All the first rounds could be finished tonight if the Red Wings and the Islanders win. The Habs, or I should say Cary Price, held off the Senators to win 2-0 last night. And the Wild downed the Blues.
On another hockey note, the Sledge Hockey World Championships are being held in Buffalo this week. If you get the chance to watch one of these games, you’ll see some truly amazing athletes playing for the love of the game and very little $$. They are an inspiration.
My team (the Bruins) didn’t make the playoffs so wah. But fun watching everyone else.
Caps on to round 2!
Don’t expect we have much of a chance against the Rangers… but “that’s why they play the games”
In the West, only a 2 seed survived: 1 St. Louis, 2 Nashville, 2 Vancouver lost and only Anaheim won. In the East, it’s mostly reversed with a game 7 remaining between 2 Tampa and 3 Detroit.
Best teams I’ve seen so far have been Anaheim and Montreal, but that can change with a matchup.
Just watched the highlights from the Caps-Isles game, and I still haven’t figured out how, in scoring the game-winning goal, Kuznetsov (1) held onto the puck for that long and (2) shot it in from that angle. Either way, happy to see it happen.
(And respect to the Islanders—they came in depleted against a strong team, and they worked hard enough to hang in there to the very end. They’ll be one to keep an eye out for in the coming years.)
What I couldn’t understand is this stat: Islander forwards combined for 3 shots on goal in game 7!!!
Total of 11 shots for the Islanders in that game. Kuz/s shot was insane – that angle didn’t seem possible.
Caps and Wizards moving on – lots of happy sports fans here in DC!
Shots on goal were low in large part because so many were blocked. The playoffs are crazy with players throwing themselves on the ice in front of shots.
Kronwall is out for game 7 
After the game last night, they showed about a dozen clips of similar hits that Kronwall has made in previous games this season. Everyone on the panel, and in every article I read today, agreed that he would be suspended. You can’t leave your feet and deliver an obvious head shot, game 7 or not. It was not a smart move on his part and it may cost his team.
He reached out and that made the hit worse. As a Wings fan, sorry to say he deserves the penalty.
Go Bolts!!!
Sorry, romani. I know that it sucks when your team is knocked out. For what it’s worth, I’m not sure that the result would have been any different if Kronwall had been there. Bishop was hot tonight.
Man, that was just painful to watch. I’m not sure what was more miserable, the Red Wings game or this extremely dry final paper I’m writing.
(I’ll just have to root for whoever is playing Tampa Bay from now on!)
Joel Ward! Joel Ward! Joel Ward! This is why the coaches tell you to play until the buzzer sounds!
One. Point. Three. Seconds. Left. In. Regulation.
Crazy. Seriously crazy. Now the question is how the Rangers react to a stunner like that—does it totally take the wind out of their sails, or do they get angry?
I think they start with a scrum at the opening faceoff. Backstrom’s hit was not boarding, but it will definitely be a factor going forward. The King looked vulnerable. That easily could have been a 4-1 or 5-1 game with those Caps shots that hit the post.
Rangers had a lot of zone time for portions of the game, but they did not look unstoppable at all. That said, King H will likely “steal” at least 1 game in this series for the Rangers.
Great pass by Ovechkin on that game winner too. Somewhat funny how the Caps finally get a real NHL coach and some of the commentators that have been bashing Ovechkin for the last 8 years suddenly say what a good hockey player he is and how he has “matured” and now “listens to the coach” when he was listening fine to the coaches before, but those coaches were incompetent.
Watching Trotz manipulate the lineup and line match and take advantage of the last change on home ice is such a welcome sight to see in DC, compared to “I’m too good to line match” Bruce Boudreau and “play Ovechkin for 14 minutes a game” Dale Hunter.
A great game in Montreal that saw the Lightning win in double overtime 2-1. Two teams that had fabulous regular seasons and excellent goaltending. Price, who will win the Hart this year, had another spectacular night in goal, and Bishop, who is a hulking giant, stopped even more shots.
Didn’t watch much of the Chicago - Wild game but it looks like it was a goal-scoring frenzy.