him later. As good as the top four are, outside of Murray, the Sharks defense and team is very reluctant to get to the dirty areas to prevent the opposition from scoring. Chicago's series clincher was a perfect example. Vlasic didn't even attempt to put a body on Byfuglien and take nothing away from Dustin, but that was a goal my cat could have swatted in with his paw.

3. Evgeni Nabokov. Once again, Nabokov was heavily outplayed in a series. Nabokov gave up 2 softies in game 1, another in game 2 and Antti Niemi was flat out better. For a guy that rumor has it, whines like a child when he isn't the starter for the Sharks, his play hasn't backed it up. Nabokov now, especially in big games can be labeled as an underachiever. Just ask people in Russia how the Olympics went. The other issue with Nabokov is the amount of games he plays. He played 71 games during the regular season, then played in the Olympics. It would be very impressive for Nabokov to feel his best after such a rigorous schedule. Playing that many games is ultimately on the coach. We'll get to him soon.

4. Todd McClellan. McLellan is known for his offensive knowledge. As assistant coach with Detroit, the Red Wings reeled off impressive power plays during his coaching tenure. I'm not sure McLellan has the Sharks playing tough enough or if his defensive structure is playoff tested. Let's be honest, after winning the President's Trophy last season, they lost in the first round to the 8th seeded Anaheim Ducks and this season's Conference Finals drubbing, the Sharks are missing some important pieces and a better coach could be one of them.

5. Joe Thornton. When watching Thornton play for the Bruins, and hearing the rumblings that he wasn't the best locker room guy I immediately thought the Sharks were doomed when the acquired him. Now the Sharks and Thornton have had their regular season success, No Show Joe proved himself once again. A whopping 1 assist in the series against the Hawks and a -11 for the playoffs. -11??!?! Nice job Joe. Way to step it up. In 91 career playoff games, Thornton has 15 goals and 50 assists for 65 points. For a player that averages over a point a game during the regular season, these numbers are alarming for any Sharks fan that still holds hope he can lead them to the Stanley Cup.

6. Dany Heatley. After Heatley held out in Ottawa, the Sharks took a chance with this star's me first attitude. Heatley put up 39 goals and 82 points during the regular season but scored only twice in 15 playoff games. He was also a -7 during the playoffs and looked disinterested during the 4 game sweep.



So where do the Sharks go from here? Three major players become UFA's this offseason. Rob Blake, Evgeni Nabokov and Patrick Marleau. That's 16 million in cap space. All together about 20 million is coming off the books for the Sharks this offseason. They have many options on where and how to spend this money. Will Evgeni Nabokov come back? I wouldn't give him 6 million a year again to put up average numbers in games where it matters most. What about Patrick Marleau? For all the negative bashing we have done to the Sharks in this post, one positive has to be Patrick Marleau. Here is a guy who got his Captaincy stripped from him and yet was the only player outside of Dan Boyle and Joe Pavelski to show up for the Sharks during the entire playoff run. Marleau has been unfairly blamed as the scapegoat during the past few seasons and has done everything this fan base and team could have asked him for.
Rob Blake? Does he retire? Does he have enough left?
If the Sharks fill their needs by re-signing Marleau and Nabokov, and adding 2 tough, stay at home defensemen would it still be enough to win the West? The Western Conference and Pacific Division is getting tougher. The Los Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes are two teams that will look to improve next season. The Canucks, Blackhawks and Red Wings will all be thinking they can reach the Stanley Cup Finals next season as well.
Is the current Sharks run over? Do they learn from their mistakes and rebuild for the future or do they give it another go with some tweaking? Bottom line, the great fans of San Jose deserve better. Although the Sharks don't have the storied history like Montreal and are still a young franchise, the fans show up every night in that Tech driven city to root on their team. I hope the powers at be get things right and their fans witness some post-season success.

If you were Sharks GM Doug Wilson, what would you do to fix the Sharks?

Game 3 San Jose at Chicago

Chicago -155 over San Jose

Yes the Sharks are the more desperate team being down in the series 0-2, and it may be dangerous to bet against them. However, we feel that Chicago is tired about hearing how poorly they have played at home this postseason and will learn from the last loss at home to Vancouver 5-0. Chicago is frustrating Joe Thornton as it appears that Dave Bolland is getting under his skin. The Sharks are not getting the secondary line production that they received in the first two rounds, while the Blackhawks seem to be clicking on all cylinders. Unfortunately, a series that most thought would go six or seven games is in danger of Chicago putting a stranglehold on San Jose.

Wednesday Wrap Up

Which team that is down 0-2 has the better shot of coming back?

San Jose Sharks: I live in the Bay Area and have heard the following from Sharks fans today: "We're done", "Give the Blackhawks the Cup", "Nabokov stinks"

Easy now Shark fans. I week ago they were planning a parade down Julien Street. Here are a few things in the Sharks corner heading to Friday nights game. Chicago has struggled at home this postseason including a thumping by Vancouver in their last game at the United Center. The Joe Pavelski line which was so key in the first two rounds is bound to start producing. Finally, perhaps the real Dany Heatley may actually show up.

Montreal Canadiens: Michael Leighton has to give up a goal sometime doesn't he? Maybe the Flyer fans yelling Ole, Ole, Ole, motivated the Habs as they return to the Bell Center. This team has been resilient all year and we expect them to play with the nothing to lose attitude that helped them beat Washington and Pittsburgh. Would it surprise anyone if Halak got hot again? If we have learned something from this postseason, it is that anything can happen. Enjoy the rest of the conference finals because they are far from over.

AHL Update:

Manchester has tied the series with Hershey at 2-2 behind a shutout by Jonathan Bernier. Game 5 will be played on Thursday night.

Hamilton(Canadiens) leads the Texas Stars 2-1. Game 4 is on Friday night.

Monday Minutes

Lots went on in the hockey world this past week and I am filled with thoughts such as these:

Boston Bruins blowing a 3-0 series lead: Before this series began, most people thought that this series featured two evenly matched teams that would probably play six or seven closely contested hard fought games. Although the Bruins won the first three games, two of them were by one goal. As the series went on, it appeared the Bruins were a step slow and the Flyers wore them down. Still it is inexcusable what the Bruins let happen to them, but I am amazed by how well Philadelphia is playing right now. What is it about Chris Pronger during playoff time? Michael Leighton coming in after recovering from an injury and not playing in two months was unbelievable. I had no idea Ville Leino and James Van Riemsdyk were this good. What else can be said for Danny Briere and Simon Gagne? Looking at their roster it is evident that they underachieved during the regular season and are a team built for the playoffs. According to Philly newspapers, Jeff Carter may return for Game 3. Things only seem to be getting better for the Philadelphia Flyers. As for Boston, the future is bright as they hold the second overall pick in this years draft. They also have a solid goalie in Rask, and can dangle former Vezina trophy winner, Tim Thomas as trade bait. But they will have a long depressing summer thinking about what could of been. I think Claude Julien will keep his job, but it is certainly a dicey situation. The Bruins had trouble scoring goals all season, and it cost them this series. Miro Satan and Mark Recchi were great stories this postseason, but Boston, as most teams, need at least two top six forwards this offseason.

Pittsburgh exits, Montreal's amazing run continues: The effort from the Pittsburgh Penguins may have been the most pathetic effort in a Game 7 that we have seen in years. Perhaps, playing until mid June the last couple of seasons took its toll. Let's not forget, teams that miss the playoffs play less than over two months of hockey than the teams that reach the Stanley Cup finals. Montreal deserves all the accolades that they are getting for upsetting Washington and Pittsburgh in seven games. Even though they were blown out 6-0 last night, nobody should be writing them off. Michael Cammalleri did not appear to have as much room in the offensive zone last night as he did in the last two rounds. Look for the Habs to make adjustments, but Philly's defense is playing so well right now and their confidence level is sky high it appears that Montreal has a difficult hill to climb.

Finish Goaltenders: Like many, I was skeptical of Antti Niemi leading the Blackhawks in net. But after a 44 save performance yesterday, and watching him during the postseason, the guy is a pretty solid goalie. It made me think of all the exemplary goaltenders from Finland. How about this group that is scattered all over the league, Kiprusoff, Backstrom, Rask, Rinne, and Niemi. Not a bad group of netminders.

Niklas Backstrom signs 10 year contract with Capitals: The 22 year old Capitals center signed a 10 year, 67 million dollar contract today. Good for Washington for keeping one of their core young players on the team for awhile, but 10 years? I can't help but think of the Islanders disastrous investment into Rick DiPietro when I see clubs sign players for long durations. Still it's hard to argue with Backstroms' productivity as the center for Alex Ovechkin. As a 100 point scorer at that young of an age, the Capitals had to sign him, and if the 10 years got it done, than it's probably worth the risk.

Florida Panthers new GM: Dale Tallon, the former Hawks GM, and their current senior advisor was appointed general manager of the Panthers today. Good move by Florida, as they are one of those teams that has lots of young talent, but appears to be missing something to get over the hump of not making the playoffs. Tallon drafted Kane and Toews, and made some key trades that brought in Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg, but had a mess up last offseason of offering players qualifying offers too late which led to him being replaced as GM. Florida is one of those GM jobs that in my dreams, I would love to have. Beautiful weather, not a pressure hockey market, a delightful arena, and young talented players like David Booth, Stephen Weiss, and Nathan Horton. I guess I better keep dreaming!

Thumbs Up: Peter Laviolette: Along with the whole Flyers team, its amazing that this team clinched a playoff berth during the last game of the season in a shootout, and now are three games away from the Stanley Cup. Getting his team to come back from 0-3 is historic, and also after the Flyers were down 0-3 in game seven to come back is remarkable.

Thumbs Down: Pittsburgh Defense: I hate to keep harping on it, and we put the video on the website after the game, but Sergei Gonchar and the Penguins defense was atrocious in Game 7. Not the way anybody would envision the Stanley Cup Champions going down.

Western Conference Finals Preview

(1) San Jose vs. (2) Chicago

Season Series: 3-1 Chicago

San Jose Sharks breakdown: Defeated Colorado in six and Detroit in five.

These are not the San Jose Sharks of the past that have had playoff setbacks. Through the previous two rounds this team has displayed the grit in addition to their skill that is necessary to succeed in the playoffs. Joe Pavelski is playing out of his mind, and I have never seen Joe Thornton play as well at both ends of the ice as he did in round two.

Offense: Similar to Chicago, San Jose has an explosive offense led by Joe Thornton, who looked like a beast during the Detroit series. Clearly he is motivated, as he dominated the Detroit series, and silenced his critics but finally producing in the playoffs. His linemates, Patrick Marleau, and Dany Heatley, have been solid, but not spectacular. The Sharks second line is the reason that this team is different than years past. Everyone has heard of Joe Pavelski by now, as he has been the best forward west of Michael Cammalleri during the playoffs. He is flanked by Ryan Clowe(10 points), and Devin Setoguchi(5 goals) Role players such as Manny Malhotra, and Scott Nichol have been tremendous on faceoffs, and youngster Logan Couture has chipped in three big goals this postseason. Torrey Mitchell, a speedy forward, has also played well, and sometimes is shifted with Thornton. Overall, San Jose's top six forwards matchup with anyone, however they are not as deep as the Blackhawks from top to bottom. For San Jose to win, Thornton will have to continue his torrid pace as will Pavelski. The Sharks have a size advantage in this series, which could give them a good chance if they wear the Hawks down as the series goes on.

Marleau-Thornton-Heatley
Clowe-Pavelski-Setoguchi
Couture-Malhotra-Mitchell
McGinn-Nichol-Ortmeyer

Defense: The Sharks defense has a mix of veterans with Stanley Cup rings, (Boyle, Blake, and Huskins), a stay at home bruiser in Douglas Murray, a technically sound Marc Vlasic, and a surprising rookie in Jason Demers. This group will have its hands full with the speedy Blackhawks, but they do play a more physical game than Chicago's past two opponents. It will be interesting to see what combination head coach Todd Mclellan puts on the ice to defend Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Dan Boyle is the key, as he logs loads of ice time and supplies most of the offense from the Sharks blueline.

Boyle-Murray
Blake-Vlasic
Huskins-Demers

Goaltending: Besides one bad game each in the Colorado series, and the Detroit series, Evgeni Nabokov has certainly redeemed himself from a poor playoff last season. When he is on his game he is one of the leagues best, and on paper this is the position where the Sharks have the biggest advantage. Chicago did make Roberto Luongo look silly at times, and you know Nabokov will be seeing a lot of Dustin Byfuglien's rear end in front of the crease. However, the Sharks defense is much better than Vancouver's depleted unit. In any series goaltending is the biggest key to winning so obviously he will need to play as good or even better as he did against the Red Wings.

Nabokov-Greiss

Chicago Blackhawks breakdown: Defeated Nashville in six and Vancouver in six.

Nashville gave the Hawks a big scare in Round one and if it weren't for a late shorthanded goal that the Hawks scored in game 4, that series could of turned. For whatever reason, the Hawks looked like a much better team on the road, than at the United Center. This team is scary on offense from top to bottom, they possess two of the best defensemen in the league, and they may have found a solid goalie in Antti Niemi.

Offense: Anytime you have six players on your roster that scored over 20 goals it spells trouble for opposing defenses. Jonathan Toews at 22 years old has proved to be one of the best leaders and scorers in the league. He has amassed 20 points in only twelve playoff games, and sets up one of the leagues best snipers in Patrick Kane(7 goals). If that is not enough, the other forward, Dustin Byfuglien, uses his 6-4 250 pound frame to cause havoc in front of the opposing net. Patrick Sharp centers the 2nd line that consists of a 40 goal scorer a year ago, Marian Hossa. Hossa has only scored two goals this postseason, but if he gets hot along with the likes of Kris Versteeg, who had a strong series versus Vancouver, and the players mentioned it may be impossible to stop them. Chicago is very fast, and like the Sharks they win plenty of faceoffs, but they are not very physical. Tomas Kopecky, Andrew Ladd, and Troy Brouwer are probably the Hawks most physical forwards in addition to Byfuglien. Kopecky especially had a good series against Vancouver and will attempt to get under the skin of Thornton and Pavelski.

Kane-Toews-Byfuglien
Kopecky-Sharp-Hossa
Ladd-Bolland-Versteeg
Eager-Madden-Brouwer

Defense: Anyone who watched the Olympics this February realized that one of the keys for Canada's gold medal win, was the play of defensemen Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook. These two are some of the best in the game and will most likely be paired against Thornton's line. I thought Niklas Hjalmarsson has played better as the playoffs have gone on. Brian Campbell, a former Shark, who also supplies offense, and the rugged stay at home Brent Sopel, round out a very formidable defense. Keep in mind that Chicago basically shut down the explosive Sedin twins in the second round.

Keith-Seabrook
Hjalmarsson-Campbell
Sopel-Hendry

Goaltending: This was a supposed weak spot of the Blackhawks, but Antti Niemi has been solid thus far for Chicago. The rookie from Finland, has had a few poor outings, but always seems to respond well after a loss. He will drive Hawk fans crazy as he is prone to give up a soft goal, but he also has two shutouts this postseason. Chicago plays such a puck possession game that most of the time the Hawks have the puck in the offensive zone. However, the Sharks play the same way and usually outshoot their opponents. In our opinion, Niemi will have to play better than he did against Vancouver, and can ill afford to give up soft goals.

Niemi-Huet

Prediction: This is a dream matchup for hockey fans as both teams possess extreme skill, speed, and a plethora of talent. Both these clubs enter Sunday's game playing on top of their game and hitting on all cylinders. In what promises to be a classic series, I feel that the Hawks have too much offense, and I think they will be able to contain the Sharks somewhat, similar to what they did against the Canucks. It would not shock me if San Jose won, but after watching both these teams closely, I think the Blackhawks are the best team in hockey right now.

Chicago in six

Eastern Conference Finals

Montreal Canadiens vs Philadelphia Flyers

When thinking about the format on how to preview this series, I decided that I wouldn't even use a format like I did when writing about previous series. How could I? If anyone had these teams matching up in the Eastern Conference Finals (We had Philadelphia) then you deserve a job with Espn or Tsn.
In most seasons in sports, a Cinderella team and story unfolds before our eyes. In this Hockey season, we have two. It's almost a shame that one of these teams has to lose but that is how these things go.
Both the Flyers and Canadiens had to win their final game just to be part of the extra season. It was Montreal that took headlines when they ousted the President Trophy winning Washington Capitals in 7 games with a mix of heart, defense and superb goaltending. Mike Cammelleri and Hal Gill lead the way along with Jaroslav Halak. So if that wasn't enough, Montreal proved maybe that it wasn't such a fluke and took out the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins in another 7 game series. This time Brian Gionta joined the party with Cammelleri and the Canadiens held Sidney Crosby to just 1 goal in the series.
The Flyers had a season fulled with turmoil. They fired coach John Stevens in November, lost starting goalie Ray Emery, then lost backup goalie Micheal Leighton and relied on journey Brian Boucher down the stretch. The Flyers beat the Rangers in a shootout the last game of the season just to make the playoffs. They faced a Devils team who they owned in the regular season and it carried over to the post-season as they won in 5 games. It was the first time we have seen the Devils look intimidated in 15 years. Then came the Boston Bruins. Many people were expecting a tight and even hard fought series. That happened, sorta. The Bruins won the first 3 games of the series. Although the games were close, the Bruins appeared like they were going to move on. Simon Gagne who had been hurt decided to lace them up for game 4, and the Flyers were glad he did. The Flyers had a 1 goal lead late, but Mark Recchi tied the score with 30 seconds to go to send it to OT. However, Simon Gagne deflected a pass through Tuukka Rask to avoid the sweep. In game 5 the Flyers dominated the Bruins and more of the same in game 6 back in Philly. The Flyers were on the brink of being the first team since the 1975 New York Islanders to come back from a 3-0 deficit and only the 5th team in pro sports to do so. Tied 3-3 in the later stages of the 3rd period, the Bruins took a too many men on the ice penalty and hero Simon Gagne scored on the powerplay to give the Flyers the lead to stay.

With both of these teams defying odds to be where they are, it's almost impossible to break down this series and come to a prediction that would make anyone feel 100% confident. We break down these teams head to head in the following categories.

Offense: edge Flyers, barely. The Flyers have players like Arron Asham and Claude Giroux that can score gritty goals which are usually huge in playoff series. While Gionta,Gomez,Cammelleri and Plekanic can go head to head with the Flyers best, the Montreal drop off is bigger.

Defense: edge Flyers. Hal Gill might be playing better than any defensemen left in the playoffs, but with players like Marc-Andre Bergeron being a big liability and PK Subban who hasn't seen a physical team like the Flyers, Philadelphia gets the edge here.

Goaltending: edge, Montreal. Jaroslav Halak has been going bananas out there while the Flyers are going with Micheal Leighton. Leighton played well in games 6 and 7 but hasn't played much at all in the last few months. Big edge to Montreal there.

Coaching: edge, Flyers. Peter Laviolette is probably the most underrated coach in sports. Wherever he has gone, he has won. He took the Islanders to the playoffs 2 straight years, won a cup in Carolina and brought the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Finals all in a span of 9 seasons. It's amazing the turnaround he has on teams.

Special Teams: edge Montreal. The Flyers have a great penalty kill to thwart off Montreal's very solid PP. The Flyers Power Play won't match up well with the Canadiens power play.

Home Ice Advantage: edge, even. Home Ice will be huge in this series. The Flyers fans make people watching on TV uncomfortable and the media coverage and circus that is Montreal will keep the Flyers from feeling secure on the road.

Predicition: Montreal in 7.

Montreal has the edge in one catergory that seems to be the difference maker this time of year in the playoffs. Goaltending. If Halak continues to play the way he has been playing, it will be very tough for the Flyers to win.

A Game 7 situation we didn't see coming

Philadelphia Flyers at +110 +1.5 (-275)
Boston Bruins -130 -1.5 (+235)

The Flyers will try and become the 3rd team in NHL history to come back from a 3 games to none deficit in a playoff series and win. Only twice in the history of this great game has that happened. It's almost hard to believe that with the amount of playoff series played every year and how hockey is a game where a goalie and take off and carry a team, that it hasn't happened since 1975. The New York Islanders were down 3-0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins when Hall of Fame coach huddled the team at practice and said "If there is anyone here that doesn't think we can win 4 in a row against Pittsburgh, get the heck off the ice."
I wonder if Peter Laviolette heard that story. I'm sure he has as Peter was a big part of the Islanders rebirth if you will getting them back to the playoffs in 2002 for the first time in 8 years. Al Arbour and that story probably gave him the motivation to keep his team fighting when as we look through history they basically had no shot.
But the Flyers got an overtime goal from injured Simon Gagne in game 4 that sent the series back to Boston. In Boston in game 5, the Flyers lost journeyman goalie to injury Brian Boucher and trotted out Micheal Leighton. The Bruins still couldn't score as Mark Recchi started to look his age and the Bruins weak forward unit were beaten and kept very far away from the score sheet. More of the same in game 6 as the Flyers were all over the Bruins most of the game and Leighton just had to stop the ones he was supposed to stop in order to get to a game 7.
So here we are, the Flyers have completely taken over this series and if they play the same way they have been, they will win tonight. The Bruins need to forget about everything that has happened these past 3 games and go out and play a great game. They need to find a way to get traffic in front of Leighton and be more hungry for rebounds. They won't score on skill or style. If not, the Flyers will be the 3rd team in NHL history that comes back from a 3-0 deficit. Not bad for a team that fired their coach, lost their starting goalie for almost the entire year, had to play their 5th string goalie for a period in a loss to the Islanders in early April and got into the playoffs by winning the last game of the season on a shootout.

Prediction: Flyers straight up

The most pathetic defensive effort of the playoffs!

AHL Update

As compelling as the NHL playoffs have been thus far, the AHL playoffs also deserve mention. We will periodically update the AHL playoff brackets as well, and here is how they stand at the moment, with only four teams left.

Eastern Conference Finals:

Manchester (LA Kings)
vs.
Hershey Bears (defending AHL champions)

Series 1-0 Hershey after beating Manchester on Wednesday night in Game 1 4-2. Kings prospect Jonathan Bernier made 24 saves in the losing effort. The series resumes in Hershey on Saturday night.

Western Conference Finals:

Texas Stars (Dallas)
vs.
Hamilton Bulldogs (Montreal)

Series begins on Friday night. Not only are the Habs going to the conference finals, but so is their minor league team. For Texas, Jamie Benn, who played well in the NHL for Dallas, has scored eight goals in 11 games. It appears that Hershey is the favorite to win the cup and we will be keeping an eye on how these series' progress.

A Game 7 Situation!

Montreal Canadiens at +210 +1.5 (-145)

Pittsburgh Penguins -250 -1.5 (+125)

The Montreal Canadiens find themselves in another situation that HockeySureShot would of laughed at if you predicted it a month ago. But here they are, winning three straight against Washington to to shock the President Trophy Winning Capitals and have gone back and forth with the Stanley Cup winning Penguins for 6 games. The Canadiens have been led by Micheal Cammelleri and Jaroslav Halak this postseason and will need them, especially Halak to move on to the Conference Finals.

The last game 7 that the Penguins were involved in was last June, when the won the Stanley Cup. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are still the best 1-2 punch in the NHL and will need to be tonight to get their team in the Eastern Finals for the third straight year.

Prediction: If Fleury stops the pucks he is supposed to stop, the Penguins will win.

Pittsburgh straight up.

Tuesday Timeout

Is the Eastern Conference full of mediocre teams right now?

I can't help myself to not ask that question after watching both games closely last night. Yes, the games have been entertaining. The effort from these teams has been tremendous almost on a nightly basis. But in my opinion none of these teams comes close to matching up with the talent of San Jose, Vancouver, Chicago, or even Detroit for that matter.

Having the top three seeds eliminated in the first round(Wash,NJ,Buff) certainly changed the whole Eastern Conference landscape this post season. Lets take a glance at each team as they stand right now.

Pittsburgh Penguins: We all know that they posses two of the best players in the game and are the defending Stanley Cup Champions, but even Penguin fans will tell you that this years version is not as strong as last season. We love Marc Andre Fleury in goal, but he as struggled at times. The defense is not as strong after losing Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi. Sergie Gonchar is clearly their best offensive defensemen and Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski have played well at times. Brooks Orpik is very solid defensively, but after that journeymen such as Eaton and Leopold round out the blueline. Offensively, Bill Guerin is starting to show his age, and there is a big drop off in scoring after Crosby and Malkin. Jordan Stall has been injures and is probably not 100% which hurts, but do their second and third lines match up at all with San Jose's or Chicago's? We think not.

Montreal Canadiens: Let's not forget that they clinched a playoff spot the final weekend of the NHL season by one point. Their first round upset of Washington was one of the biggest upsets in years. Not taking anything away from them as Jaroslav Halak and Mike Cammalleri have absolutely taken over series and have been brilliant. But did they really win last night with a defense of Hamrlik, Bergeron, Spacek(first game back in 10 games), Gorges, O'Byrne, and a guy named PK Subban? Subban is 20 years old, played in two games this season and logged 29 minutes of ice time last night and played like Drew Doughty. I still can't figure out how they keep winning with a patchwork defense and average forwards besides Cammalleri. However, give them the credit they deserve. Montreal has played an amazing team game and the Bell Center is the loudest building in hockey and has been quite the scene this postseason. Are they really a team anyone can see hoisting the cup though?

Boston Bruins: Tuukka Rask was brilliant in the series against Buffalo, and the start of the Philadelphia series but has struggled as have the rest of the Bruins the last two games. Watching that game last night I felt like the Bruins were a step slow and appeared to be a tired team. Getting back Marc Savard has certainly helped the offense, but losing top six forwards Marco Sturm and David Krejci has been devastating. Thankfully, for Boston they are getting production from Miro Satan, who was a waiver pickup, and the 42 year old Mark Recchi. The Bruins were also in danger of missing the playoffs this season also, and clearly have some holes, but have been bailed out by Rask at times this postseason. Boston is a solid team, but once again the roster is not nearly as talented as the teams out west.

Philadelphia Flyers: Philadelphia made the playoffs by beating the NY Rangers in a shoot out in the final game of the season. Goaltender injuries forced them to use Brian Boucher in the playoffs and he played brilliantly against the New Jersey Devils as the Flyers won the series in five. The Flyers-Bruins series has been evenly played for the most past, but Philly appears to be getting better and healthy as this series has gone on. Simon Gagne returned from injury to win game 4 in OT. The never say die Flyers, were probably a much better team than their record indicated and appear to have a roster built for the playoffs. They played a perfect road game last night, and the thought of coming back from 0-3, suddenly is not out of the question. Losing Claude Giroux hurts, but if they keep getting production from Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell, in addition to Richards and Briere they will not go down easily. Michael Leighton, is the big question in goal after Boucher suffered a season ending knee injury. Leighton has not played in two months, but looked solid coming in relief last night. He still has to be a question mark the rest of the series due to being off that long. Can you envision the Flyers winning the Stanley Cup with the current goaltending they have?

Let's be honest, both Philly and Boston are not great teams. Both teams have gone through streaks where they were good and bad. It really shouldn't be a surprise that this series is heading to a game six. The same should apply for Pittsburgh and Montreal as well. All four of these teams are flawed, but it's still been an amazing postseason and entertaining on a nightly basis. I doubt the Stanley Cup Finals will be as riveting as it may end very quickly for the Eastern Conference winner.

Monday Minutes

Injuries are starting to pile up as the second round series are nearing the end, but perhaps the most severe of all is what happened to Canucks defensemen Sami Salo last night. According to the Vancouver Province, Salo is out with a suspected testicle injury. As most of us cringe at that thought, if he does miss Game Six, the Canucks will be even thinner on the blueline. Aaron Rome would take his place on Tuesday night if he can't play. Shane O'Brien, another defensemen was accidentally hit in the face with a follow through shot by Dustin Byfuglien, but as only a hockey player would do, once the trainers got the blood to stop, he didn't miss a shift.

Montreal Canadiens: Perhaps no team is battling injuries more right now than the Montreal Canadiens. Defensemen, Andrei Markov is listed as doubtful tonight and Hal Gill is listed as day to day. Gill is attempting to play after suffering a laceration in his left leg in the third period of Game 5. It appears that Jaroslav Spacek, who has not played since in nine games is progressing well and may be able to play tonight.

Pittsburgh Penguins: The Penguins appear to be fine as far as injuries go. Jordan Stall's health should be improving as this will be his third game back tonight. Sidney Crosby and the rest of the Penguins will be relieved if Hal Gill does not play for Montreal tonight. Pittsburgh will attempt to close out the Habs tonight on the road. The Penguins, under coach Dan Bylsma, have won five playoff series, and have clinched them all on the road. They may have Montreal exactly where they want them.

Philadelphia Flyers: Agitator Daniel Carcillo, missed practice yesterday with a knee injury. It's unclear whether he will play tonight, if not he will be replaced by Jon Kalinski. Odds are this guy will play unless he can't walk. The Flyers have not played since Friday night, which should help Chris Pronger who logged loads of ice time during their OT win. Philly will need better play from their other defensemen to win tonight and keep their season alive.

Boston Bruins: After losing David Krejci and Marco Sturm for the rest of the playoffs, the Bruins are otherwise healthy. Mark Stuart played his first game in a month Friday night, and was a minus 2. The Bruins feel that the pressure is on the Flyers tonight, yet Philly is saying that all the pressure is on the Bruins because they are home tonight and if they don't close it out will have to go back to Philadelphia facing the prospect of a Game 7 if they don't win.

Our Picks:

We'll go with the trend of Pittsburgh closing out opponents on the road once again. However, the Boston-Philly game is a toss up. The over & Under is 5, so we'll take the over tonight because both defenses have struggled at times in this series.

Pittsburgh -170
Boston/Philly Over 5 -145

In Detroit We Trust

If any team can come back from 0-3, it is the Red Wings. If any team can blow a 3-0 lead it is the San Jose Sharks. Detroit should of won Game Three, and was leading Game two going into the third period. Take nothing away from San Jose, as they have played brilliantly in this series. However, maybe Jimmy Howard is due to steal a game, maybe Franzen will score another 4 goals, who knows maybe Bertuzzi will step up. Detroit will do what it takes to take this series back to the Joe.

The Pick: Detroit + 125

Wednesday Wrap Up

Some thoughts from Tuesday's action:

The Montreal Canadiens are giving the Pittsburgh Penguins all they can handle. Last night it was the Canadiens turn to find out what happens when you run into a hot goalie. The second half of the first period found Montreal all over the Penguins. They did everything right except score. As the game went on, Marc-Andre Fluery made terrific save after terrific save and deserves most of the credit in Pittsburgh's victory. For Montreal, PK Subban looks like the real thing on defense. He moves the puck, plays well defensively and could be the 6th defensemen they have been looking for. This series is far from over.

The San Jose Sharks take a commanding 3-0 lead on the 2 time Western Conference Champion Detroit Red Wings. The achilles heal of the Red Wings for years has been their goaltending. Usually, they are good enough despite the goaltending and veteran Chris Osgood always made the saves he was supposed to make. Last night, Rookie (I hate calling him that, he is 25) Jimmy Howard gave San Jose a gift when Logan Couture scored on a terrible angle to tie the game up at 3 in the later stages of the third period. Give San Jose full marks for coming from behind to tie that game up. Patrick Marleau scored the game winner in overtime when the Sharks took advantage of a bad read by the Red Wings off a player change. Marleau has gotten beat up each offseason when the Sharks have had early exits, and has also lost his captaincy.
Good for Marleau and the Sharks as they appear to be on the door of the Western Conference Finals.

Tuesday Timeout

Just another day to discuss topics such as:

The biting incident: Too bite or not too bite? During Game two of the Boston-Philly series, Daniel Carcillo accused Marc Savard of biting his finger. Carcillo had this to say about the incident. "The last time I was bit was in grade school. "It's not a good feeling and it was pretty cowardly" Savard responded by saying "I guess that's biting when a guy tries to pull your front teeth out like he did" Perhaps Carcillo, who has no front teeth, wanted Savard to look like him and was trying to do him a favor for his appearance. Funny stuff that only happens in hockey!

Sid the Cry Baby: I have to admit, I defend Crosby to most of my fellow hockey followers who can't stand the guy, but his actions during Game Two was indefensible. After Jarosalv Halak made one of his many saves in a Game Two win, Crosby throw his stick in the direction of Halak and was visibly upset. I'm sorry Sidney, you're not the only player Halak has stoned this postseason. Don't come across as a spoiled baby. Ask Ovechkin and the Capitals how it feels.

The Up's and Down's of Antti Niemi: After allowing 5 goals in a game one loss to Vancouver, Ron MacLean of Hockey Night in Canada suggested that the Hawks may go to Huet in Game two. However, if you look at Niemi this season after a bad game, he usually responds with a solid performance, as he did last night. Vancouver scored two early goals, one on a five on three, and Niemi shut the door after that. Even if he gives up 8 goals he still probably has more confidence than Huet at this point. He is the guy for the Blackhawks, as I'm sure Chicago fans have developed a love-hate relationship with him this season.

When Mike Babcock speaks, I Listen: His team is in an 0-2 hole to San Jose after taking several penalties in the third period of game two, yet he did not blast the officiating and still appears confident heading back to Detroit. I don't think there is a coach in the league, as prepared, respected, and not afraid to make a tough decision(ex.pulling Brodeur in the Olympics). Reading his quotes this morning makes me appear confident that the Wings will win tonight.

TV ratings up in US: This seasons epic playoffs have produced the highest cable ratings in ten years in the US. We have had our frustrations with Versus on this blog at times, but overall this is good news for hockey fans and the NHL. I think NBC is another issue as I could do without Pierre Mcguire, and the ridiculous early start times here on the West Coast, but if people are watching than I can deal with it.

For what's it worth, We'll take the two Stanley Cup Finalist from a year ago to win tonight.

Detroit -165
Pittsburgh -170

Monday Minutes

Another exciting round of playoffs is underway as we rank the top five performers in the post season thus far.

1) Jaroslav Halak - How can anyone forget his 53 save performance in Game Six against Washington? He is simply the only reason why the Canadiens pulled off the biggest first round upset in years. Not a bad performance yesterday in Game Two against Pittsburgh as he is officially in the head of Sidney Crosby.

2) Joe Pavelski - He leads the NHL playoffs in scoring with 9 goals and has taken over as the Sharks go to guy this postseason. Forming a dynamic line with Ryan Clowe and Devin Setoguchi, that is providing the Sharks the added scoring they have lacked in years past. As Joe Thornton put it "I wish I was on the planet that he is on right now"

3) Mikael Samuelsson - The leading scorer for the Vancouver Canucks has scored 7 goals in seven games. He has not only scored this postseason, but also is one of the teams best defenders and has a plus 9 rating to show for it. May be playing on the leagues most explosive line with the Sedin twins, that dominated the series against LA.

4) Sidney Crosby - The first round series against Ottawa was simply brilliant for Crosby, scoring five goals and nine assists. He leads the NHL playoff scoring in points with 16 and has to be on this list. We'll see what he can muster against Halak as he was visually frustrated after Game Two.

5) Mark Recchi - I could put Brian Boucher, Jonathan Toews, or Pavel Datsuyk on this list as well, but the 42 year old Recchi has been amazing for the Bruins this post season. He scored a huge goal in Game two vs. Buffalo and has registered six points in seven games for the surprising Bruins. Recchi is also very valuable for his leadership and his ability to make the players around him better. Dude is playing like he is 22 not 42.