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<p>His vicious stickwork last night will be remembered for far longer than any skilled play. Unfortunately, he can’t seem to control himself and one of these days, he’s going to injure someone seriously.</p>
<p>Did anyone catch Lucic’s cheap stick between the legs of DeKeyser? You just don’t do that. I’m someone who’s all in favor of the fights and general “violence” in the league, but the cheap shots need to go.
It wasn’t penalized but it is reviewable by the league. We’ll see how that goes. </p>
<p>That was exactly what I was talking about, romani.</p>
<p>Tough loss for the Wild in Colorado. They led 4-2 early in the third.
Crazy how Erik Johnson saved the Avalanche’s bacon by sprinting to the other end of the ice to make an amazing save on a would-be empty-net goal with a minute and a half left. Paul Stastny scores with 13 seconds left to tie the game and then scores again in overtime for the win it – after the Avalanche pulled the goalie with three minutes left.</p>
<p>I watch the Bruins’ games with the Bruins’ commentators. Unlike most cities, there is a tradition in Boston of calling games with not much of a pretense of objectivity. Johnny Most sort of set the mold; there never was a Celtic who committed a foul and everyone they played was a brute who belongs in prison. The hockey play-by-play guy, Jack Edwards, is terrific - knows the game, great style, great voice - but his typical call would translate as, “A guy comes near Bergeron with a stick in his hands … and there’s no call” while cheap shots by Marchand aren’t even described. On the 1st period penalty against Chara, the color guy Andy Brickley notes the Wing player had his back turned for 3 or 4 seconds and then Chara - “who clearly intended only to give him a shove” - hits him and “the refs decided that was enough in the back”. Huh? Zdeno shoved him into the boards from behind with both hands and it was a photo illustration of one kind of boarding. Most announcers in most cities would acknowledge that but not here. </p>
<p>And they build up the stupidity of the fans over time. Against Montreal, they find every excuse to portray the Canadiens as dirty cheaters. Last game, I saw a Bruin go in low on PK Subban against the boards, which was dangerous, so Subban hit him in the head. If Lucic did that, it would be great play but it became the focus of a huge discussion about how Subban is such a dirty player. (Subban does dive but that was a dirty hit against him.)</p>
<p>Last night, I saw Marchand in one of his typical dirty plays hit a Wing who was already being checked - hit him high near the face too - and it was described on TV as “Marchand finishes the check”. No, it was a dirty play, the kind of thing that would have caused a fight in the old NHL (or against a team like the Ducks).</p>
<p>It’s one of the strange, small town bits of nonsense that attaches to sports here. Along with the parochial arguments that x is the best, which bespeaks Boston’s need to proclaim itself the best and which mostly demonstrates ignorance of performances by athletes and teams outside of Boston, with the exception of the Yankees and Jets. As in Tim Thomas had “the greatest run ever by a goalie”, which is nonsense if you’ve ever watched any other team or know anything about the history of other teams in the NHL. But if you’re in Boston, the Cup occurred in 1972 and 1974 and then it magically disappeared with the exception of a Gretzky or Lemieux sighting until now. </p>
<p>Whoops, sorry, always. </p>
<p>Looks like he got a 5k fine. Pennies to him but better than nothing. </p>
<p>Ugh! I don’t think the Hawks will go too far based on these 2 games, 2nd on not over as I type. Between these and all my European soccer teams entering their final stages, my nerves are about shot.</p>
<p>BS definitely deserves a suspension for that hit.</p>
<p>That was an ugly hit to the head on Backes. Suspension on the way.</p>
<p>The Hawks seem off their game for some reason. All that dirty stuff isn’t what they need to be doing, clearly. Taking too many stupid penalties, and there could have been even more today. Keith, in particular, could have been called for slashing about a dozen times. His slash on Oshie was vicious.</p>
<p>Yeek, I just saw the hit. Just a dumb thing to do more than anything: don’t go after the head. EVER! You’re going to get called and you’re going to get a suspension. </p>
<p>I don’t recognize Seabrook’s name. Is he normally a dirty player? Not that I’m complaining, but I agree that the Hawks just look “off”. Are they missing anyone key? </p>
<p>Columbus’ first playoff win! Woo! </p>
<p>As much as I cheer for the Pens, it is exciting to see a franchise win its first playoff game. Neither team played particularly well tonight, and both took too many penalties (not too often that you see three penalties called in an OT period), but it was a pretty exciting game.</p>
<p>Go Jackets! </p>
<p>CF- Do you know why Jared Boll hasn’t been playing?
I’m embarrassed by how behind I am on my hockey, but Boll has always been one of my favorites (since his Whaler days… he was always great to the staff and kept us laughing). I noticed he didn’t play tonight and he’s not on IR. </p>
<p>Romani, I believe I heard the announcer say that he was a healthy scratch.</p>
<p>Four games today! You can spend Easter watching hockey from noon until past midnight. :)</p>
<p>I watched some of the Avs game last night. Fun to see Nathan MacKinnon play with such skill. </p>
<p>MacKinnon is fun to watch, both for his talent and for his joy of the game. What a great career he has ahead of him.</p>
<p>The Flyers are off to their usual nonsense of taking stupid penalties, and are thus down 2-0, less than ten minutes into the game. </p>
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<p>Maybe McClellan should have made a plan for the Sharks having a five goal lead. ;)</p>
<p>Wow, 13 goals in two games? What has happened with Quick?</p>
<p>Montreal is looking strong and Price is playing well. Tampa Bay had a couple of bad breaks in the game but, for the most part, they were outplayed. </p>
<p>Have you watched the games, alwaysamom? I don’t think it’s Quick. The Sharks had many odd-man rushes last night. Pavelski scored on a 3-on-0. A three on none; you don’t see that often in the playoffs.</p>
<p>If a team is allowing 3-on-0 goals, it’s not on the goalie. Even in the first period, where the Sharks went down 0-2, they still had three or four odd-man rushes that Quick stopped. He can’t do everything.</p>