Prior to the game Los Angeles Kings Head Coach Darryl Sutter said there were five key ingredients in order to win the Stanley Cup A) You need great goaltending, B) Your star players need to be at their best, C) You need to be disciplined, D) Your special teams need to be strong, and E) You need unsung heroes.
Thursday night in Los Angeles, the Kings continued to get a solid performance by an unsung hero. Dwight King, who only scored five goals in the 2011-12 regular season, scored his fifth goal in the playoffs as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best of seven Western Conference Final. King’s goal was the game winner, his second straight game winner in fact, as he also opened the scoring in Los Angeles’ shutout win in game two.
The Edmonton Oilers have decided to fire Tom Renney as their head coach.
The Oilers were 32-40-10 last season under Renney’s leadership, and only moved up on place in the standings, from 30th place to 29th place.
There is talk that the Oilers are set to name former Calgary Flames head coach Brent Sutter next. I’m not so sure if this is the right move.
Despite only two losses at the most recent World Hockey Championships, Team Canada failed to get the job done in Helsinki under Sutter’s guidance. Being eliminated from the quarterfinals is simply not good enough.
Sutter, who seemed to advise the Flames to move toward a youth movement, would be in the position to teach young players in Edmonton. But I see some issues too. Under Renney’s guidance, the power play significantly improved. What the Oilers need is strong teaching by a coach on even strength, without any loss to their improvement when they have the man advantage. Easier written than executed.
Calgary was a much better team than Edmonton on even strength this year, but that reason was because of Miikka Kiprusoff, not Sutter.
The Los Angeles Kings are quite possibly the best team in hockey.
Tuesday night in Phoenix, the Kings continued their excellent playoff stretch by going 10-1, after their convincing 4-0 shutout win over the Coyotes to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Final.
Jeff Carter led the Kings attack with a hat trick while Jonathan Quick made 24 saves.
But a major reason why Los Angeles Kings won was discipline and they were able to capitalize against a Phoenix Coyotes team that lacked disciplinary behaviour.
Coyotes’ forwards Shane Doan and Martin Hanzal both received game misconducts for separate boarding incidents. Doan’s penalty led to a Jeff Carter power play goal, his first of two on the evening.
Another King who is red hot lately is Meadowlake, Saskatchewan native Dwight King who has three goals in two games, including the game winning goal last night.
Game three of the series is Thursday in Los Angeles.
I think it is safe to say that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman might be sleeping well at night. Why? Well, he is finally about to sell the Phoenix Coyotes and the two teams in the largest American markets are leading their respective conference finals.
The Los Angeles Kings lead the Phoenix Coyotes 1-0 in their best-out-of-seven series after their 4-2 win on Sunday night. The Kings continue to play flawless in these playoffs, especially on the road, where they are a remarkable 6-0. Dwight King scored twice and Dustin Brown scored the game winner. I know Darryl Sutter did a masterful job coaching the Flames in 2004, but he is doing equally a sensational job in southern California. Los Angeles outshot Phoenix 17-4 in the first period, as the Kings took the Coyotes fans out of the game early.
Meanwhile on the American east coast, Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers made 21 saves for a 3-0 game one win over New Jersey. The Rangers got all three goals in the third period, including a goal by Dan Girardi 53 seconds in which turned out to be the game winner. The Rangers must also be excited about the play of Chris Kreider who scored on the power play.
Henrik Lundqvist (Robert Kowal, Wikimedia Commons)
The New York Rangers have advanced to the Eastern Conference Final.
Saturday night in Manhattan, Michael Del Zotto scored the game winning goal with 9:55 left in the third period as the Rangers defeated the Washington Capitals 2-1 behind a solid performance by Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
The Rangers now play the New Jersey Devils on Monday.
With the Capitals loss, Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin have announced they will play for Russia at the World Hockey Championships this week in Helsinki, Finland. The Russians are already undefeated and the two are expected to play when Russia plays in quarterfinal game Thursday. From a Canadian standpoint, it might have been better if the Rangers won last night, although Henrik Lundqvist might have joined Sweden if the Capitals won.
Three game sevens (and possibly a fourth) will dominate my sports viewing this weekend.
In the NHL, there is a game seven in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. This will be a battle of Alexander Ovechkin versus Henrik Lundqvist. Despite limited ice time, Ovechkin leads the Capitals in scoring with nine points, but will have to get by Hart Trophy nominee Lundqvist to move on to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in his career. The game can be seen on CBC tonight at 5:30pm.
In the NBA, there are two game sevens, both involving the Los Angeles teams. Tonight the Los Angeles Lakers host the Denver Nuggets in game seven of the Western Conference Quarterfinal tonight (TSN2, 8:30pm). Questions are surrounding the health of Lakers star Kobe Bryant who played with the stomach flu in game six on Thursday. Afterwards, he was not happy with Pau Gasol for his lack of effort and had no problem telling him so.
Then tomorrow the Memphis Grizzlies host the Los Angeles Clippers (ABC, 11am) in game seven of another Western Conference Semi-Final. Like the Nuggets, the Grizzlies were once down 3-1 in the series but have clawed their way back to force a game seven. Last night in Los Angeles, the Grizzlies won game six 90-88 on Marc Gasol’s 23 points.
There will be a one game elimination contest in the second round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
And yes Gary Bettman, even though the game will not be on NBC because of the weekend’s Player’s Championship, you’re getting the next best thing– a primetime game on a Saturday night in New York City, a game that will be seen from coast to coast on Hockey Night in Canada.
Last night in Washington, the Rangers just seemed to lack the energy that was necessary to be victorious and I’m not surprised that they were a little bit drained mentally. Both franchises are playing their second consecutive game seven. The Capitals beat the Boston Bruins in the opening round, while the Rangers got by the Ottawa Senators.
Alexander Ovechkin opened the scoring with a first period goal and Edmonton native Jason Chimera added to the Capitals lead in the second period in Washington’s 2-1 win in game six last night. The Rangers did outshoot the Capitals 31-23 but didn’t find a way to beat goaltender Braden Holtby until the final minute when Marian Gaborik scored his fourth of the playoffs.
Martin Brodeur (James Teterenko, Wikimedia Commons)
The New Jersey Devils have advanced to the Eastern Conference Final. On Tuesday night in Philadelphia, the Devils defeated the Flyers 3-1 to win the Eastern Conference Semi-Final 4-1.
Ilya Kovalchuk led the Devils with a goal and an assist while Calder Trophy candidate Adam Henrique also had a multi-point game with a pair of assists. Meanwhile, Martin Brodeur made 27 saves. Brodeur is now a perfect 2-0 in his career since turning 40 and has made 47 saves on 50 save attempts.
Bryce Salvador and David Clarkson also scored for the Devils.
The Flyers just seemed to run into a hot goaltender in Brodeur, something they didn’t face in round one when they easily scored on Marc-Andre Fleury.
My major question now is how much does Martin Brodeur have left in the tank the rest of the way? Does he have enough remarkable skill to win one more Stanley Cup and fourth of his career? Please let us know at www.anysportanytime.ca.
For the first time in Stanley Cup Playoffs history a number eight seed has defeated a number one and number two seed in the same season.
Sunday afternoon Dustin Brown scored twice as the Los Angeles Kings beat the Saint Louis Blues 3-1 to sweep the Western Conference Semi-Final 4-0.
The Kings won game four despite being outshot 13-2 by St. Louis in the second period.
Is it time to take the Kings for real? I think it is. But I want to make something clear. This is not your typical number eight seed. They were in third place up until the last few days of the season, were in fact my pick before the season to win the Stanley Cup, and have had great goaltending from Jonathan Quick all season long.
The big difference is the players that were expected to produce all season long are finally performing more consistently.
This week on the show, we look at the tragic death of former NFL star Junior Seau and the latest bounty suspensions from that league, as well as news from the NHL that Raffi Torres is appealing his lengthy suspension. We also look at the situation in the Nashville Predators camp, along with speculation that the NY Islanders might soon have a new home.
In the GABBYs: Leo Messi, Jose Mourinho, Jered Weaver, the NY Knicks, the Montreal Canadiens and Jeremy Affeldt. The Punchline this week is, once again, the Charlotte Bobcats!
Calgary native Mike Green has helped the Washington Capitals even their series against the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final.
Saturday afternoon in the American capital, Green not only scored a goal, but it was the game winner as Washington defeated the NY Rangers 3-2.
Green’s goal came on the powerplay with 5:48 left in the game from defenceman Dennis Wideman.
The series now shifts back to New York City on Monday night with the series tied two games apiece.
Another Capitals defenceman from Calgary that had an outstanding game was Jeff Schultz, who led all players with nine blocked shots. Calgary native Jay Beagle meanwhile continues to play key minutes. Beagle continues to flourish in a defensive role and played 18:13 in all, and was excellent in the final minute to preserve the Washington win.
The Phoenix Coyotes may be leading the Nashville Predators in the Western Conference Semi-Final 3-1 after their 1-0 shutout win from Mike Smith last night.
But let’s not our kid ourselves folks. The story of the series so far was Predators’ ice girl Jenna Steffen who seemed to have picked up a live catfish off the ice in Game Three with her bare hands!
So who is this Jenna lady anyways? Well according to the Nashville Predators website, she is from northern Minnesota, and is involved in sales and marketing, loves Sushi and enjoys the television shows New Girl and Pan Am.
Another Predator Ice Girl which appeared to be Chelsea, picked up another catfish last night, but it didn’t appear this one was live.
Getting back to last night’s game, Shane Doan scored the only Coyotes goal. How will Winnipeg fans feel if the Coyotes this season win the Stanley Cup? Yikes.
Team Canada will have a chance to build off of their tight 3-2 victory over Slovakia yesterday when they face their American archrival nemesis this morning at the World Hockey Championships in Helsinki (TSN, 10am).
The Americans are coming off a commanding opening victory over France yesterday where they won 7-2.
Even though, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Devan Dubnyk and Jordan Eberle missed the playoffs for the Edmonton Oilers, this tournament could be valuable experience for them.
An American Oilers fans would be familiar with is defenceman Jeff Petry, who is joined on the American blueline with Jack Johnson, Alex Goligoski and Cam Fowler.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Saturday–NHL Eastern Conference Semi-Final Game 4–New York Rangers @ Washington Capitals–10:30am–NBC–After coming off the longest game of the playoffs Wednesday night (game went into triple overtime), the Capitals will try to tie the series at two games apiece. Brad Richards continues to produce in the playoffs. The former Conn Smythe Trophy winner leads the Rangers in playoff scoring with nine points. For the Rangers to get by Washington however, they will need more from Artem Anisimov and Ruslan Fedotenko. They combined for 25 regular season goals, but only have a combined total of one goal in the playoffs.
Saturday–MLB–Arizona Diamondacks @ New York Mets–1:30pm–FOX–Despite only hitting .254 last season, Mets third baseman David Wright has got off to a great start in 2012, batting .395 with eight extra base hits. Last night J.J. Putz recorded his sixth save of the season as Arizona defeated the New York Mets 5-4. Arizona is 14-13 while the NY Mets are 13-13.
Team Canada got off to a decent start this morning at the World Hockey Championships in Helsinki, Finland.
Sherwood Park Alberta raised Cam Ward of the Carolina Hurricanes made 19 saves as Canada defeated Slovakia 3-2. The Team Canada goal scorers were Jordan Eberle of the Edmonton Oilers, Andrew Ladd of the Winnipeg Jets and Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars.
The Team Canada squad were the victim of the injury bug however. Alexandre Burrows of the Vancouver Canucks might have suffered a concussion after hitting his head hard on the ice. Burrows’ possible injury came just a few days after Team Canada had to send home P.K. Subban, who injured his knee in an exhibition game against Team Switzerland.
In other games, United States beat France 7-2, Germany blanked Italy 3-0, Czech Republic shut out Denmark 2-0, Finland beat Belarus 1-0 and Sweden defeated Norway 3-1.
Canada’s next game is against the United States at 10am on Saturday morning on TSN.
Prior to the game Los Angeles Kings Head Coach Darryl Sutter said there were five key ingredients in order to win the Stanley Cup A) You need great goaltending, B) Your star players need to be at their best, C) You need to be disciplined, D) Your special teams need to be strong, and E) You need unsung heroes.
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