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Stanley Cup, Free Agency and KHL

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Though they dominated puck possession and scoring opportunities Tuesday night, the Detroit Red Wings were unable to deliver the three-game-up knockout punch to Sidney Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens will have a chance to even up the series tonight in Pittsburgh and, once again, expect Evgeni Malkin to be the deciding factor. The Wings have had last year’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Henrik Zetterberg, shadow Crosby during the series, and the attention Sid’s garnered should leave Malkin with enough breathing room to do something spectacular, as we have grown to expect of him. Detroit’s game strategy will be to stay out of the sin bin, where they were burned twice last game for powerplay markers by the talented Pens.

As for the playoff pool, things have really tightened up. At the top of the five-man battle, schrader45 and gvn2fly are engaged in a Pens vs Wings battle to decide our winner. Imagine the excitement of a potential game seven to decide the $341 difference between first and second place! Go Pens/Kunitz…

With NHL free agency less than a month away, rumors are running rampant over “who’s-seeking-who”. Apparently the Philadelphia Flyers were unsatisfied with the play of their goaltending tandem this year, Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki, and have been in contact with Ray Emery. Remember him? The former Ottawa Senator played in the Russian KHL this past season, where he had a very solid season leading his team to a third place finish, while posting some impressive stats. Fellow KHLer Jaromir Jagr has been rumored to be interested in making a return to the NHL, but insists that he will finish out his current contract in Omsk, and that at earliest, he will return to NHL action in 2010. Jagr has always enjoyed the limelight playing in North America, and barring a serious injury, I think we can expect to see Jaromir back on NHL ice surfaces in two years.

Game 7 – Crosby or Ovechkin?

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I’m having trouble recalling an NHL game in the last decade that I’ve been this jacked up for. It could be the fact that several of hockey’s greatest stars will face-off in an elimination playoff game. It could also be that a Penguins’ loss eliminates my chances at the $682 top prize for our playoff pool. Money aside, the “Crosvechkin” series has more than lived up to the hype, with each of these two demonstrating their elite skill and unmatched passion for the game night in, and night out. On the injury front, Penguins’ star blueliner Sergei Gonchar appears ready to return to action tonight and could give his squad a boost in what is likely to be an incredibly loud Verizon Center. Interesting fact regarding tonight’s matchup: this will be Sidney Crosby‘s first ever game seven in the NHL. How will he respond?

So who would have thought the youthful Chicago Blackhawks would be the first team through to the conference finals? Apparently eazoulay, jkourie, schrader45, and dw_crowley did, and as a result, they occupy the top four spots in our current pool standings. Curse those of you who took Martin Havlat! But tonight and tomorrow nights’ game seven matchups will jumble the pool standings – 4 of our top 13 have the Bruins winning the Cup, while another 4 have the Red Wings.

So who will our round 2 game seven heroes be? Ovechkin or Crosby? Staal or Chara? Getzlaf or Franzen?

Round 2… Fight!

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It was nearly picture perfect: the New Jersey Devils have a 4-3 lead heading into the final one hundred seconds of play last night, much to the delight of their screaming, finger-crossing hometown fans. They are about to knock off March and April’s hottest team, the Carolina Hurricanes even if it did take them 7 games. And then the unthinkable: Jussi Jokinen fires a cross-ice feed past Martin Brodeur to tie things up with 1:20 to go. At this point, overtime seems like a likely scenario, and the grumbling East Rutherford fans shift around in their seats, pondering another trip back to the snack bar. But with just over 30 seconds left, Eric Staal has other plans. Streaking down the right wing, Staal slings a laser wrist shot under the outstretched blocker of Brodeur, sealing the fate of the shell-shocked Devils and their fans.

What a jaw-drop-inducing ending to the first round! Let’s take a gander at our pool standings. eazoulay has a 3 point edge on jkourie at the end of round one, thanks largely to bonus points accumulated by picking the correct number of games for the ‘Canes and Pens’ victories. The 5 point loss that may have felt like a minor sting for the majority of you that took the Sharks in the first round, will probably worsen as the playoffs wear on, as 82% have the Sharks winning round 2, and the notorious choker, Joe Thornton, was picked by 51% of contestants. And finally, let’s give some props to the only person who picked all 8 series’ winners correctly – me! Now if only if only my crystal ball could tell me the correct number of games every once and a while… Enjoy a potentially lengthy round two hockey fans!

(1) Boston Bruins vs. (6) Carolina Hurricanes [Season Series: 4-0 Bruins]
The Bruins, on significant rest after sweeping the Habs will resume play against the comeback kid ‘Canes. Will Eric Staal and company once again find a way to get to one of the game’s best goaltenders?

(2) Washington Capitals vs. (4) Pittsburgh Penguins [Season Series: 3-1 Capitals]
We’ll see how this Simeon Varlamov character handles legitimate offensive threats courtesy of the Pittsburgh Penguins, as opposed to facing Sean Avery and Nik Antropov, who, by comparison, I would consider minor inconveniences. In Gary Bettman’s dream matchup of marketable young superstars, who’s star will shine brightest?

(2) Detroit Red Wings vs. (8) Anaheim Ducks [Season Series: 3-1 Red Wings]
The 2008-09 Anaheim Ducks have the most difficult road to the Cup that I can recall. After having ousted the regular season leading San Jose Sharks in 6 games, they now get to play the defending champs. The Detroit Red Wings showed the Blue Jackets that they have every intention of repeating. But is there a better line out there than Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Bobby Ryan?

(3) Vancouver Canucks vs. (4) Chicago Blackhawks [Season Series: 2-2 tie]
When the Blackhawks head to Vancouver for tomorrow night’s first second round game, they will face a Canucks’ squad who hasn’t played a game in nine days. Will the Canucks come out flat, relying on Roberto Luongo to try to steal game one?