NHL Conference Finals

With Detroit's win last night, the final four are set and here are the schedules:

2007 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL

#1 Buffalo vs. #4 Ottawa
Thursday, May 10, 7:00 p.m. at Buffalo
Saturday, May 12, 8:00 p.m. at Buffalo
Monday, May 14, 7:00 p.m. at Ottawa
Wednesday, May 16, 7:00 p.m. at Ottawa
* Saturday, May 19, 2:00 p.m. at Buffalo
* Monday, May 21, 7:00 p.m. at Ottawa
* Wednesday, May 23, 7:00 p.m. at Buffalo

2007 WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL

#1 Detroit vs. #2 Anaheim
Friday, May 11, 7:30 p.m. at Detroit
Sunday, May 13, 7:30 p.m. at Detroit
Tuesday, May 15, 9:00 p.m. at Anaheim
Thursday, May 17, 9:00 p.m. at Anaheim
* Sunday, May 20, 3:00 p.m. at Detroit
* Tuesday, May 22, 9:00 p.m. at Anaheim
* Thursday, May 24, 7:30 p.m. at Detroit
======================================
i went 3 for 4 in the second round:

my picks --- actual result

Buffalo in 6 --- Buffalo in 6
Ottawa in 5 --- Ottawa in 5
San Jose in 6 --- Detroit in 7
Anaheim in 4 --- Anaheim in 5

SportsBlurb.com is no more...now SportsGrumblings.com

Brief news: one of the sites I write for - SportsBlurb.com - has been swallowed up by SportsGrumblings.com. You have to sign up for SportsGrumblings but it is free and they send you no mail. At least I haven't received any yet....

Anyone who has/had my old rob____@sportsblurb.com address should change it over to the same @sportsgrumblings.com. They abruptly cut off the old sportsblurb.com domain so I'm not getting any emails sent to that address.

Intermission: Sabres retro clips

Some fun old clips to tide us over until the semis begin. First from the 1975 semifinals, game 1 between Buffalo and Montreal in the Aud. Danny Gare wins it in OT - NBC feed with Tim Ryan and Ted Lindsey announcing. Some of the players here are amazing to see: Henri Richard, Yvon "The Roadrunner" Cornoyer, Ken Dryden....The French Connection, Gare, Craig Ramsey, Jim Schoenfeld... that Sabres team was the first team I truly remember. Weird - it still stings in some way that they never won the Cup. On the few occasions where I was able to catch a game at the Aud I also always remember trying to find Punch Imlach in the crowd - never sitting in a press box, he was always in the golds - you could spot his famous hat from anywhere in the Aud. Look for him at the 1:58 mark.



This second clip is from the famous 1976 game at the Aud vs. the Soviet Wings, at the time the biggest blow-out in Soviet hockey history. I briefly chronicled this game here a few weeks ago in SportingNews and Sportsblurb. As for personal memories, I particularly enjoy hearing the voice of Memorial Auditorium Milt Ellis - announcing the goal at around the 1:20 mark.

Eastern Conference finals: Buffalo vs. Ottawa

The East's two best teams will meet, starting probably this Thursday or Friday. This one promises to be mean and exciting.

I'll have a writeup/preview in the next day or so. In the meantime, here's an early Senators preview from Sportsnet (with hilights from last year's series between the two):

Monday notes

On a personal note, I'm a bit too drained to give any detailed commentary on the Sabres/Rangers series. Saturday was spent in a bit of disbelief as to what I actually saw on Friday night (Game 5, see below). Yesterday's first period - from a Buffalo point of view - was looking much like said game 5, with the Sabres pressing hard with a good forecheck, getting quality opportunities that seemed to just miss...and then the Rangers taking a 1-0 lead. The break probably came at a perfect time for Buffalo as they came out and took control on the ice and scoreboard in the second period.

The goal of the game was in the third period, the second from much-maligned Jochen Hecht - having played a soft and ineffective series thus far, he finally notched one in the second on a beauty of a wrister but his late third-period goal proved to be both the game-winner and an amazing display of hand-eye coordination. This clip from nhl.com doesn't do it justice - seeing the slow motion replay shows how far outside the net the original shot from Daniel Briere was going. No idea how Hecht was able to bring that back.

Kudos to the New York Rangers who played the Sabres as tight as anyone could have expected. I know Sabres fans think they could have easily taken the first four games of the series but the Rangers could also make a case for having a chance to take games 2 through 5. The better team ended up winning but the Rangers are a lot closer to the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference than anyone would have dared predict even a month ago.



In other news:

Out west the Anaheim Ducks await the winner between Detroit and San Jose, with the Wings being up 3 games to 2. For being a number one seed, Detroit has certainly proven a lot of people wrong thus far (mea culpa) and are on the verge of their first appearance in the conference finals since 2002 when they went on to win the Cup. Unfortunately for them they'll be without veteran defenceman Mathieu Schneider the rest of the way - he broke his wrist early in game 5. Schneider is one of the Wings most important players and while this may not necessarily prevent them from advancing tonight (or Wednesday), he will be missed. Brett Lebda (ankle) is already out, leaving the Wings with another replacement on defence. Who do they think they are, the Buffalo Sabres?

Alexander Ovechkin suspended for one game at the World Championships - read it in the Pravda! (aside - this paper is a riot...the pioneers of spin - it's probably good for us to realize that we didn't invent the concept...)

Cardiac Kids

update: a fan's perfect-angle home video of the tying goal:




ties it with ~8 seconds left...

...and Max wins it in OT. WOW.

Max raises a glass of The MacAllan in celebration:


Gamut of emotions tonight. And now...speechless. Time after time for two years now this Buffalo Sabres team has shown that they never give up. In the words of Rick Jeanneret: "Now do you believe?"


update: someone uploaded the RJ calls/video here.

Lindy Ruff press conference

Ryan Miller post-game interview

Vancouver power outage

After two periods last night, with the score 1-0 in favour of Anaheim, I knew there was no way I could justify to myself staying up to try and watch the conclusion of game 5 (with the alarm clock set to 5am). I figured it'd either end sleepily in regulation (with the Canucks being shut out), or it would go deep into overtime...I'd like to think I had some amazing powers of foresight (2-1 2OT win for Anaheim) but with Vancouver having already gone to overtime five times in 11 games the odds were relatively high.

As it turned out, another multiple overtime loss for the anemic - and now eliminated - Vancouver Canucks. After scoring 5 in their first playoff game vs. Dallas, their goal totals for the next 11 games were as follows: 0, 2, 2, 0, 0, 4 (2 empty-netters), 1, 2, 2, 2, 1.

Canucks playoff goal-scoring stats:

RK	Player	P	GP	G	A	P	+/-	OT	PP		TOI/G
1	MARKUS NASLUND	L	12	4	1	5	-1	0	1		21:35
2	TREVOR LINDEN	C	12	2	5	7	4	0	1		17:15
3	MATTIAS OHLUND	D	12	2	5	7	3	0	1		28:18
4	TAYLOR PYATT	L	12	2	4	6	-2	1	0		18:01
5	DANIEL SEDIN	L	12	2	3	5	-5	0	0		21:31
6	HENRIK SEDIN	C	12	2	2	4	-8	1	1		22:12
7	BRYAN SMOLINSKI	C	12	2	2	4	2	0	0		18:39
8	JEFF COWAN	L	10	2	0	2	1	1	0		11:37
9	BRENDAN MORRISON	C	12	1	3	4	4	0	0		23:09
10	JAN BULIS	C	12	1	1	2	0	0	0		19:46
11	ALEXANDRE BURROWS	L	11	1	0	1	0	0	0		10:34

The totals for the Sedins are, to be kind, disappointing - a combined four goals and -13.

Of course the obvious story is Roberto Luongo who, being the primary reason Vancouver won even five postseason games, also was likely the difference between the Canucks being a division winner or near-lottery participant. Aside from a 1.77 goals-against and .941 save percentage, his work on the penalty kill was particularly impressive - the following table shows shot statistics for all goaltenders in the post-season to date while shorthanded. Luongo faced 108 shots (while saving 93.5% of them) - next highest is Marty Brodeur with 70 (although worthy of note was the beleaguered Miikka Kiprusoff, one of very few Flames players who showed up this spring).

RK	Player	Team	GP	PP: SA	GA	Sv	Sv%	Tot Sv%
1	J GIGUERE	ANA	7	42	1	41	.976	.952
2	TOMAS VOKOUN	NSH	5	36	2	34	.944	.902
3	JOHAN HEDBERG	ATL	2	16	1	15	.938	.928
4	ROBERTO LUONGO	VAN	12	108	7	101	.935	.941
5	MIIKKA KIPRUSOFF	CGY	6	68	5	63	.926	.929
6	ILJA BRYZGALOV	ANA	4	27	2	25	.926	.929
7	MARTY TURCO	DAL	7	39	3	36	.923	.952
8	MARTIN BRODEUR	NJD	10	70	7	63	.900	.919
9	HENRIK LUNDQVIST	NYR	8	40	4	36	.900	.932
10	RICK DIPIETRO	NYI	4	20	2	18	.900	.898
11	RAY EMERY	OTT	9	56	7	49	.875	.917
12	EVGENI NABOKOV	SJS	9	46	6	40	.870	.925
13	NIKLAS BACKSTROM	MIN	5	36	5	31	.861	.924
14	DOMINIK HASEK	DET	10	52	8	44	.846	.919
15	RYAN MILLER	BUF	9	43	7	36	.837	.931
16	MARC-ANDRE FLEURY	PIT	5	36	6	30	.833	.880
17	JOHAN HOLMQVIST	TBL	6	32	7	25	.781	.893
18	DANY SABOURIN	VAN	2	4	1	3	.750	.909
19	WADE DUBIELEWICZ	NYI	1	7	2	5	.714	.886
20	KARI LEHTONEN	ATL	2	12	4	8	.667	.849

For a post-mortem, I suppose Vancouver fans could look at either side: the fact that they lost each of the last three to Anaheim by one goal (and the last two in overtime) could mean that even a small upgrade in offence in the off-season could propel them even further next spring. Of course, expecting another near-perfect season from their goaltender is possibly unrealistic, and covers up even more holes in a flawed team (where, for example, Kevin Bieksa ends up averaging over 28 minutes of ice-time per game - not meaning to take credit away from Bieksa but if the Canucks need to address anything before the offence, it is the need to develop a more-solid defensive six to at least begin an offensive attack. What is the long-term prognosis of Lukas Krajicek? I liked his skill in junior but am left to wonder if he'll ever approach premier top-4 status in the NHL.).

John Tavares wins OHL Red Tilson Trophy

Congrats to John Tavares, youngest-ever winner of the OHL's MVP award. Who are the early favourites to tank the 2008-09 season for the rights to draft Tavares?

Toronto - The Ontario Hockey League announced today that John Tavares of the Oshawa Generals is the 2006-07 recipient of the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player, as selected by the media.

Tavares who led the Oshawa Generals in scoring with 72 goals and 62 assists for 134 points in 67 games this season, becomes the youngest ever recipient of the Red Tilson Trophy. Tavares’ 72 goals also broke Wayne Gretzky’s 29 year old record of 70 goals scored by a 16-year-old, which was set during the 1977-78 season.

The native of Oakville, Ontario recorded at least one point in 57 games this season and had 39 multiple-point games. He was also named the OHL Player of the Month for January and March of this season and represented the Eastern Conference All-Stars at this year’s OHL All-Star Classic, in Saginaw. At this stage in his OHL career, Tavares has accumulated 117 goals and 94 assists for 211 points during his two seasons with Oshawa.

ugh

creative title, eh? As a Sabres' fan it is hard not to be completely disappointed in the effort put forth last night by the team. As someone who has watched all but maybe four or five games all year, this may have been their worst effort of the season. Sabres that showed up and played hard all game:

Dainius Zubrus
Ryan Miller

Feel free to correct that "list" - actually I thought Daniel Briere played pretty hard with not much help - Tim Connolly had a few notable shifts but was invisible for many others....actually that's the problem. Other than Zubrus and Briere, I didn't see any forwards skating hard all night. Thomas Vanek was terrible. Derek Roy? One notable post aside, practically non-existent (aside: I got upset when earlier in the season he was called for a number of faux-dives but sometimes his behaviour is borderline embarrassing.). Chris Drury - Mr. Teflon - must be called out. Rather than having announcers late in the game start saying "This is his time!" they should be noting that he had one shot on goal in the third period, that being a long slapper with about 30 seconds left. Jochen Hecht? Arguably the team's best two-way player a year ago, Hecht has been awful thus far. He's not going to get a lot of points, I get that, but when he is effective is when he skates into traffic and helps fight for the puck in the corners. His name hasn't been called much at all and he's been bad on the backcheck as well. Drew Stafford has looked like a raw rookie out there. Hank Tallinder was avoiding contact way too much for a supposed #1 defenceman - a few lame poke-checks while Jaromir Jagr comes flying down the wing is embarrassing.

Also, here's some second-guessing: Lindy Ruff's benching Maxim Afinogenov for Dan Paille left me stunned. How'd you like that 4:52 of ice time Danny? It's simply wrong that Max got the press box. Max hasn't been at his best but he hasn't been bad either, and even when he doesn't play smart he plays hard - he's one of the few players that open up the defence and create a little space. I hate the standard knock on Max, it reeks of Don Cherry-itis. Max isn't a perfect hockey player because he doesn't play smart sometimes, but he's rarely out there not giving an effort - something sorely lacking in at least half the entire roster last night.


I don't entirely mean to short-change the Rangers on credit - they brought a great game plan this series (after the first game) and it's working. Henrik Lundqvist almost had the shutout but if possible he was average last night - aside from a few big saves on the infrequent Sabres' threats he left some bad rebounds that Buffalo wasn't in position for...to say nothing of the near-monumental gaffe with 20 seconds left behind his net.

Speaking of which, the replay isn't worth mentioning. OK, I'll let someone else do it - I think Mark over at Bfloblog summed it up nicely:

I think that everyone who sees the replay will have to admit that the puck made its way over the line. The league’s “inconclusive” stance is technically correct but it hurts as a fan to know that the puck went in and should have forced overtime.

Yes, maybe they'd have won it in OT, but last night the Sabres beat themselves - had they been playing a better team than the Rangers the outcome would have been well beyond a doubt even in the second period. Buffalo is lucky the game wasn't 6-1.

Two-day layoff until game 5, 7pm Friday night in Buffalo.

BUF-NYR game 4 tonight

A few thoughts:

Even though the series has been close to even, this is a must-win for the Rangers as they're highly unlikely to take three straight from Buffalo.

The Sabres' powerplay is once again anemic as it was for most of the regular season. Buffalo is famously built on transition and speed, and the mostly-stationary aspect of the powerplay doesn't seem to fall into their comfort zone (although nobody has come up with an adequate solution to the question of why their PP was so fantastic last year and mediocre-at-best this year...). Too many times they are motionless and try to set up the perfect play/shot. More shots at the net - don't be afraid of getting the garbage goal.

The Rangers successfully changed their game plan going into game 2 - proof positive that the playoffs are a different animal. The Rangers played game 1 as if it were just a regular season game - a singular blip on the 82 game radar. Starting with game 2, the Rangers clamped down and didn't try to skate with Buffalo. They're clogging up the blueline, not allowing the Sabres to fly into the zone. The Sabres need to respond better by taking what they've been given - dump the puck in and go get it. Buffalo often gets stubborn, as is probably understandable for highly-skilled players. But they have to adapt.

Discipline will win this series for Buffalo - be patient with the Rangers and don't get into penalty trouble. If the Rangers get more than an average amount of time on the power-play they will win this series.

Game time 7:05 tonight.

The clamor to change playoff OT

As has been well-documented on many telecasts and blogs of late, overtime is fast-becoming the latest aspect of the NHL that MUST BE CHANGED. The cynical side of me thinks that merely the mention of alternate methods to determine a winner means that a change is sadly inevitable. And now even Lindy Ruff is on board for a change:

"I think the overtime should go to four-on-four. I think it creates more ice; it creates more chances," Ruff said yesterday. "(In overtime) teams get fatigued. The scoring chances go way down."

Ruff said the additional 37 minutes of hockey on Sunday produced five combined scoring chances from both teams.

"I looked around and it looked like people had left. I don't think people want to come here to see six periods of hockey and the last three periods (have) one or two scoring chances. I don't think that's what the game is about.

"Two or three periods of overtime, I don't think it's good for the game."

Are overtimes really that much more prevalent now or is it merely our perception? I tend to think the latter is true, and to me - even if the number of chances gets fewer and fewer - there is no comparison to playoff overtime. Are they really that onerous to the general public? Has there ever been a clamor in baseball to start lobbing pitches from behind a screen for a home run hitting contest after reaching 11 innings? Just as with any sport, if it isn't your team in it you might grow tired of the game but as for me I was fully engaged for the entirety of overtime in game 3 on Sunday.

As much as 4-on-4 even is distasteful to me (although I do wish regular season OT would extend to at least ten minutes of 4-on-4 before giving up and going to the shootout), if they ever implement the shootout for playoff hockey it would be a horrible decision.

Over at James Mirtle's site he posed the question"have there really been that many more lengthy overtime games these playoffs than in the past?" and I haven't been able to find the answer yet. Over at the trust-at-your-own-risk Wikipedia page they list the 20 longest games in history with #20 clocking in at 53:50 of OT played (just past the midway point of the 3rd OT). There are nine games on the list played since 1994. That just doesn't seem like a lot to me - the human mind tends to remember the exceptions rather than the norm.