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.