NHL Playoffs Thread

[CalgaryBearsFan]

Thought maybe the other 14 teams deserved a thread, especially given the amount of Central Division teams are in the postseason this year, and the general hatred for Vancouver must be discussed in depth.

Day 1:

Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins - We see the return of Sidney Crosby, the NHL's best player in his first NHL playoffs series since 2010 in this battle of Pennsylvania and guess who would be the one to score the first playoff goal of 2012.
Philly wasnt to be beat though, as they fought back from a 3-0 defecit after period 1 to rally back and force the game into extra time after a controversial missed offside call that saw Danny Briere break the goose egg. shortly after the OT started, Philly completed the comeback after Voracek beat Fleury on the rush.

Nashville Predators at Detroit Red Wings - In what could be the most even match up of the season, these two division rivals will extend their 6 game season series for another round of 7. We saw Nashville completely shut down the veteran top line of the Red Wings which was highlighted by Shea Weber bouncing Zetterberg's dome off the plexiglass in the waining seconds of time. The star of game 1? Unsurprisingly goes to Pekka Rinne, however much like the Joel Ward push of 2011, another unlikely name was the scoring touch of the Predators first game in Gabriel Bourque, after notching 2 goals to push the Preds out in front - and take the first game of this series.

Vancouver Canucks at Los Angeles Kings - You'd be hardpressed to find anyone outside the province of British columbia who was cheering for the Canucks, which is why the rest of North America was elated when they tuned into this opener, as Mike Richards and Johnathon Quick were cattle in this battle. Richards providing the offense and the physical play that you could only expect from a player of his ilk, and a style of player that has proved to be effective against this particular team of soft, diving, city burners. Put perfectly by the now-made controversial words of the LA Kings twitter account 'To the rest of Canada- You're Welcome.' #1 seed? We'll see.

[CalgaryBearsFan]

Day 2:

San Jose Sharks at St. Louis Blues - A team new to the winning experience against the perrenial dissapointment. San Jose is seeing the cup contending window shrinking by the season, and it was paingfully obvious this season as they struggled to even make the postseason. St. Louis on the other hand was surprisingly close to taking home the Presidents Trophy and have seen their first home ice advantage playoff series in nearly a decade! This game saw two teams battle for every inch as it was not easy to come across goals in this one. A back and forth affair that saw the Sharks strike first, only to watch the Blues come back with 2 more unanswered. Fast forwards to the final 5 minutes and the Sharks would strike late on a weak goal against a usually very surehanded Jaroslav Halak. This game would enter the 5 period mark before Havlat would take a feed from Couture and sneak one past Halak for the game 1 winner.

Boston Bruins at Washington Captials - Last years big winner against one of the more dissapointing teams of the year, who wound up needing some help to back into the playoffs. Dont be fooled by the 1-0 OT score, as young goalie Brayden Holtby put in the performance of a lifetime as Boston should have had this game over in the first 5 minutes. After the first 2 periods, the Caps had tallied a very unimpressive 11 shots in 40 minutes. This series shouldnt take too long unless the Russians in Washington start to play 2 ways.

New York Rangers at Ottawa Senators - Alot of 'upset' talk coming out of this series, but that was put to bed quickly as the Rags came out flying and the Sens came out flat. Callahan may be the next player inducted into the rare category of respectable regular season player turned playoff stud by the end of this season's series as he came out hitting and shooting. The stars of the Sens on the other hand could not match the intensity and relentless pressure of the Rangers top lines. Young phenom defenseman Erik Karlsson looked quite dough eyed in his first playoff series. Ottawa nothces 2 late ones to make the score look better than the outcome was. Rangers walk over game one.

New Jersey Devils at Folirda Panthers - On the tail of the Panthers' first ever division title, they draw a pretty crappy first card as they take on Kovalchuk and the gang in New Jersey. Talon and the V2 Blackhawks played huge all season, even though they are in the NHL's weakest division. Im predicting a pretty quiet series out of these 2 and the dud of round 1. However, it will be cool to see rats flying again in Florida, which has been long, long overdue.

[CalgaryBearsFan]

Day 3:

New Jersey Devils at Florida Panthers - As expected, mostly a boring game 1 as the Devils took a quick 3-0 lead in the first period and held on to it until the last half of the 3rd period, when Sean Bergenheim scored the Florida Panthers' first playoff goal in 12 years. Florida pushed back with another late one, but couldnt tie it up and game 1 goes to the Devils.

Pittsburgh Penguins at Philadelpiha Flyers (2) - Once again the Penguins get up early, quick and by multiple goals. This one is over, as surely the Penguins were not going to blow another lead to the Flyers. Wrong. Philly once again storms back with a 2nd period onslaught and ties it up at 3 in the 2nd period. The Pens would continue to stay one goal ahead until the 3rd frame starts and then there was not stopping the duo of Couturier and Giroux, who combined for an unheard of 9 points in this game. Philly wins and takes a surprising 2-0 series lead to the Penguins

Detroit Red Wings at Nashville Predators (2) - After a controversial final say by Shanahan on the Weber hearing, we see the Suter/Weber matchup back for game 2 after Shea introduced Henrik Zetterberg's teeth to the plexi-glass. In-game, we saw Detroit strike back the way that Detroit does, puck possession. They controlled the play for the entire night, and only allowed 17 shots from the offensively inept Predators. This game once again got very heated and both team played physical, something we all know is quite unusual to see from the Red Wings. Datsyuk runs the show while Howard shuts the door and Detroit ties this series at 1's

Vancouver Canucks at Los Angeles Kings (2) - A huge game in this series. Did the Kings just catch the Canucks off game, or will they be able to keep this style of play up? Will the Canucks use their high offensive style to simply outscore the lowly Kings? Our questions were answered, and I can safely say, we all liked what we saw. Once again the Kings completely put the Canucks to bed; Physically, defensively, offensively, goaltending. All better then Vancouver was and it does not look promising for the team of the West. Mike Richards once again completely controls the top line of the Canucks and they cannot get anything started. Kings walk out to a 2-0 series lead, and we go back to Los Angeles folks. Go Kings Go!

[CalgaryBearsFan]

Day 4:

Boston Bruins at Washington Capitals (2) - The early game, and I didnt get to catch alot of it, but for the 40 minutes I did get to watch this one was again physical. However, at the same time, for two offensively gifted teams like the Caps and Bruins, we saw alot of sitting back and reliance on the goaltenders. Speaking of the 'tenders, Brayden Holtby could be earning himself a starting gig soon if he keeps his level of play up. After Washington could have possibly stole game 1, he comes back and matches his performance by keeping the defending champs to again, only 1 goal while facing 44 shots in total. Fortunately for him, he got some run support and a game winner in the extra fram to tie this series at [1-1]

New York Rangers at Ottawa Senators (2) - A violent affair and one that kept Sherrif Shanny busy late into the night. A good game in all, with some pretty goals and mucking style of play, but what got our attention in this one was Matt Carkner only 2 minutes in, as he pinned Brian Boyle to the boards, dropped his gloves and started feeding him fists with Boyle unable to protect himself and then it only escalated as Carkner followed Boyle down to the ice and kept of keeping on, more punches thrown and Carkner had officially broken the age old 'hockey code' by punching a defenseless player on the ice.
After that, the dominoes tumbled. Daniel Alfreddsson takes an elbow to the head in which he doesnt come back from. A few more fights and then we got to see some hockey. New York looked to take the game again early, but Senators fought back and force the OT, Chris Neil sneaks one by Lundqvist and we take this game back to Canada for the next 2 games.

San Jose Sharks at St. Louis Blues (2) - After a good, physical game one that saw the Sharks take the opener, we knew that St. Louis wasnt going to sit back and let the Sharks beat them at their own play stlye. St. Louis tallied early, and cruised from there until Jaroslav Halak took a knee to the head from teammate Barret Jackman on a backcheck. Halak, in this case was not ok and the Blues had to resort to their backup goalie... Scary stuff for most teams, but when your backup goalie leads the league in Save percentage and GAA, its not so bad to see the Elliot name bar skating towards the iron cage. Brian Elliot would go on to prove his worth as he shuts the door and splits a shutout with Halak to take game two with ease. [1-1]

[CalgaryBearsFan]

Day 5:

Nashville Predators at Detroit Red Wings: First game in Detroit, where the Preds have never felt the glory of a playoff win. Until today. Nashville one again runs up on Detroit and plays a brillian game of team defense while allowing NHL's best, Pekka Rinne, to shut it down. The Preds may not be the leagues most exciting team, but damn are they effective and you have to respect it, because it is putting one of the most composed teams in the last decade, the Red Wings on their heels. Their minimal mistake and capitaliation stlye of play is risky, but has proven to be effective in the past and you will likely be seeing it for a few rounds if they can keep it up. Preds win 3-2, lead the series [2-1].

Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins: To the other Pennsylvania arena! If you are not watching this game right now, well you just dont love sports. Game 3 is NASTY and have seen the likes of Sidney Crosby drop the Gloves. We are 20 minutes through, have seen 3 fights, 3 game misconducts and 70 minutes of penalties. Oh yeah, we've also seen 6 goals as the Flyers lead 4-2 after 1 and could be looking at the consensus Stanley Cup pick being down 3 games in round one to thei hated rivals. Ive got hockey wood folks, and there is still 40 minutes to go. Tune into this dogfight now, if you havent already.

[4th and 26]

If the Canucks lose tonight will the fans start early and burn the city down?

[CalgaryBearsFan]

If the Canucks lose tonight will the fans start early and burn the city down?

Apparetly, Duncan Keith has received a few threatening phone calls after game 2... Thats how I know fans have no faith at all.

[CalgaryBearsFan]

The past few days have been pretty exciting across the NHL

New York Rangers at Ottawa Senators: As mentioned, this series was going to be a bigger battle then just an 8 vs 1 seed. These two are matching each other shot-for-shot, goal-for-goal and game-for-game. With the Rangers picking up game 3 on one of the best goaltending performances of the playoffs from Henrik Lundqvist, the Sens were poised to win game 4, and keep themselves out of a series chockehold. After 4 games we are at a 2-2 standoff going back to New York.


Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins: The Pens have staved off elimination the past two games after falling back 3 games to 0 in the series. Surely Philly fans are starting to get a little hot under the collar, but history is on their side as the full comeback has only happened 6 times in NHL history, and 7 times in the history of all of sport. Both sides of the ice have continued to display abysmal goaltending. How bad you ask? Well they have scored more goals in the 1st periods of their series then the rest of the playoff series have scored total. They have also broken the NHL record for goal in a single series. Dont expect much to change here, except a bigger pushback from the Flyers as they try to put the nail in the coffin of the cross-state rivals.


St. Louis Blues at San Jose Sharks: With San Jose taking the first shot across the bow in this series by stealing one in OT, the Blues have since conquered and not looked back with Brian Elliot stealing the show completely. Almost a second shutout for him in game 4, the Sharks just cant seem to put anything together against the Blues and look to bow out once again in the early settings of the postseason. Look for big changes coming from the Sharks organization this offseason.

Florida Panthers at New Jersey Devils: The Cardiac Series is what it is being described as, where a 3 goal lead is a synonym for doom. In the first 3 games of this series, we have seen a 3-0 game turn into a 3-2 game in the late stages, once with Florida falling short and once with New Jersey falling in the same scenario. Game three saw the Panthers come all the way back to tie the game and then win it in the 3rd period ending with rats flying from the rafters in New Jersey's home arena. During that game 3, both starting goalies were pulled in favour of the backups, and the controversy that stemmed came from the decision to start 3 time Cup champion Martin Brodeur. After he got the nod, he proved his critics wrong by shuttin out the Panthers in game 4 and will head back to Florida with the series evened up.

Boston Bruins at Washington Capitals: Like the NYR/OTT series, this series has been completely decided by goaltending and the surprising play of Brayden Holtby as he is frustrating the defending champs to what looks to be a dogfight for them to stave off humiliation by being eliminated by a last day playoff entry. Alex Seming has proven the points of panels and fans, in that he is one of the leagues best when he cares, the problem with them Russians is that you are never sure just when they care. This is another series that is deadlocked and headed back to Boston. Look for recent coach-callouts Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to step their game up in this one back at home.

Detroit Red Wings at Nashville Pedators: The Wicked Witch is Dead! Who would have guess that the first team eliminated in the 2012 playoffs was going to be the Red Wings, and to the less experienced Predators, who had just completed their 2nd EVER playoff series victory. Glad to see the defensive play and the leagues best goalie in Pekka Rinne backstop the Preds to this victory, and it is becoming clear that the Wings will be needing to see some changes in the not-so-distant future. They are gaining age and need some jump. Good luck to Nashville in round 2, they definitely deserve it.

Los Angeles Kings at Vancouver Canucks: Well it wasnt the sweep we were all hoping for, but it is still a 3-1 series in this one as the Canucks do enough to force a game back into Vancouver. Jhonathon Quick remains the story in this series as he has completely shut down the Canucks, even in their only loss so far
. Game 5 goes tonights and we will all be alike in cheering for a loss for those dirty Canucks and a first round bump. Go Kings Go

[Riczaj01]

25 game suspension for Torre. For some reason it doesn't seem long enough. And if those ref's are ever allowed to offciate a playoff game again, there is a huge injustice.

[vmx12]

Buh Bye Knucklebutts. Once again "two girls no cup".