The fact that two American goalies recorded shutouts on Thursday should start raising some eyebrows.
Jimmy Howard was brilliant in the Red Wings’ 2-0 win over Chicago as he made 28 saves last night and Jonathan Quick was equally great for the Kings in making 24 saves in their 3-0 win over the San Jose Sharks. Detroit currently leads Chicago 3-1 and Los Angeles leads San Jose 3-2 in the Western Conference semi-finals.
The fact that American goaltenders are performing well when it matters most is continuing a recent trend. It is a trend that shows American goalies are doing better than Canadian netminders.
The Detroit Red Wings have taken the lead on the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Monday evening at Joe Louis Arena, Jimmy Howard made 39 saves as Detroit beat Chicago 3-1 to take a 2-1 series lead in the Western Conference semi-final.
The story of the series right now is the lack of energy and mojo throughout the Blackhawks lineup the last two games. The Red Wings are having a significant amount of more positive energy and flow throughout their entire lineup.
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.
It appears the gigantic road trip the Edmonton Oilers are currently on is taking its toll.
On Thursday night in Michigan, Jimmy Howard made 22 saves as Detroit beat Edmonton 3-0.
With the loss, the Oilers are now five points back of the St. Louis Blues for a playoff spot and are seeing their chances of qualifying for their first postseason since 2006 dwindle.
It is not just that Edmonton is five points back of St. Louis that is the problem. They have to catch and pass the Phoenix Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators as well.
I am going to be brutally honest. The first round of the NHL Playoffs could actually be quite bland. In the eight playoff matchups, I see no clear upsets.
The New Jersey Devils and Chicago Blackhawks are each seeded sixth, but are the clear favourites over the Southeast Division Champion Florida Panthers and the Pacific Division Champion Phoenix Coyotes. Don’t be fooled by the seedings. The Devils and eight more points than the Panthers and the Blackhawks had four more points than the Coyotes.
The other road team I like is Detroit. The Red Wings might be old, but still have a strong nucleus of forwards and defencemen. Jimmy Howard had an outstanding season and Detroit would have been a higher seed if he would have stayed healthy.
The best series could be each 2/7 matchups. The Sharks squeaked into the postseason, but have more playoff experience than the Blues over the last five years. The Capitals meanwhile now have a healthy Nicklas Backstrom back and looked very good in his last game of the regular season. Still, the Sharks and Capitals don’t have the defence like the Blues and Bruins do and will lose in 7 games.
I also like the Canucks and Penguins in six, and Rangers in five.
Super Bowl XLVI takes place tomorrow from Indianapolis, as the New York Giants play the New England Patriots in a rematch of the Super Bowl from 2007 when the Giants beat the Patriots 17-14 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Currently the Patriots are a 2.5 point favourite.
With all the talk that the Giants have the better defense than the Patriots, I simply don’t buy it. The Patriots allowed 58 fewer points than the Giants this season.
Offensively, there has been some concern regarding who Tom Brady will be able to throw to at the tight end position with Rob Gronkowski hurt. People must remember that Aaron Hernandez is the best backup tight end in the NFL.
I’m picking the Patriots to win their fourth Super Bowl 34-16. For more information on Super Bowl XLVI please go to my blog earlier in the week.
On this holiday edition of 15MOF, we take a look at HBO’s 24/7 series featuring the Rangers & Flyers, hidden concussions, the status of the Edmonton Oilers, the struggle of NHL goalies and language controversy in Montreal. As well, we take a look at the early stages of the World Junior Hockey Championships!
In the GABBYs: Logan Morrison, the Indianapolis Colts, Luke Babbitt, Kim Jong Il, the NY Knicks & the Vancouver riots. The Punchline this week is San Jose Sharks forward Marty Havlat!
In two abysmal performances, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers both went down to defeat on Friday evening.
The Oilers played a very lackluster performance and precisely like a team that had just played the second of back-to-back games, in losing 3-0 to the Detroit Red Wings. Jimmy Howard made 24 saves but was never fully tested at the Joe Louis Arena. This was the first time this season the Oilers had been shutout.
The Oilers close out their six game road trip Sunday night in Chicago and will need a win to finish the road trip at the .500 mark. Edmonton is currently at 9-5-2 and lead the Minnesota Wild by a point in the Northwest.
Meanwhile, talking about the Blackhawks, Chicago had equally an impressive game this evening in their 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames.
Patrick Sharp had three assists in the Blackhawks’ convincing victory. Other Blackhawks with multipoint games were Daniel Carcillo and Marian Hossa with two assists each. You know you’ve had a bad night when Carcillo has his first multi-point game since March 2, 2010.
Calgary now is 6-8-1, and in last place in the Northwest.
The Detroit Red Wings and the San Jose Sharks will go to a seventh game in the Western Conference Semi-Final Thursday at the HP Pavilion.
Tuesday night at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, the Detroit Red Wings defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-1.
On Thursday, the Red Wings will try to become only the fourth team in NHL history to come all the way back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series, and join the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders and 2010 Philadelphia Flyers in making hockey history.
After the first round where I was red hot at 7-1, let’s see how things transpire in the Conference Semi-Finals.
WEST
(1) Vancouver Canucks vs. (5) Nashville Predators–The Vancouver Canucks are coming off an emotionally draining series where they knocked off their top nemesis, the Chicago Blackhawks. Will they have enough in the tank? I’m saying yes. But only if the Sedins show up. Daniel and Henrik Sedin were basically absent in the final four games in the Western Conference Quarterfinal, and will need a much better showing in round two. The issue with Nashville is they have an outstanding defense corps led by Shea Weber and Ryan Suter, but do they have a forward that can play the shut down defensive role like Dave Bolland did so effectively with the Blackhawks? I don’t think so, therefore Vancouver has the edge. On offense, the Canucks are also at an advantage. Don’t forget Nashville’s top scorer was Sergei Kostitsyn with 50 points. That’s right, the same Sergei Kostitsyn who lost his way, and could not get out of his brother’s shadow in Montreal. The Canucks take this one in five.
Well folks, the NHL postseason is finally here: sixteen teams looking for sixteen wins and an opportunity to sip out of Lord Stanley’s famed mug.
The first round of the playoffs begins on Wednesday night and features some burning rivalries, new and old, and some others that are slowing inching toward “rivalry” status. Whatever the case, it won’t be long now until we see the captain of one of the sixteen remaining teams lifting the Stanley Cup proudly over his head…but who will it be?
Here’s a look, through my eyes, at the Western Conference pairings! (more…)
It was an interesting night between the pipes on Wednesday in the NHL as one guy stayed perfect (with a little help), a cold call resulted in a clean sheet and the Blues went totally Chinua Achebe on the Wings!
What’s that saying – you have to be good to be lucky? Ray Emery must be pretty good then, because he got quite lucky in Calgary on Wednesday in the second period of an eventual 4-2 win for his Ducks over the Flames. The home side appeared to tie the game up during a goalmouth scramble in the Anaheim end, but the video replay was inconclusive and so the goal wasn’t given. The replay seemed to show the puck over the line, and common sense would lead you to believe that it was a good goal, but it was impossible to tell for sure if it was in…(After the jump: Enroth blanks Rangers and Blues light up MacDonald & McCollum!) (more…)
Well folks, the NHL postseason is finally here: sixteen teams looking for sixteen wins and an opportunity to sip out of Lord Stanley’s famed mug.
Loading ...
