For the fifth consecutive time in their Western Conference Quarterfinal series, the Phoenix Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks went into overtime.
On Saturday night, it was Jonathan Toews’s turn to deliver overtime magic. When Toews scored at 2:44 of the opening overtime period, he kept the Blackhawks alive. Chicago currently trails Phoenix 3-2 in the Western Conference Quarterfinal with game six slated for Monday.
In other playoff action, the Saint Louis Blues became the second team to advance to round two. The Blues scored three times in the final ten minutes to beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1 to win the series 4-1.
In the East, there were a pair of shutouts. Jose Theodore made 30 saves as the New Jersey Devils beat the Florida Panthers 3-0 and Craig Anderson made 41 saves as the Ottawa Senators beat the New York Rangers 2-0. Both the Senators and Panthers are up 3-2 in their respective series.
Meanwhile, the Washington Capitals took a 3-2 series lead on the Boston Bruins with an overtime winner by Troy Brouwer.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame we’re discussing Marty Turco’s return to the NHL, the end of the line for Sean Avery, the latest on Sidney Crosby and a couple of interesting concussion notes from around the league. As well: Peyton Manning is no longer a Colt, so where will he end up?
In the GABBYs: Leo Messi, Hiroshi Hoketsu, David Beckham, Nicklas Grossmann, Fernando Torres and Jose Canseco. The Punchline this week is David Price and David Robertson!
It might be too early to call a particular game a must win. But on Saturday night at the Shark Tank in San Jose, it could just be a must win for the struggling Edmonton Oilers (CBC, 8pm).
After a hot October where the Oilers at one time led the Western Conference, it has been a tough grind. Since November 5, the Oilers have been 6-13, and have fallen from first to twelfth.
Luckily though, there is still 51 games left for the Oilers to turn things around, but there could be no more important game to their 2011-12 schedule than tonight. The Oilers currently find themselves four points back of the San Jose Sharks and Phoenix Coyotes for a playoff spot in the West. So at the end of the night, they could be as close to two points back, or possibly as far as six points out.
Even though the Oilers lost 4-2 to Phoenix Thursday, a very positive sign was the play of Taylor Hall, who scored both Oiler goals. It was his first game back after missing three weeks with a shoulder injury.
As we near the end of the second month of the NHL season, we’re starting to separate the men from the boys and the pretenders from the real deals out there…but regardless of that, the beauty goals keep rolling in!
This week on the GOTW, we’ve got the answer to Tampa’s defensive tactics, another alley-oop, the old “dangle & snipe,” and two of the nicest goals you’ll see all season long! Oh, and the most embarrassing thing since…well I won’t spoil it!
Let’s go!
5. Patrik Elias
Remember when the Tampa Bay Lightning were getting raked over the coals for playing the 1-3-1 system against the Philadelphia Flyers? Check out Patrik Elias’ method of getting through the clogged ice on this NJ Devils power play! Pause the video at the 35-second mark: it’s a 2-on-4, and he still scores! (VIDEOS after the jump!) (more…)
The Vancouver Canucks have avoided a collapse of colossal proportions.
The entire province of British Columbia can take a deep breath.
Alexandre Burrows scored twice Tuesday night as the Canucks defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 in overtime in one of the most dramatic games in National Hockey League history.
The Canucks defeat the Blackhawks four games to three in the Western Conference Quarterfinal.
It is remarkable that Chicago made a gigantic comeback in the series. They were once down three games to none, but fought all the way back.
In evaluating the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the most competitive series may just be the series with the one versus eight seeds involved.
The Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers have immense talent for a number eight seed and will push the Vancouver Canucks and Washington Capitals deep into the series.
The Blackhawks don’t forget are the defending Stanley Cup Champions and have eliminated Vancouver from the playoffs the last two years. They will be led by Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa and Patrick Kane.
It’s been quite an exciting few days for Patrick Kane.
Last Friday, he received a compliment from the President of the United States and on Monday he became the third youngest Chicago Blackhawk to score 100 career goals in a rout of the SJ Sharks at the United Center!
Let’s start with that trip to the White House: As the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Hawks were invited to meet the president on Friday in Washington. Barack Obama, a Chicago native, seemed pretty happy to have some Illinois flavor in DC and cracked some jokes about how it usually takes teams from Chicago a while to win a title (think: Chicago Cubs and their 104-year drought). The best part was yet to come though… (more…)
I’m in the process of sleeping considerably during the day because there is outstanding tennis at night. The Australian Open and the National Football League’s Conference Championships will dominate my television viewing this weekend.
Here is what I’ll be watching:
Saturday–1am–Australian Open–(5) Samantha Stosur-Australia vs. (25) Petra Kvitova-Czech Republic–Women’s 3rd Round–TSN2–Stosur, the finalist of the 2010 French Open, is the last remaining Australian on the women’s side. Even though Stosur isn’t very big in stature, (5’9″, 140 pounds), she has very muscular legs and is very fit on the court. Her opponent Saturday is rising Czech star Petra Kvitova, who has defeated Caroline Wozniacki and Nadia Petrova in the past year.
Saturday–5pm–NHL–Anaheim Ducks @ Montreal Canadiens–CBC-In a battle of two teams currently in playoff position, the Canadiens (26-17-4) host the Ducks (26-20-4). Anaheim is currently sixth in the west and Montreal is seventh in the east. The Canadiens though are battling the Boston Bruins for first place in the Northeast Division. They’re currently only three points back. The Ducks’ best player this year has been Corey Perry, who has 50 points in 50 games. The Habs, meanwhile, continue to get sparkling goaltending from Carey Price, who has a 2.34 goals against average with four shutouts, and oh, yeah, he’ll be playing in the NHL All-Star Game in Carolina next weekend.
Remember the time the Tampa Bay Lightning are tied for top spot in the Eastern Conference?
That time would be now, thanks to a 1-0 overtime win over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night, a 34-save shutout for newly acquired goalie Dwayne Roloson. The Lightning picked up Roli the Goalie on the weekend for practically nothing from the New York Islanders, sending him from the bottom of the standings to near the top.
I’ve always liked the way the unassuming Roloson carries himself – when he was with the Oilers, the thing that always stuck out for me was his insistence that he still had years of hockey ahead of him despite his age, since he had shared starting duties for a big chunk of his career. Some people didn’t believe him, but here he is at 41 looking like a young buck. (After the jump: All-Star voting, Ovechkin’s new commercial, Kovalchuk’s brutal night and a WJHC final preview!)(more…)
This weekend we’ll find out the answer to major question on many Canadian sports’ fans minds.
Who will play in the 98th Grey Cup next Sunday in Edmonton?
The Montreal Alouettes and the Toronto Argonauts will battle in the Eastern Final at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium (Sunday, 11am, TSN), and the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders will duel at McMahon Stadium in Calgary for the Western Final (Sunday, 2:30pm. TSN).
In the East, the Alouettes are disappointed they only had three players selected to the CFL All-Star Team– guard Scott Flory, linebacker Chip Cox and defensive end John Bowman.
It will be interesting to see how Montreal rebounds after losing 30-4 to Toronto in the final week of the regular season. I know Anthony Calvillo, Ben Cahoon, Kerry Watkins, S.J. Green, Jamel Richardson and Avon Cobourne were not in the lineup, but it will be interesting to see how the Alouettes respond after their major offensive core haven’t played since October 29.
As we near the end of the second month of the NHL season, we’re starting to separate the men from the boys and the pretenders from the real deals out there…but regardless of that, the beauty goals keep rolling in!
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