The Boston Bruins have taken a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semi-final with a very close win over the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
Brad Marchand scored with 4:20 left in the first overtime as the Bruins defeated the Rangers 4-3.
It was a very impressive win for the Bruins mostly because of the amount of injuries on the Boston blueline. On defense the Bruins had rookies Torey Krug, Dougie Hamilton and Matt Bartkowski to replace the injured Dennis Seidenberg, Wade Redden and Andrew Ference.
Krug in fact scored his first NHL career goal to send the game into overtime.
The win was the Bruins third overtime win in a row. Another Bruin that deserves praise is defenceman Zdeno Chara, who played 38:02 in game one. He also had a goal and an assist, was a +2 and had nine shots on goal.
Could significant changes be coming in Calgary soon? Has General Manager Jay Feaster finally accepted the fact that the Flames need to rebuild or retool their team in the immediate future in order to contend in the Western Conference?
On Monday night in Los Angeles, the Kings defeated the Flames 3-1 on a pair of goals from captain Dustin Brown and a pair of assists by rookie defenceman Jake Muzzin.
Brown, the Kings captain, and Muzzin, the Kings first year prospect, played significantly better than the Flames captain, Jarome Iginla and the Flames’ top rookie, Roman Cervenka.
With the loss, the Flames remain last in the Western conference at 22 points, six points back of the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks for a playoff spot, but ironically also only six points back of the Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks for first place in the Northwest Division.
The Los Angeles Kings have won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Dustin Brown scored a goal and two assists as the Kings defeated the New Jersey Devils 6-1 to win the Stanley Cup Finals 4-2.
Now it is your turn. Please comment below what Los Angeles you are most happy for by winning the Stanley Cup.
Is it Darryl Sutter, who controversially was fired by the Calgary Flames after a solid run as Head Coach and General Manager?
Was it Dustin Penner, who signed a contract that many questioned in Edmonton, and flourished on the Kings second line with Mike Richards and Jeff Carter?
Was it Mike Richards, Simon Gagne and Drew Doughty who have now won an Olympic Gold medal and Stanley Cup?
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame, we preview the Stanley Cup Final, we look at why the Phoenix Coyotes were so mad when they were bounced by the Kings and we discuss a controversial new feature on the CBC. As well, a possible return for Dominik Hasek and a look at the NBA playoffs!
In the GABBYs: Didier Drogba, Barcelona, Caleb Lloyd, Racing Club’s fans, Giancarlo Stanton & the Orlando Magic. The Punchline this week is track star Jessica Ennis. This week we also take a look at FIFA wanting to end the penalty shootout!
For the first time in franchise history, the Edmonton Rush are in championship game. Tonight in New York state, the Rush take on the Rochester Knighthawks for the 2012 Champion’s Cup (Shaw HD, 5:30pm).
Now I’m not a huge supporter of a team with a losing record in the regular season making the playoffs, as the Rush were 6-10 and in fourth place in the Western Division, but you have to give the team credit for getting hot at just the right time.
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.
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.
Alexander Ovechkin was spectacular when Washington needed him most in Game two of the Eastern Conference Semi-Final.
Ovechkin scored the game winning goal while Rangers forward Brad Richards was in the penalty box with 7:27 left in the final period.
Despite only playing 13:36 of the game, six minutes fewer than teammate Jay Beagle, Ovechkin had a game high seven shots on net as Washington tied the series at one with a 3-2 win. A major reason why Ovechkin saw his ice time dip is because it appears Head Coach Dale Hunter was not satisfied with his defensive play. Should he have been on the ice more?
The other interesting result Monday came from the eighth seeded Los Angeles Kings who had an offensive explosion in the first period against the St. Louis Blues. This is the second straight series that the Kings seemed to have their opponent off guard. Anze Kopitar scored twice and Dustin Brown had three assists as Los Angeles defeated St. Louis 5-2 to take a 2-0 Western Conference Semi-Final lead. The Kings are now a perfect 5-0 on the road in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
David Perron (Matthieu Masquelet, Wikimedia Commons)
Round Two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs gets underway this weekend with the Conference Semi-Finals about to begin.
The series I will be most interested in is the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings. Can Darryl Sutter incorporate a similar game plan to shock the Blues like he did the Vancouver Canucks? The Blues looked great in beating the San Jose Sharks in five games and look even more dangerous in the playoffs than they did in the regular season because they are very healthy. Andy McDonald, Alexander Steen and David Perron, who all missed considerable time during the regular season, combined for 14 playoff points in five games.
As for the Kings, captain Dustin Brown was their best player against the Canucks. He led the team with five points and was very physical along the way.
Game one is Saturday night at 5:30pm on TSN. My pick is Blues in five. Here are the other events I’ll be watching:
Saturday–ATP–Barcelona Open Semi-Finals–(3) David Ferrer–ESP vs. (11) Milos Raonic–CAN–5:30am–Sportsnet One–Milos Raonic won the match of his career on Friday, defeating Andy Murray of Great Britain in straight sets in the Barcelona Open quarterfinals. On Saturday, he will try and defeat another elite player in Spain’s David Ferrer. The Spaniard is 3-0 against Raonic including a victory in the fourth round of the Australian Open in 2011. Spaniards Fernando Verdasco is playing Rafael Nadal in the other semi-final.
Team Canada is back in the final of the Women’s World Hockey Championship. Friday afternoon in Burlington, Vermont, Meghan Agosta, Laura Fortino and Marie-Philip Poulin each scored a goal and an assist as Canada beat Finland 5-1 in the semi-final game.
Agosta, was a huge force on the Canadian side, notching nine shots on goal. Canada’s opponent tonight is once again the United States, who hammered Switzerland 10-0 in the other semi-final. The game can be seen live on TSN at 5pm.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Saturday–NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game 2–Washington Capitals @ Boston Bruins–NBC–1pm–The Capitals lost game 1 despite a brilliant goaltending performance by Braden Holtby. The Bruins meanwhile got a stingy defensive effort Thursday night as they only allowed 17 Washington shots in 61:18 of action. The Capitals simply won’t win many games in the series if Alexander Ovechkin only gets one shot. The Capitals sniper did record seven hits, but needs to find the offensive side of his game again. Tim Thomas is the only goaltender in the playoffs so far to get a shutout.
Throughout the day, stay with www.anysportanytime.ca, for my analysis, and Jim’s analysis, on transactions that have taken place.
Here are the sixteen deals that have been made:
Atlanta trades Niclas Bergfors and Patrick Rissmiller to Florida for Radek Dvorak and a fifth round pick.
Analysis: I’m a little surprised in this one. I think Bergfors is the best player in the deal and better than Dvorak. With Atlanta in more playoff contention than Florida, I thought they wouldn’t get rid of him. In 2010-11, Bergfors has 11 goals and 18 assists, compared to Dvorak’s 7 goals and 14 assists. Dvorak, who was a first line player in Florida, playing with David Booth and former Oiler Marty Reasoner, has not lived up to his potential this season and is on the downside of his career.
The Boston Bruins have taken a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semi-final with a very close win over the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
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