NHL Playoffs – Round 2 Preview – Washington vs Tampa Bay

Posted on April 29, 2011 by
This Round 2 series will begin on Friday night and will be an exciting series for sure. Washington won the season series 4 games to 2 going 2-1 at home and on the road. Tampa Bay won the middle two games in January and Washington book-ended the other 4 games.
There’s offense galore in this series! We have the new and improved Washington Capitals, who rather easily won in the first round against the Rangers against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who battled their way back from being down 3 games to 1 against Pittsburgh to win the series and game 7 in Pittsburgh while Crosby and Malkin watched from the press box.

 

The Washington Capitals changed their system during the season to a more defensive system after having an 8-game losing streak at the beginning of December that was well-documented by HBO’s 24/7 Penguins/Capitals: Road To The NHL Winter Classic. The new system has a priority on taking care of the defensive zone and blocking shots. They were 18-12-4 when they initiated the change and went on to win the Winter Classic and finish the season going 30-11-7 the rest of the way as the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. They also made a trade for Jason Arnott, who they wanted for his playoff experience and his leadership. This team is dangerous with Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom, Knuble, Arnott, Brooks Laich, Mike Green, John Carlson and with Marcus Johansson just heating up. They might have a slight weakness between the pipes with Michal Neuvirth but that’s another reason a more defensive system helps them win. Its kind of shocking that their power play wasn’t better(15th) and their penalty kill(2nd) is so good. It just seems backwards with the offensive weapons they have but Mike Green had a poor season missing 33 games with multiple injuries. John Carlson is still young and Tom Poti has missed the majority of the season which all contributed to the power play problems.

The Tampa Bay Lightning made a trade on New Year’s Day that brought in Dwayne Roloson from the New York Islanders for Ty Wishart. “Roli the Goalie” solidified the goaltending position for the Lightning and gave them a goalie with playoff experience and without him they might not be in the second round right now. They still would’ve made the playoffs but Roli was probably the big difference in round 1. The Bolts have great special teams with the 6th ranked power play and the 8th ranked penalty kill. They gave up the most short-handed goals though which will be something to keep an eye on. They have Steven Stamkos, who is arguably the best player in the NHL right now*. He struggled towards the end of the season having scored only 5 goals in the last 28 games after scoring 40 goals in the first 54 games. They also have a couple guys name Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier who aren’t too bad. Steve Downie had an excellent first round series with 7 points (1 G, 6 A) in only 61 minutes. That’s excellent production in a little over 10 minutes of ice time a game. Simon Gagne, Teddy Purcell, Dominic Moore, Bergenheim, Eric Brewer and Nate Thompson are other guys to keep an eye on. Tampa Bay had the rare stat of having a better record on the road than they did at home so they can win anywhere.

*This is partly due to Sidney Crosby being out with a concussion. All you Sid haters need to figure out how great he is! He recently had a setback in his recovery though.

Tale of the Tape on the Left-Handed Stick:
Goaltending – Tampa Bay
Defense – Washington
Offense – Tampa Bay
Power Play – Tampa Bay
Penalty Kill – Washington
Coaching – Even – Boudreau changing or tweaking the system to be more defensive saved their season and might lead them to the CUP!!! Guy Boucher’s 1-3-1 forecheck system has worked pretty well and has the Lightning contending for the Cup as well!

WOW! This one is tough to pick! I could go either way with it. I’m going to say that Roli* is going to be the difference in a 7-game series.

Tampa Bay in 7!

*Is that a Wild connection coming through again? GO ROLI!!!

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Robb Dahlen
BRING THE CLUTTER!

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2011 NHL Playoffs – Round 2 Preview – Vancouver vs Nashville

Posted on April 29, 2011 by
Round two gets under way on Thursday night with Game 1 between Vancouver and Nashville. I thought I’d throw up a quick preview of this 2nd Round series. They split the 4-game season series with each team winning a game on the road and a game at home.This is good match-up. Both teams have good to great goaltending in Pekka Rinne and Roberto Luongo. Vancouver is a powerhouse offensive team that excels in special teams while Nashville is more of a defensive team that has a decent power play and a good penalty kill. Vancouver has the high profile guys like Kesler and the Sedins with two good scoring lines. Nashville doesn’t have that big time scorer and have gotten their scoring from a variety of guys like Kostitsyn, Erat, Hornqvist, Wilson, Weber and Suter. Mike Fisher and Jordin Tootoo were big in the first round.Both teams conquered some demons in the first round. Nashville won a playoff series for the first time in franchise history after losing their five previous playoff appearances. Vancouver finally beat the Chicago Blackhawks after losing to them in the second round for two consecutive seasons. Both teams had some struggles in the first round they had to overcome as well. Nashville had trouble with the penalty kill and Pekka Rinne didn’t play that well in round one giving up 19 goals in the 6 game series against Anaheim (3.29 GAA and .876 save percentage) although 8 of those were power play goals! Vancouver struggled after taking a 3-0 series lead losing 7-2 in game 4 and 5-0 in game 5 with Luongo getting pulled in both of those games. They played better in games 6 and 7 but you have to wonder if Chicago exposed them a little for round 2.

For Nashville to win they need to stay out of the penalty box like they have all season (2nd fewest PIMs), get a huge series out of  Pekka Rinne and continue to get scoring from their whole team. Jordin Tootoo will be a player to watch as he’s playing some great hockey since missing a couple months during voluntary drug rehab. He looks like a different player now shown by his 5 points (1 G, 4 A) in round one. Keep an eye on Steve Sullivan as well.

For Vancouver to win they need to get more offense out of the Sedin twins and Ryan Kesler, get a solid series from Luongo and get some scoring from some of their role players. Kesler hasn’t had very much success against Nashville for his entire career. The Sedins have been solid and Luongo’s been solid as well. The Canucks are the better team with more talent and speed. They just have to show up and prove it. Someone like Chris Higgins, Mason Raymond or Mikael Samuelsson needs to play a big part in this series.

Tale of the Tape on the Left-Handed Stick:
Goaltending – pretty even but I give a slight edge to Nashville
Defense – Vancouver
Offense – Vancouver
Power Play – Vancouver
Penalty Kill – this is pretty even but I’ll give the edge to Vancouver
Coaching – Vancouver mainly because Vigneault has more talent to work with

That makes it look pretty stacked for Vancouver but playoffs aren’t played on my laptop computer, or this document or paper*. They are played on ice! “Woody Wood” Pekka Rinne will steal a couple games and make it a series and might make Vancouver and Luongo nervous! I still think Vancouver will come out victorious in the end!

Vancouver in 7!

*They are played on paint though. Ice isn’t white and doesn’t have logos and lines already in it!!! Come on! Wouldn’t it be cool if it was clear except for the logos and the lines? How would that look? You would probably just see the cement but hey, it might still be cool! Maybe you could do it on a lake or something! Oooooh! Sorry, It appears I ranted a little there!

Pekka Rinne’s stats against Vancouver:
Career: 8 GP, 4 W, 4 L, 1.89 GAA, .941 SV%, 1 SO
in NSH: 5 GP, 2 W, 3 L, 2.03 GAA, .938 SV%, 0 SO
in VAN: 3 GP, 2 W, 1 L, 1.68 GAA, .945 SV%, 1 SO
2010-2011: 4 GP, 2 W, 2 L, 1.26 GAA, .962 SV%, 1 SO
in NSH: 2 GP, 1 W, 1 L, 1.52 GAA, .955 SV%, 0 SO
in VAN: 2 GP, 1 W, 1 L, 1.01 GAA, .969 SV%, 1 SO

Roberto Luongo’s stats against Nashville:
Career: 24 GP, 10 W, 10 L, 3 T, 2.19 GAA, .924 SV%, 2 SO
in VAN: 14 GP, 6 W, 7 L, 1 T, 2.15 GAA, .916 SV%, 2 SO
in NSH: 10 GP, 4 W, 3 L, 2 T, 2.24 GAA, .932 SV%, 0 SO
2010-2011: 4 GP, 2 W, 2 L, 1.77 GAA, .929 SV%, 0 SO
in VAN: 2 GP, 1 W, 1 L, 1.53 GAA, .945 SV%, SO
in NSH: 2 GP, 1 W, 1 L, 2.02 GAA, .907 SV%,  0 SO

What’s your opinion on this series? Quick series for Vancouver? Long series that goes the distance? Canucks? Preds?

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Robb Dahlen
BRING THE CLUTTER!

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9 Reasons the NHL Playoffs Are Better Than Any Other Sport

Posted on April 27, 2011 by

If you’re not watching the 2011 NHL Playoffs you are missing out on the best postseason of any sport, college or professional. Now I’m a little biased as hockey is my favorite sport but I’m a big fan of all major sports. I watch the playoffs from all of them and I don’t think its close! You don’t get the same level of excitement from the NBA, MLB or the NFL! The NCAA Basketball Tournament might be close!

There’s been a 4 goal comeback, series comebacks, 13 overtime games (8 nights in a row with an overtime game), 8 Shutouts, 1 sweep, more hitting (brutal hits) resulting in suspensions, highlight goals, highlight saves and now we have 4 game sevens!!!

Parity! Throw out the regular season records! Wipe the slate clean! Everyone’s even. Home ice advantage? What home ice advantage! It doesn’t matter if its #1 vs #8 or #4 vs #5. Any team can beat any other team at any time.*

*Except the New York Rangers, apparently!

Intensity! The Intensity and competition in the playoffs goes up tenfold! I’m not even sure that describes it accurately enough. If you took the entire 82 game regular season and packed it into one game, you might get the intensity of the playoffs. Maybe! Players are giving 110% every second they are on the ice. There’s no time to rest or take it easy for a shift, even when your team is up by 4 goals!

Rivalries! Rivalries escalate and are born in the playoffs! There’s nothing like at least 4 straight games with an opponent to get a rivalry going! The Vancouver/Chicago rivalry was pretty nonexistent until three years ago when the Blackhawks knocked the Canucks out of the playoffs two years in a row. Vancouver squeaked by the Blackhawks last night with a Game Seven Overtime victory. In the Eastern Conference you have a rivalry that’s been going on since 1924! It’s definitely still alive and well and another chapter will be decided with Game Seven tonight!

Physical Play! There’s more physical play in the playoffs as every player knows they have to give more to win in the postseason! This is why you see guys who aren’t usually very physical throwing hits and being physical. Unfortunately, there’s more headhunting and a lack of respect in a lot of the physical play. The concept of physical play is to hit a player as hard as you can so the next time they get the puck, they panic a little bit and make a bad play. It’s not to injure a player and take him out of the game.

Playing Injured! Guys play injured no matter how injured they are. They put their team before their own well-being! Trainers do whatever they can to get players back on the ice. Cortisone shots, potassium, Sudafed, ibuprofen, heat pack, cold packs and whatever else can get you back on the ice, within the rules of course!

Sudden-Death Overtime! Nothing beats sudden death overtime! There’s nothing like it in any other sport! “But the NFL has sudden death overtime!” Really? It’s not even close to the same thing! Drop the puck and play hockey! Shoot the puck and shoot it often because anything can happen in overtime!

Unsung Heroes! With teams game-planning against their opponents best players, it makes it more difficult for the star players to play a big role in a given series. This allows the somewhat unknown role players to emerge! Who heard of Ben Smith before he scored a game-winning goal in Game 6 against Vancouver in his 13th game in the NHL? Role players become X-factors in the playoffs and can be a big part in determining who wins a series.

Goaltending! This might be the biggest and most important position in deciding who wins a series and ultimately, the Stanley Cup! A goaltender can get in a zone and lead a team all the way to the Cup! We see it every year and some goalies come out of nowhere to give their teams a chance to win every night! Look at Antti Niemi and Jaroslav Halak last year, Cam Ward and Dwayne Roloson* in ’06 and Patrick Roy in 1986 just to name a few!

*Roloson and Fernandez were a big part of the run by the Minnesota Wild in ’03. Had to get my Wild in there even if they might not belong in a current playoff column, since they’ve missed the playoffs for three years in a row now! GO WILD! The Brown Fox will get it done!

The Stanley Cup! All of this so they can Raise Stanley! Lord Stanley’s Cup! The Cup! The Holy Grail! It’s the ultimate goal and the Greatest Trophy in Sports! You never hear about the trophy for the NBA, NFL or Major League Baseball because they all want the ring. I don’t think they care about the trophy because their trophies are all pretty lame! You can’t drink from them and why would you want a day with those trophies! The NHL even calls their playoffs the “Stanley Cup” playoffs and the “Stanley Cup” Finals! It’s a multipurpose trophy! You can drink out of it, eat out of it, bathe babies in it, use it as a paper weight, a food tray, for storage, rescue cats with it, it makes a great wingman, the possibilities are endless! Stanley has partied more than anyone I know. No wonder everybody wants to hang out with Stan!

Do you agree that the NHL has the best postseason? What’s been your favorite part so far?

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Robb Dahlen

 

Posted in Minnesota Wild, News/Transactions, NHL Hockey | 2 Comments

Forwards Evander Kane, Cal Clutterbuck commit to joining Canada at worlds

Posted on April 12, 2011 by
Ohhh, Clutterbuck, goes home to native landddd… Looks like Cal will be “bringing the Clutter” to the World Championships which begin on April 29th in Slovakia! 

 

 

via Google Alerts – “cal clutterbuck” by The Canadian Press on 4/12/11


Forward Evander Kane and Cal Clutterbuck have both accepted invitations to play for Canada at the upcoming IIHF World Championship. They bring the number of forwards on the team to seven. An eighth, John Tavares, is also hoping to play but he’s still …
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Your 2011 Stanley Cup Playoff first-round TV schedule

Posted on April 11, 2011 by
Playoff TV Schedule if you need it! Looks like no USA coverage of Anaheim/Nashville and only two games of Pittsburgh/Tampa Bay! 

via Puck Daddy – NHL – Yahoo! Sports by Sean Leahy on 4/10/11

 

 

From the NHL, here’s the full first round schedule with dates and times, as well as the national broadcast outlets showing each game

Say your final goodbyes to loved ones for the next two months.

(All times are Eastern)

 

*if necessary

(JIP) – joined in progress

A few thoughts:

• Sad, but not surprising that Anaheim/Nashville won’t see a national game broadcast. That might be a the underrated series of the first round.

• NBC takes Washington/New York, Philadelphia/Buffalo and Detroit/Phoenix, so no real deviation from their normal Sunday broadcasts from the regular season.

• The Sidney Crosby-less Penguins get just two games, potentially, on VERSUS and none on NBC.

• And finally, there’s the potential that on Wednesday, Apr. 27, we’ll be watching five Game 7’s that night.

We’ll have our playoff previews up beginning Tuesday and our full staff predictions will be posted on Wednesday.

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