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<p>These days, the Sharks reliably make the playoffs, but reliably lose in the playoffs.</p>
<p>I’ve been a Sharks fan for twenty years. You can tell me nothing I don’t know about their playoff futility. Teemu Selanne failing on the wraparound against the Avs in OT in the Western Conference Semis. Winning the Presidents Trophy, then being swept by the Ducks. Losing in the Western Conference Finals to the Flames, the Hawks, the 'Nucks. I remember them all. No need to twist the knife.</p>
<p>End of two, Habs leading the Bruins 2-0. </p>
<p>I watched bits of the Bruins-Canadiens game. I may be wrong but I thought the winning goal was screened by Chara as he was moving to avoid screening Rask. He hadn’t reached the far post when Subban shot. I watched it in slow motion and it looks like Rask could see Subban at the instant he shot but then Chara moved in front of him, almost actually blocking the shot - missed him by inches - and Rask could not have seen the puck. </p>
<p>I go through this because that’s the way hockey works: a goalie may look great because he happens to see the shots and there are no deflections that go by him and another goalie may look bad because he can’t see the shots and a deflection goes by him. There’s a lot of chance at this level of play. </p>
<p>If you want someone to screen the goalie, Chara’s your man. There’s a lot of him.</p>
<p>I hope that these late OT games are not going to be a hallmark of this round. Ugh, too late! Way to go, les Canadiens but you’ll have to play better than you did last night to keep winning. </p>
<p>I think ⅓ of all the games so far have gone to OT. </p>
<p>Another OT last night but at least it was the early game! </p>
<p>Looking forward to game 2 in Boston this afternoon. Wouldn’t it be nice if Subban scored a couple more goals.</p>
<p>No shoutout for Price’s performance last night against the Bruins? He was pretty outstanding.</p>
<p>Carey played a great game on Thursday night and he’s doing it again this afternoon!</p>
<p>Harumpf! Quite a sports day for California…horses, basketbal and pucks…on my!</p>
<p>One lesson teams and coaches have trouble learning is that playing with a lead can be very difficult. The team behind gets desperate, increases effort to max and you find yourself just a flicker off. Montreal had that happen on Saturday. </p>
<p>I mentioned that in the first game Chara inadvertently screened Rask. He wasn’t focused enough to avoid drifting in front of his goalie and I’ll bet that was because OT had just begun and his head wasn’t quite in the moment. Same thing happened to Montreal: quick shot from the boards, a place where you should not score from, and a defenseman lets it hit his knee so it changes course dramatically and goes by Price. The defenseman was turning, as I reviewed it, to watch the play, meaning he was beginning to look ahead for rebounds, cruisers coming in front of the net … and he lost the moment and let the puck hit his knee. In games like this, small lapses in focus can be the difference.</p>
<p>Pens beat the Rangers again to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Fleury has been excellent in the past two games, stopping 70 shots on goal, notching two shutouts. And Sidney scored a goal which will make the analysts happy.</p>
<p>Gaborik has scored his sixth goal of the playoffs in Anaheim. What a deal that has turned out to be for the Kings.</p>
<p>Thank goodness Crosby finally scored. It has been tough.</p>
<p>A few nerve-wracking moments in the third when we worried that the Canadiens would, yet again, give up a lead but thankfully, they pulled through and took a 2-1 lead in the series over the Bruins. The officiating was pretty much non-existant. Lots of very sloppy play by the Bruins.</p>
<p>I didn’t watch the other game as we had friends drop by but wow, 4-0 over Chicago for the Wild. Four goals (well, one was an EN) on 18 shots, not a good night for Crawford.</p>
<p>The first 2 goals by Montreal showed Boston’s lack of focus. </p>
<p>Goal 1: play comes around to point, Bruin forward sees both defensemen in front of goal, lets his man glide into the open space between the circle and the net. Guy on the point throws the puck to the open man, goal. It was a harder play than it looked but the B’s forward dropped his man and it looks like he didn’t communicate that to the defensemen.</p>
<p>Goal 2: one of the most inexplicable things I’ve seen in a while. End of Bruins’ power play and the defenseman - Hamilton - who is on the penalty box side of the ice leaves his position, goes across the ice toward the bench (to get off?), which leaves his side of the ice completely open for Montreal’s best player to have a breakaway. I didn’t hear the goalie banging his stick to warn the penalty was nearly over but there is no excuse for leaving your side of the ice open when a player will be coming out of the box. That was a bad peewee league play. </p>
<p>I didn’t think either team played well for most of the first period. It’s hard otherwise to gauge because the Bruins are more a puck possession/fore-checking team and the Canadiens are more a counter-attack team.</p>
<p>Glad to see the Penguins playing the way they should have been from the start. They outplayed the Rangers for most of the game. The Rangers only got 15 shots on goal and are now 0 - 36 on the power play. Jokinen had another great game, and Malkin and Crosby were the strongest combo on the ice, yet again. Those two are playing ~20 minutes a game and it seems that the more ice time Bylsma gives them, the better they are. </p>
<p>I’m sure that the Pens do not want to return to NY and hope to finish the Rangers off on Friday in Pittsburgh, but I hope that Nash can score a goal (only one!). I feel sorry for these high scorers who can’t find that scoring touch in the playoffs. He leads with 45 shots but still no goal. Disappointing to see Rangers fans boo him last night.</p>
<p>Anyone other than me still watching? :)</p>
<p>Disappointed to see the Pens go down, once again. My guess is that that may have been Bylsma’s last game behind the bench. Good for the Rangers, though. Many predicted they wouldn’t make it past the Flyers and now they’re into the conference final.</p>
<p>Always good to see series go to Game 7. Good for the fans, good for the teams and good for the game. The Montreal-Boston series has been great to watch. Here’s hoping for an exciting Game 7 tonight.</p>
<p>I cheered through last night’s Rangers/Pens game. Misery loves company, Pens fans. </p>
<p>CF, do you have an AHL team that’s a farm team you can root for? Our Leafs suck but the Marlies are almost always contenders. At the moment, they haven’t lost a game in this year’s playoffs and are up 2 games to none in the second round. Small consolation but still nice to see.</p>