STANLEY CUP ROUNDUP: DAY 20*

Excellent action from the Conference Semis. One blowout this weekend, but most games were eye-glued-to-the-screen thrillshows.

BOSTON 5, PHILADELPHIA 4 - OT (Bruins lead series 1-0)

Don't let the scoreline fool you, the goaltenders were actually the best players in this game. The Bruins led for most of it (53:59), but Philly was never down by more than 2 goals, and seemed to answer whenever challenged. Marc Savard had the game-winner in his first game back since Matt Cooke's cheapshot. But the B's also lost Marco Sturm 41 seconds into the game. This series might be the most entertaining of all the Conference Semis to watch.

VANCOUVER 5, CHICAGO 1 (Canucks lead series 1-0)

Vintage Luongo as the veteran Canuck goalie stopped 36 of 37 Chicago shots. Patrick "has a book on Luongo" Kane ended the shutout bid 2:07 into the 3rd period. But that was far too little, much too late. Vancouver got offense from their usual suspects: Christian Erhoff had a goal and an assist, Ryan Kesler had 2 assists, and Henrik Sedin scored a goal. But I doubt Luongo will be this good, or Antti Niemi this bad as the series progresses.

MONTREAL 3, PITTSBURGH 1 (Series tied 1-1)

Pittsburgh dominated Game 1 Friday night, but the Habs responded. Halak was foggy in Game 1, but his visibility returned to him as he stopped 38 shots. Mike Cammalleri continued his Conn Smythe campaign by scoring 2 goals, his 7th and 8th of the playoffs.

Pittsburgh might be the dirtiest team in the NHL, at least among good teams in the East. Not only do you have Cooke, but with 2:24 remaining and down 3-1 Craig Adams boarded Marc-Andre Bergeron in a pretty blatant "message sending" hit in the corner. He received a 5 minute major and 10 minute misconduct. But I doubt the NHL will have the balls to suspend him.

There's just nothing to like and little to respect about the Penguins.

SAN JOSE 4, DETROIT 3 (San Jose leads series 2-0)

There is something to respect about San Jose. The Sharks can play the puck-possession game almost as well as Detroit. But their possession leads to goals thanks to their finishers. Joe Pavelski scored twice and had an assist. The Dude has been a monster in the playoffs, with 9 goals, 5 assists, and a +7 rating. Joe Thornton also had a goal, albeit by accident. The Red Wings spent too much time in the box (that's what she said). They allowed 2 power play goals on 10 such opportunities. 10 power plays is far too many for a disciplined team of veterans to allow. San Jose, to their credit, only yielded 4.

"RUN PREVENTION"=THE NEW "CLOSER BY COMMITTEE"

Oh the intrepid Red Sox, experimenting with the fundamentals of baseball, using equations to determine which outfielder should play where, and utilizing medical professionals so ingenious and ahead of their time that few contemporary doctors ever agree with their diagnoses.

It was "closer by committee" a few years ago. An idea which failed due to a lack of talent in the committee, rather than the notion itself. The likes of Chad Fox and Ramiro Mendoza weren't capable of mid-relief by committee, let alone closing. Put Rivera, Hoffman, Papelbon, and Nathan in the same pen, then closer by committee would excel. Almost as if having the skill makes the scheme a success.

And now it's "run prevention." Before the season, I accused the Sox Front Office of trying to pull the wool over our eyes, by feeding the public with a bunch of numbers that showed the Sox would clearly score fewer runs, but they'd also allow much fewer.

It's still early, but the Sox have actually scored a decent amount: 114 runs, 14th in the Majors. But they've allowed far too many, especially for a team allegedly built for "run prevention." 134 runs allowed, 4th most in the Majors.

This team has not been built for "run prevention." If it had been, Alex Gonzalez would've been retained at short-stop. He should've won last year's Gold Glove. If you're building for defense, why would you get rid of the best defensive player at the most important defensive position?

Which do you think prevents fewer runs? A Gold Glove calibre center-fielder or a strong bullpen? Well the Sox have one of these. The one that isn't the answer. And Clay Buchholz isn't the answer to the pen's numerous problems. That unit is more than one piece shy of completing the puzzle.

And the rotation could hardly afford to lose Buchholz. Because Daisuke Matsuzaka is a complete unknown. Everything about him is a question mark. His health, his attitude, his durability, his control. It's cute that he can throw 8 different pitches, but can he PITCH just 3 good ones? Another example of the experimentalist Sox toying with the fundamentals of the game.

This team will improve, but not by much. Just enough to be able to beat the likes of Baltimore and Toronto. Victor Martinez is not a .233 hitter. JD Drew isn't a .215 hitter. David Ortiz isn't a .159 hitter (he's a .238 hitter). Lester and Beckett are better than they've been.

But don't expect to make the playoffs. There are too many holes on offense. The pitching is solid, but it lacks Aces. It's like a hand in poker with lots of nice cards, maybe 4 to a flush or a straight, but it's insufficient, missed on the river. That's a good analogy actually. The starters might give 6 or 7 good innings, give your hand some explosive potential on the flop and turn, but the bullpen bricks on the river.

Besides, the rotation is nowhere near good enough to contain the explosive offenses in New York and Tampa Bay. At least not enough to allow the Sox' mediocre offense to prevail.

Call me pessimistic, but how many days until pitchers and catchers report in 2011?

SAME OLD STORY FOR CELTICS

How many times has it happened this season? The Celtics are good enough to dominate teams like Orlando, Cleveland and LA. So long as the games are 24 minutes long. The C's were up by 11 at halftime, but lost a war of attrition in the 3rd. LeBron James hit a layup to give the Cavs a 79-77 lead going into the 4th. The trench warfare continued in the final quarter, but Cleveland was simply better, and the Celtics didn't have that extra gear at the end.

The good news is that Cleveland is not overwhelmingly superior to the Celtics. The bad news is that the Celtics apparently still can't finish.

The overly optimistic Green & White faithful have been repeating their "wait for the playoffs" mantra. And they seem vindicated by the Celtics' performances against Miami. But Miami is not Cleveland. Dwyane Wade is not LeBron James.



Speaking of James, is there any doubt that he's hamming up this shoulder injury? The left-handed free throw attempt in the Chicago/Cleveland series was a prime example of LeBron's attempt to win an Oscar. If a fucking FREE THROW is a threat to your health, then how can you play 43 minutes of basketball?

He has a sore arm, but he also wants to have some heroic Willis Reed moments. So he's embellishing. He wants people to say "Not only did LeBron put up 35 against the Celtics, he did it with a bad shoulder! What a great guy!"

The Celtics need to penetrate more later in games. But that's also a good way to wear out even faster. And Ray Allen needs to get hot. This is kind of why I dislike Ray. His contribution just seems like random dumbluck. He'll have his 28 point, 5 for 6 from beyond the arc nights. But he'll also have mediocre nights (14 points, 2/7 on 3 pointers), and dreadfully awful nights.

But against Cleveland, the Celtics need to be running on all cylinders, and that means it's up to the seeming randomness of Ray Allen. Well it's not random, he's an amazing shooter. But there is an unfortunate and frustrating mathematical variance to his game.

Game 2 tonight at 8. Something to watch in between periods of the Bruins' game.

Photo Credits:
Reuters

SAVARD SAVAGES FLYERS

In my preview of this series, I remember writing "do not expect many 5-4 games this series." Sometimes being wrong can still feel so right.

How fitting, how poetic. The only thing to make the end of Saturday's 5-4 OT win even more satisfying would have been if Matt Cooke had simultaneously suffered a heart attack while watching it. And Randy Jones fell off a 50 story building.



Now let's put this win in perspective. Philadelphia looks good. Very good. Brian Boucher was spot-on, and deserved the 2nd or 3rd star. 41 saves, including 14 in overtime until Savard broke through. Briere had an excellent game, considering he had to play center. Pronger was Pronger. And the Flyers won a majority of the faceoffs, which proved extremely critical.

That's sufficient praise of the Philly Phuckos, at least for now.

Back to Savard. With Sturm injured on the first shift of the game, and a rusty Savard, the B's were short of forwards all game long. Savard did log 15 minutes of ice time, but that was hardly according Claude Julien's pregame designs. He actually saw most of that time as a winger with Bergeron and Recchi.

Bergeron and Recchi seem to have been a part of every single Bruins goal this postseason. And Satan seems to be on the ice for most of them too. These three have 9 of the Bruins' 21 postseason goals.

Dennis Wideman had 3 assists in this game. How monstrous has he been for the B's both defensively and offensively? Although he and Hunwick could have done a much better job stopping Briere on the game-tying goal.

Tuukka Rask let in a somewhat soft goal in this game, but he absolutely robbed the Flyers of 8 or 9 more. That's excellent goaltending algebra. He's calm and poised as much as he is athletically primed to pounce. He doesn't allow a bad goal to phase him. And he seems to gain more confidence every game.

Now the Bruins had no business going into overtime in this game. But do give credit to the Flyers. It's not as if the B's "took their foot off the gas." Philly played well, and deserved to come from behind. The Bruins did miss their opportunity to win this game in regulation. Several opportunities. And they all came in the 1st period. The B's were up 2-0, utterly dominating the flow of the game, but whiffed on some big scoring chances. Instead of a 3-0 or 4-0 game going into the intermission, Philly still had a heartbeat, and a chance. And they knew it.

Michael Ryder is not a scorer. He didn't have a bad game. In fact, his neutral zone play was outstanding, evading multiple Flyers and triggering 2-on-1 opportunities for his teammates. But in the OT period, a beautiful centering pass found his stick. And he settled the puck. A puck which was already as settled and calm as a turtle on valium. Yet he still took time to settle the fucking puck. This allowed Boucher to swing himself across the crease, and stop Ryder at point blank range.

Did anyone notice how much time Savard took to settle a bouncing, rollicking puck?



No time whatsoever. Savard shot the puck right away. Because that's how you score. Don't give the goalie time. Surprise him. Make the game too fast for any human goalie to thrive in.

And to all you Timmy Thomas haters out there, watch that clip, and see who the first guy to congratulate Tuukka Rask is (at 0:22). Thomas has been ousted Drew Bledsoe style, but he's also shown the class of Drew Bledsoe in that unenjoyable backup position.

But let me once again implore that we all keep this in perspective. This was one game, and the Bruins barely won it, on home ice. Marco Sturm's status is a looming question mark. The Flyers cracked the B's vaunted Penalty Killing unit. There's a lot of hockey left.

But it's still very nice, isn't it?

Game 2, tonight on Versus.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

STANLEY CUP ROUNDUP: DAY 17

SAN JOSE 4, DETROIT 3 (Sharks lead series 1-0)

The Wings didn't get much time to rest after their Game 7 win in Phoenix. In fact, their plane landed in San Jose after the airport's curfew the other night, so they're facing a $2,500 fine. While physically they seemed fine last night, they were a bit fuzzy at the start of this game. They allowed 3 goals in 79 seconds in the 1st period. Apart from that, they looked great, except a semi-soft goal allowed by Howard. So enjoy it while it lasts San Jose. Joe "Dude" Pavelski scored twice (including the game winner), and had an assist. The Dude abides.

Tonight's game:
7:00pm - Montreal @ Pittsburgh - Versus

Saturday's games:
12:30pm - Philadelphia @ Boston - NBC
8:00pm - Vancouver @ Chicago - Versus

Sunday's games:
2:00pm - Montreal @ Pittsburgh - NBC
8:00pm - Detroit @ San Jose - Versus

BRUINS/FLYERS PREVIEW

Who saw this bracket-busting matchup coming? The 6th seeded Bruins and the 7th seeded Flyers. Both teams vanquished their respective Division's champions in Round 1. And now one of these 3rd place sides will be in the Eastern Conference Finals.

These teams met 4 times, including that epic overtime game at Fenway. Each team beat the other once in regulation, and once in overtime/shootout (in other words, both teams are 2-1-1 against each other). The Flyers won the first two games, back in 2009. The Bruins won on New Years Day, and in their most recent meeting in March. That was a 5-1 Bruins victory.

But what does the regular season mean now? Next to nothing. In the regular season, Brian Boucher was a liability for the Flyers. He was their MVP in Round 1. In the regular season, the Bruins' Power Play was a joke. That unit throttled Buffalo, scoring over 27% of the time.

As well as he played against New Jersey, Brian "Waterboy" Boucher is no Ryan Miller. Then again, the B's have made a lot of goalies look like Ryan Miller this season. Boucher made 1 start against the B's, but played in 2 games. He had a .949 SV% in that time.

Tuukka saw the Flyers twice. 1-0-1 record, 1.92 GAA, .944 SV%. So once again, do not expect many 5-4 games this series. Things will be tight, and the scoring will be low.



But there will be blood. Zdeno Chara and Chris Pronger will spearhead both team's physical games. The challenge will be to stay within the rules. Both team's PP units excelled in the 1st round. Then again, both team's PK units performed just as well, so don't be shocked to see the likes of Sobotka and Hartnell spending time in the clink.

The Bruins will be adding to their roster, while the Flyers have been forced to subtract. Marc Savard returns this series. It's unclear how often he'll play, and it might be tough going for him to be dropped in the middle of a physical and hard-checking series. Expect him to be on the power play, but I doubt he'll be very effective at the start of the series.

The Flyers lose two weapons to shot-block related injuries. 33 goal scorer Jeff Carter won't play, and neither will 17 goal man Simon Gagne. 11 of Carter's 33 scores came on the power play, so that unit loses a bit of bite. That being said, there's still Mike Richards (31 goals), Danny Briere (26 goals), and Claude Giroux (4 goals, 2 assists in New Jersey series) to contend with.

And that's where I'm worried. The Bruins continually made some big mistakes in the Buffalo series. But they were saved by Rask half the time, and by Buffalo's offensive ineptitude the other half. These mistakes can't persist. The Bruins don't need to play flawless hockey to beat the Flyers, but the outcome of this series will be determined by how many mistakes the Bruins make in their own zone. Michael Ryder, Dennis Wideman, I hope you fully understand this.

Oh, and Marco Sturm needs to score. If he gets hot, then those mistakes won't be so costly. Sturm had 2 goals and 2 assists against the Flyers this season, including this one...



To me, this is the Bruins' series to lose. They have an excellent goaltender, they know how to play physical hockey, they've been excellent killing penalties. The Flyers are truly a solid, balanced team, but they lack that goaltending. And so long as the B's are careful with the puck in their own zone (especially when Richards or Briere are on the ice), and guys like Recchi, Krejci, Bergeron, Chara, and Wideman keep up the effort and the work, the Bruins will win in 6 games.

Schedule:
Sat 5/1 12:30pm - vs. Philadelphia - NBC
Mon 5/3 7:00pm - vs. Philadelphia - Versus
Wed 5/5 7:00pm - @ Philadelphia - Versus
Fri 5/7 7:00pm - @ Philadelphia - Versus
Mon 5/10 7:00pm - vs. Philadelphia - Versus
Wed 5/12 7:00pm - @ Philadelphia - Versus
Fri 5/14 7:00pm - vs. Philadelphia - Versus

STANLEY CUP PREVIEWS: CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS*

The final eight. The West saw some predictable teams advance, with more trouble than predicted. But the East saw the upsets. We've also seen the exit of some of the best goalies in the nHL. Soon-to-be Vezina winner Ryan Miller was ousted, as was Ilya Bryzgalov, and so was 4 time Vezina winner Martin Brodeur.

Four of the Original Six are in the 2nd round. Only 1 "warm weather" team remains. The Sharks are also the only relatively recent expansion team left. Apart from them, every team left has existed since 1970.

EASTERN CONFERENCE:
A couple of upsets threw the Eastern Conference on its head. You'll also find three of the hottest goalies on this side of the bracket, particularly Jaroslav Halak.

#4 PITTSBURGH vs. #8 MONTREAL
The Canadiens rode Halak past Washington. But they also benefitted from the Capitals (apart from Ovechkin and maybe Backstrom) choking like crazy. Gorges and Gill emerged as a dominating defensive duo, but I'll still attribute Washington's demise to choking, as opposed to Montreal doing anything superlative. Pittsburgh doesn't choke. M.A. Fleury might give away a game, but the Pens will prevail.

Pittsburgh in 6.



#6 BOSTON vs. #7 PHILADELPHIA
When you get the 6th seed, you don't expect to have home ice advantage in any round. The B's last played the Flyers in the postseason in '78. Back then they were perennial playoff adversaries. Brian "Waterboy" Boucher struggled all season, but stunned New Jersey in Philly's 5 game series win. So don't be shocked if the Bruins struggle to score much. Although the B's will have Marc Savard back. Moreover, a much more reliable Tuukka Rask. Look for another close-fought, physical series, like the one with Buffalo.

Bruins in 7.



WESTERN CONFERENCE:
All the favorites in the West won, except the 4th seeded Coyotes, who had to face a healthy Red Wings side that most people picked to win the series anyway.

#1 SAN JOSE vs. #5 DETROIT RED WINGS
What does San Jose get for having the best record in the West? A 2nd round date with the mighty Red Wings.

Both teams struggled to get into this next round. But I can't help but think of the Sharks as chokers and the Red Wings as winners. Detroit's skaters boast over 1,600 combined playoff games. That's absurd. They're always calm, always professional, rarely make mistakes. And they have a hot young goalie in Jimmy Howard.

Nabokov had an excellent series against Colorado. But Paul Stastny is not Henrik Zetterberg. Then again, Howard hasn't had to face the likes of Marleau or Heatley.

I can't pick against Detroit here. Wings in 7.



#2 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS vs. #3 VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Anticipate a back-and-forth series, as both these teams play excellently on home ice and struggle just a bit on the road (especially Vancouver). The season series was also split 2-2. Two of those games were close, two were blowouts. Antti Niemi has emerged as Chicago's netminder, and he excelled in the series against Nashville (2.15 GAA, .921 SV%). But stifling the Preds is a much lighter task than stopping the Sedins and Canucks. And don't forget Mikael Samuelsson, who scored 7 times in the 6 game series against LA. Then again, Vancouver has an over-the-hill Luongo in the net.

I predict high scoring games, but the Blackhawks riding a hot young goalie into the Conference Finals. Chicago in 6.



CONN SMYTHE WATCH:

Sidney Crosby, C, PIT: 5 goals, 9 assists, +7
Mikael Samuelsson, RW, VAN: 7 goals, 4 assists, +8
Mike Cammalleri, LW, MON: 5 goals, 5 assists
Henrik Zetterberg, LW, DET: 6 goals, 5 assists, +6
Chris Pronger, D, PHI: 2 G, 3 A, 20 blocks, 29:03 TOI/G
Brian Boucher, G, PHI: 4-1, 1.59 GAA, .940 SV%
Evgeni Nabokov, G, SJ: 4-2, 1.76 GAA, .926 SV%
Antti Niemi, G, CHI: 4-2, 2.15 GAA .921 SV%
Tuukka Rask, G, BOS: 4-2, 2.18 GAA, .927 SV%

STANLEY CUP ROUNDUP: DAY 16

Washington's gone. The 8th, 7th, and 6th seeds in the East have all advanced. Gotta love the NHL Playoffs.

MONTREAL 2, WASHINGTON 1 (Canadiens win series 4-3)

I found it difficult to root for Montreal, even though it offered the best result for the Bruins. But what was difficult for the Caps was finding a hole in Jaroslav Halak's wall. He made 41 saves. In the last 2 games this series, he stopped 94 of 96 shots, and 131 of 134 in the final 3 games (all Montreal wins, of course). So now guys like the overrated Mike Greene have to sit and watch everyone else contend for the Cup.

Round 2 starts tonight.