It’s amazing. The Los Angeles Kings have all of a sudden become Alberta’s team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Almost hated by Edmonton Oiler fans 20 years ago because they acquired their superstar Wayne Gretzky, the Kings are having a strong following at the present time in Alberta by Oilers and Flames fans that just don’t want to see the Vancouver Canucks go far.
Sunday night at Rogers Arena, the President’s Trophy winning Canucks will try to prevent elimination as they will take on a Los Angeles Kings team up 3-1 in the Western Conference Quarterfinals. Game five can be seen Sunday night at 6pm on CBC.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching:
Saturday & Sunday–NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game 5 & 6–Washington Capitals vs. Boston Bruins–NBC–1pm–With the series tied 2-2, the Capitals and Bruins will now play an abbreviated best-of-three to determine who goes on to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. Playing back-to-back games is difficult in the regular season, and I can’t imagine what it is like come playoff time where the mental intensity can be emotionally draining. Brian Rolston, who was acquired at the trade deadline from the New York Islanders, leads the Bruins in playoff scoring along with three points in four games.
Things are heating up around the NHL as the trade deadline approaches, but don’t worry folks – I’ve got a No Movement Clause!
This week on the GOTW, we’ve got a beautiful shorthanded goal from one of the Staal brothers, a monumental goal from a long-time Duck, a strangely awesome overtime winner, a last-second GWG and a wicked breakaway goal from one of the league’s rising stars.
Let’s go!
5. Eric Staal
Carolina Hurricanes captain Eric Staal made the Habs look foolish last week with this shorthanded goal around Tomas Kaberle. He drives right around him, cuts to the net and then jams a slow-roller past Carey Price.
The All-Star break didn’t leave us with many games around the NHL last week, but there was no shortage of highlight reel action before the players parted ways for a few days!
Since it would be a shame to put a goal from the no-defence All-Star game, as nice as it may have been, ahead of a beauty goal that happened with real points on the line, this edition of the GOTW won’t feature anything from this weekend. Here’s what I’ve got for you though: a penalty shot snipe, an incredible fake on a great goalie, a couple of unreal backhanders and a solid individual effort!
Let’s go!
5. Trevor Lewis
I’m not normally a fan of putting penalty shot goals on the list, but this dangle from LA’s Trevor Lewis is definitely worth another look. Sens fans might argue it shouldn’t count, because it shouldn’t have been a penalty shot, but there’s no doubt that Lewis made Craig Anderson look a bit silly with a couple of sweet fakes.
What a week it was in the NHL last week – there was the outdoor game, there were some big time blowouts and some tight match ups, all of which produced a lot of high quality tape for me to go through!
It took some time, but I managed to narrow it down to five beauty goals from the week that was in the league – this time around we’ve got a sick behind the back pass, a super-efficient power play, a solid breakaway on a legendary netminder, an unreal shorty and some dangles you’ll have to see twice to believe!
Let’s go!
5. Patrick Marleau
Sharks forward Patrick Marleau is the one who bats this puck in, but it’s all about the slick no-look pass by Joe Thornton in front of the Capitals net. Beauty!
Another week has come and gone in the NHL, and half of another week has also come and gone, but I’ve finally got the Goals of the Week for you, from the week of November 21st.
It was quite the week in the league – a triumphant return for a young star, another couple of stars in the making continued to rack up the highlight reel goals, and a couple of veterans showed off their dangles as well. This week in the What the Puck section, you’ll see the many sides of Cal Clutterbuck’s game!
5. Jason Spezza
Jason Spezza is off to a hot start this season, and that was really showcased on Sunday when he took a pass up the middle of the ice, skated through three Hurricanes players and beat Cam Ward with a nice move. (See the GOTW after the jump!) (more…)
The Winnipeg Jets have won their first game in the National Hockey League in 15 years.
Ondrej Pavelec made 28 saves on 29 shots and Alexander Burmistrov recorded a team high two assists as the Jets defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1. They now improve to 1-3 on the season.
The Jets got off to a great start in this one. Kyle Wellwood scored for the Jets only eight seconds into the hockey game on Penguins’ goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
Tanner Glass would add another goal for the Jets with only 1:33 left in the first period.
With the victory, Jets’ head coach Claude Noel recorded his first career win as a head coach in the National Hockey League, and General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff had his first career win as well.
The Penguins were without the services of right winger Tyler Kennedy, who like his Penguins’ teammate Sidney Crosby is out with a concussion. Kennedy suffered the injury in Pittsburgh’s 3-2 loss to Buffalo Saturday night. Crosby meanwhile has been cleared to practice with the Penguins and is able to take light contact.
The tension in Vancouver right now must be astronomical. Sunday night, the Vancouver Canucks will try to avoid becoming only the fourth team in NHL history to blow a 3-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs as they travel to Chicago to take on their arch-nemesis, the Chicago Blackhawks (Game Six, Sunday, 5:30pm, CBC). They have two chances to prevent history, but the tension should be significantly more if they have to go back to Vancouver for game seven.
If Chicago wasn’t in Vancouver’s head to begin the series, they certainly are now. That’s what happens when one team beats another by a combined score of 12-2 in 120 minutes of hockey action.
Roberto Luongo needs to simply be better as well. He had a save percentage of .786 in Game four and a save percentage of .667 in Game five. That’s what happens when you give up ten goals on forty shots. But, according to TSN, Canucks’ head coach Alain Vigneault hasn’t given up on Luongo just yet. He’s giving Luongo the Game six start.
But Luongo has not been the only Canuck off his game. The Sedin twins have been a combined -9 over the last two games.
The Super Bowl of Curling takes place Sunday from London, Ontario. Luckily, for all sports fans, probably the four best teams in the country are left in the field.
The entire nation of Canada is also represented. Kevin Martin’s Alberta rink represents the West. Jeff Stoughton’s Manitoba rink represent Central Canada. Glenn Howard’s Ontario rink represents Eastern Canada, and Brad Gushue’s Newfoundland rink represents Atlantic Canada.
But have you ever seen a number one seed more of an underdog to win the Brier than Gushue is this year? Martin, Howard and Stoughton simply have stronger and consistent teams throughout their lineup.
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…)
It’s amazing. The Los Angeles Kings have all of a sudden become Alberta’s team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Almost hated by Edmonton Oiler fans 20 years ago because they acquired their superstar Wayne Gretzky, the Kings are having a strong following at the present time in Alberta by Oilers and Flames fans that just don’t want to see the Vancouver Canucks go far.
Things are heating up around the NHL as the trade deadline approaches, but don’t worry folks – I’ve got a No Movement Clause!
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