2009-10 NHL playoff thread

Note to the Canadian Press: I realize you all but ignore the OHL other than to circulate briefs sent to you by member newspapers, but that's no excuse for not having your facts straight when you do decide to cover the league:

Zac Rinaldo and Stefan Della Rovere replied for the Colts, who are on the verge of being swept out of their first appearance in the OHL championship.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/spitfires-eye-ohl-final-sweep/article1554372/

The Colts won the championship in 2000 and were finalists again in 2002.

 

That's pretty weak.

Last year for the Allan Cup, they had Bentley -- who won the tournament -- being out of B.C. Bentley is about 15 minutes or so north of Red Deer. Definitely not B.C.

My gripe list with CP is about a mile long, this kind of stuff is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

I don't think Halak "stole" that game at all. Maybe a handful of decent saves. Most of the shots came from above the circles and few created rebounds. There wasn't much traffic. The Habs' rope-a-dope defense is very effective. I think Halak can be exposed because of how deep in the net he plays, but when all the shots are long and unscreened, life is much easier.

Much like they have all season, the Penguins showed no sense of urgency and no killer instinct. This whole "flip the switch" come playoff time bullcrap is just that. Bullcrap. It's a good team but not a great one. Unless, among other things, Malkin wakes up from whatever daze he's been in all season, the Pens will be lucky to even survive the East, let alone compete with whoever wins the West.

 

Joe Pavelski's driving that bus and has managed to take the pressure off Useless Joe and his sidekicks.

And you can buy "The Big Pavelski" t-shirts online

 

Nice to see PK Subban contribute to the Habs cause. Played 23 minutes game two and gives the team some needed jam.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/nhl/article/803524--cammalleri-halak-power-habs-past-penguins

“I just try to be confident. I haven’t played in the NHL all year so I just try to do everything with confidence. Hopefully it helps the team. Right now it’s not about me being cocky out there or walking with a swagger. It’s about the team,” he said.

“In these moments, you can either do two things; just freeze up or grasp the moment and play for your teammates and it wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the guys if I go out there and put my tail between my legs and not compete.”

Good thing the Leafs didn't draft him.

 

I don't like the line that the Pens lack a killer instinct because the Senators won two games, or because the Canadiens won Game 2. Just because the Pens didn't sweep either team doesn't mean they lack a killer instinct. They were down three goals halfway through Game 6 in Ottawa before they clawed, scraped and forced the game into overtime, where they won 4-3 and ended the series.

It might not be pretty, it might not be as efficient as some might like, but the Pens are 5-0 in playoff series under Bylsma. There's not much room to complain about the Pens not showing urgency or lacking a killer instinct. Heck, Crosby smashed his stick in half on the net, nearly hitting Halak -- there's no way Crosby didn't feel urgency or want to take a 2-0 lead into Montreal, not when he's showing frustration like that. Teams that don't care don't get that frustrated.

Give credit where credit is due, then hope the Pens win Game 3 and put the pressure back on the Canadiens.

 

The funniest thing is that the Barrie newspaper posted the same CP story online - it doesn't even have its own reporter covering road games - and only revised it a couple of hours ago to remove the error. Wonderful fact checking!

I pointed it out to three of their sports guys last night on FB, but the one guy who used to be the sports editor (don't know what he does now at the paper, but he's the analyst for the hockey team's TV broadcasts) was more interested in arguing about what Barrie did versus what Windsor should have done in Saturday's draft. Fanboy.

 

The Penguins did all the little things they have to do to beat the Canadiens in Game 1. They went to the net, created screens, moved the puck well, laid a ton of hits on the Habs' D.

In Game 2, that wasn't there. They didn't work as hard, didn't create traffic, were content to take long shots that didn't really challenge Halak, didn't seem to play with the urgency needed to win playoff games.

Their inconsistency, that has been prevalent all season, hasn't gone away in the playoffs.

And while Crosby certainly was frustrated and cares a lot, I wonder a little about Malkin. He is trying to do everything himself instead of letting the game come to him like he did in last season's playoffs. I"m holding out hope it's just a dryspell -- he didn't score in the last three games of the Flyers series and first two of the Caps series last year.

 

I thought they consistently crashed the net in Game 2, too. Crosby had a nice feed to Malkin, who got robbed by Halak. Crosby missed a one-timer on a 2-on-1 rush. Two or three times, Pens crashed the crease, Halak sprawled out on the ice to make saves. The first 10 minutes, all they did was crash the net. They worked the cycle, they created traffic. Offensively, I didn't see the Pens play the same game as the Caps did in Games 5, 6, and 7. I thought they did all the right things -- and Halak stopped them.

Defensively, I thought the Pens could've worked a lot more. Orpik didn't play the play or the man on the first goal, leaving Fleury out to dry. Kinda set the tone.

 

And here's a gem from the Colt's game story on their website:

"The Colts were greeted by a ruckus capacity crowd at the WFCU Centre and did a great job of taking the fans out of the game early on."

 

if the wings could win a face off, maybe they could overcome the poor officiating...nice calls on bertuzzi..he gets 2 minutes for just breathing..his "holding" penalty last night was a farce.then kronwall gets a legit penalty and its another 5 on 3...game 1 joke call on franzen he gets cut and he is the one who gets called for tripping, then the legit penalty on filpulla and they get a 5 on 3....the officiating blows..and yes there have been a few bad calls on sharks too..the goalie interferance on heatley when he was basically checked into the goalie by stuart was horrible...but come on..10 power plays to 4..that is a joke.. BUT its not the reason they are down 2-zip...try winning a face off in your own zone and someone realizing pavelski is a guy you should defend against

 

Awesome fail.

"What was that ruckus? I was just in my office, and I heard a ruckus."