The Pittsburgh Penguins once again exemplified outstanding offence and are the first team in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs to advance to the conference championship.
James Neal of Whitby, Ontario had a career night as he recorded his first career playoff hat trick in Pittsburgh’s 6-2 win over Ottawa as the Penguins eliminated the Senators 4-1 in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. The Penguins will now play the Boston/New York Rangers winner in the Eastern Final. The Bruins lead that series 3-1.
Other Penguins with multi-point games Friday were defenceman Kris Letang with a goal and two assists, and reigning Hart Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin with a goal and an assist.
Letang, a native of Montreal, has had an excellent Stanley Cup Playoffs. He leads the Penguins in the postseason with 13 assists and 16 points. His play has been strong enough that he should be given considerable consideration for the Canadian men’s ice hockey team at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
Wayne Gretzky is the greatest hockey player of all-time. Heck, he is also the greatest athlete of all-time. But I think it is safe to say that right now Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins is the best hockey player in the world right now.
On Friday night, Crosby showed just why he is so great. In a dominating performance, Crosby had a hat trick by the early portion of the second period in a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators in game two of the Eastern Conference semi-final that put the Penguins up 2-0 in the best-out-of-seven series.
Crosby will now have the opportunity to showcase his skills north of the border this weekend as Pittsburgh travels to Ottawa for game three of the Eastern Conference semi-final (Sunday, CBC, 5:30 p.m.). I know the Penguins are loaded with talent that includes Evgeni Malkin and Jarome Iginla, but the bottom line is when healthy Pittsburgh is Crosby’s team.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching:
Saturday–MLB–New York Mets @ Chicago Cubs–WPIX–11:00 a.m.–Two teams in fourth place in their divisions play today at Wrigley Field. The Cubs are 17-24 in the National League Central, while the Mets are 16-23 in the National League East. First baseman Anthony Rizzo, who represented Italy at the World Baseball Classic, with nine home runs, 29 runs batted in and a .522 slugging percentage. While so far this season, the Mets have been led by third baseman David Wright, who leads the team with a .312 batting average, .418 on base percentage and a .536 slugging percentage.
Henrik Zetterberg (Dan Nicholas, Wikimedia Commons)
One of the most exciting times in the world of sports is simply game seven. That’s what we’ll have Sunday night in southern California as the Anaheim Ducks host the Detroit Red Wings.
Last night, Red Wings’ captain Henrik Zetterberg scored at 1:04 of overtime to give the Red Wings a 4-3 win over the Ducks to tie their Western Conference quarterfinal series at three games apiece.
The Red Wings might have a strong core of veterans, but after all these years are still getting it done. Goaltender Jimmy Howard is playing at an elite level as Detroit will look to move on during their last year in the Western Conference. How dangerous will Detrot be next year in the East? The answer is very. The game will be seen Sunday night on TSN at 8:00 p.m.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Saturday & Sunday– PGA–Players Championship–NBC–12 p.m.– Spain’s Sergio Garcia, probably one of the best golfers in the world to have never won a major, currently leads Tiger Woods by a stroke after shooting a -11 at Sawgrass over the first two days of competition. Garcia and Woods have won the Players Championship once before– Woods in 2001 and Garcia in 2008. As for the first round leader, American Roberto Castro, he went from -9 to -3 and 1st to 30th after shooting a 78 on Friday.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are once again out with one of their star players, however this time his name is not Sidney Crosby.
On the weekend the Penguins put Evgeni Malkin on the injury reserve with a concussion. Malkin had scored four goals and 17 assists in 18 games. Obviously his numbers were off from his Hart Trophy and Art Ross Trophy numbers from last season, but Malkin is still an elite player in the NHL when he wants to be.
Malkin joins a long list of notable players currently out with a head trauma injury. The list includes Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins, Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes, Rene Bourque of the Montreal Canadiens, Ryan Carter of the New Jersey Devils, Darroll Powe of the New York Rangers, Guillaume Latendresse of the Ottawa Senators, Chris Pronger of the Philadelphia Flyers and Vladimir Tarasenko of the Saint Louis Blues.
Awareness of concussions is greater today than ever before, however players are still experiencing them as an injury. It will be interesting to see if the NHL will make a statement or consider greater disciplinary measures against enforcers if the numbers continue to grow.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame, we look at the drama leading up to the first overall pick 2012 NHL Entry Draft and a couple of big trades that happened on draft day. As well: a look ahead to game one of the CFL season, the latest on the NFL’s bounty program, some Euro 2012 controversy and a look at some boxing news.
In the GABBYs: The Miami Heat, Evgeni Malkin, R.A. Dickey, David Nalbandian, Nicklas Bendtner & Joel Peralta. The Punchline this week is LeBron James!
Well, the votes are now in, and apparently the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association have disagreed with me and have voted for Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins over Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers.
Lundqvist will not join an elite list of six goaltenders that have won the Hart Trophy, despite leading the New York Rangers to the best record in the Atlantic Division and the best regular season record in the Eastern Conference.
The voters instead decided to go with Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who led the NHL with 109 points. Besides winning the Art Ross Trophy in 2012, Malkin also won the 2012 Ted Lindsay Award, as voted on by his peers. When I heard Malkin got the Ted Lindsay Award, I knew he also won the Hart Trophy too!
The only other award I got wrong was the Selke, where I went with Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings over the eventual winner, Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins. After analyzing their statistics in greater detail, I actually agree with the Writers’ Association. Datsyuk may have had three more points than Bergeron, but Bergeron was +15 higher than Datsyuk, and won the 2012 Bud Light Plus-Minus Award for having the best plus-minus in the NHL.
With Russia’s convincing 6-2 win over Slovakia today in the Gold medal game of the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Men’s Championships in Helsinki, Finland, Evgeni Malkin moved into the record books.
According to TSN, Malkin, who had 19 points in the tournament, became only the second player in hockey history to lead the National Hockey League in points and the World Hockey Championships in points in the same season.
The first? Well folks, the answer to that trivia question is the greatest athlete to have ever played any sport, Wayne Gretzky.
Gretzky accomplished the feat in 1982, when he had an amazing 92 goals in a season (still an NHL record) and became the first player in NHL history to record 200 points in a season (212). At the 1982 World Hockey Championships in Helsinki, Canada finished with a Bronze medal. The Great One led the tournament in scoring with 14 points (six goals and eight assists) in ten games.
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.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks made a statement on Wednesday night. Don’t count them out yet.
Jordan Staal scored a hat trick as the Penguins scored eight unanswered goals en route to a 10-3 dismantling of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins still trail in the series however 3-1 in the offensive minded series that is becoming more intriguing by the moment. Even more impressive was that the Penguins scored ten times without their top six forward James Neal in the lineup, who was suspended for game four following his antics in game three. Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Steve Sullivan also collected three points each.
Unlike the first three games in the series, the Flyers were the more undisciplined team in this one. In the second period, the Flyers took nine of a possible ten penalties.
This week on the show we start out with the topic that’s on everyone’s mind – the feud between the Pittsburgh Penguins & the Philadelphia Flyers (and to a lesser extent, the Pens & the Rangers). We also look at a couple of fines handed down to coaches this week (including Edmonton’s Tom Renney) and we run down the upcoming match-ups in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
In the GABBYs: Mike Smith, Ray Whitney, Joey Votto, Alistair Overeem, the Orlando Magic & fans of the University of Kentucky. The Punchline this week is the Baltimore Orioles!
This week on 15MOF: Sidney Crosby makes his long awaited return to action, Taylor Hall gets belted against the Flames and a couple of Oilers should be up for trophies this off season. As well: a handful of early “March Madness” upsets!
In the GABBYs: Teemu Selanne, Steven Stamkos, Ilya Bryzgalov, soccer fights, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees and Adriano. The Punchline this week is the Orlando Predators!
It will be an historic playoffs at the Tim Horton’s Brier in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan starting today. For the first time ever, Yukon/Northwest Territories will be part of the final four. There is another unique storyline here because the 3/4 game will be a battle of brothers. Jamie Koe of Yukon/Northwest Territories will take on his brother, the formidable Kevin Koe of Calgary, the 2010 World Champion. The game can be seen at 12:30pm on TSN.
The winner of the 3-4 game will play Manitoba’s Rob Fowler this evening at 6pm (TSN) in the semi-final with the winner of the semi-final playing Ontario’s Glenn Howard in tomorrow night’s final also at 6pm (TSN). Howard gave Fowler a 9-3 spanking last night in the 1-2 game, a game completely dominated by the veteran skip from Midland.
Another week has come and gone in the National Hockey League, which means it’s time for another look at the top goals from around the rinks!
This time on the GOTW, Lightning strikes against the Ducks, a captain comes up big in overtime, a grizzled veteran shows off some silky hands, a Senator undresses a Capital and a Penguin undresses an entire team!
Let’s go!
5. Teddy Purcell
This beauty goal from the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Teddy Purcell (starts at the 1:30 mark) begins with a nifty toe drag and ends with a backhander to the top shelf – what a beauty!
(Check out the REST OF THE BEST after the jump!) (more…)
Another week has come and gone in the National Hockey League, which means it’s time for another look at the top goals from around the rinks!
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