Stanley Cup Roundup

As always, there are some seriously good series being played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. All Original Six teams made the playoffs, the top two markets in the country (New York, LA) each have two teams in the mix, Canada was well-represented, and there are no teams from truly poor hockey markets like Phoenix or Nashville. And we're already rid of the Vancouver Canucks.

Sharks 4, Canucks 3 (OT) - Sharks win series 4-0

Vancouver went with Cory Schneider and it didn't really work out. This was a matchup between teams that perennially choke in the playoffs, so one of them had to advance and one had to be embarrassed. I had to post a pic of a hot girl in Vancouver colors, since I won't have a chance to post anymore in the upcoming weeks.

Blackhawks 3, Wild 0 - Blackhawks lead series 3-1

Chicago only lost 7 games in regulation this season, and Minnesota doesn't appear to be much of a match for them. The Wild aren't healthy and the Blackhawks have Patrick Sharp, who had 2 goals in the game and has 4 in the series.

Senators 3, Canadiens 2 (OT) - Senators lead series 3-1

Only 8 penalty minutes in this game. There were about 30 times as many penalty minutes in the previous game. Montreal got conservative in the 3rd period and it screwed them. Ottawa grinded out a pair of goals. Carey Price appeared to hurt his groin at the end of the 3rd and backup Peter Budaj allowed the Kyle Turris game-winner. Ottawa scares me more than any other team in the East. They're getting 110% from their talent and they've been working their asses off all season. Every game they played against the Bruins was close and they got better and better against the B's as the season progressed.

Islanders 6, Penguins 4 - Series tied 2-2

The Penguins have the best skaters in the NHL. No doubt about it. They're stacked. Unfortunately, their goalie is Marc-Andre Fleury. He allowed 6 goals on 24 shots. One fourth of the shots on goal went by him. And some of them were hideous. He's allowed 14 goals in the last 3 games, and Vokoun might get the start in Game 5.

Tonight's games...

7:00pm - Bruins @ Maple Leafs - Bruins lead series 2-1 - NESN/NHL Network
The Bruins need to remain consistent. Tonight they have an opportunity to start burying Toronto's grave. They also have an opportunity to give Toronto a second life.

7:30pm - Capitals @ Rangers - Capitals lead series 2-1 - NBC Sports
The Rangers were up against it and Game 3 and came through. Washington looks good, they have Ovechkin, they have depth, and the Rangers don't seem to know how to win playoff series. However, the Caps will have to find another gear to knock them out.

9:00pm - Kings @ Blues - Series tied 2-2 - CNBC
The defending Champions don't look as sharp as they did last year. I haven't seen much of this series but St. Louis has looked good from what I have seen. And Jonathan Quick has looked human.

10:00pm - Red Wings @ Ducks - Series tied 2-2 - NBC Sports
This series is a big reason why Detroit will be moving to the Eastern Conference. A fanbase in the Eastern Time zone is forced to watch playoff games at 10:00pm. On weeknights. Not good for business. One good thing is if Detroit wins they could face Midwest rival Chicago in the next round. And if Anaheim wins they could face California rival LA.

-The Captain

Canadiens 6, Bruins 5 (SO)

This was a Goldilocks game for the Bruins. The 1st period was too cold. The 3rd period was too hot. The 2nd period was just right. The Bruins only played one period at their absolute best. They were lackadaisical in the 1st. In the 3rd they were inconsistent and erratic. Only in the 2nd did everything come together.

The Canadiens were simply better last night. Not at playing hockey. They were better actors, better at deceiving the officials, better at falling down. I don't blame the refs. I blame the Habs for playing like twats, and I blame the NHL/LNH for not making embellishment an officiating priority. The NBA is trying to get diving out of their game. Why is their no emphasis from the NHL? The NHL is apparently more worried about interference. That's what has been the penalty of emphasis this season.

That being said, the Bruins dug their own hole in the 1st period. They were playing a team tired from a tough game the previous night, and they spotted them a 1-0 lead, then a 2-0 lead.

There was also another Andrew "Facepalm" Ference goal scored after Ference made a mistake trying to play the puck in the neutral zone. Ference has become my Detested One on this team. All true Bruins fans absolutely hate at least one player on their favorite team. Right now it's Andrew Ference. David Krejci is a close second.

The Bruins were undefeated last year when taking a 2 goal lead into the 3rd period. So maximum points from those games. This year they are 9-4-2. Out of 30 available points when up by 2 goals with 20 minutes to play, the Bruins have earned 20. That's unacceptable. Defense is a problem. Scoring has been a problem. Only playing 30 good minutes of hockey a game is a MASSIVE problem.

Bruins are in Philly Saturday.

-The Captain

Max Pacioretty is a Douche

"Jealousy," Pacioretty told reporters. "We're at the top right now and reading comments like that is awesome. If we're in last place, they wouldn't be saying anything about us, but we're in first place and it's the best feeling in the world."

I haven't been watching hockey very long, but I've never managed to dislike a team as quickly as I have the grown to dislike the Canadiens. He seems to be talking up being in "first place"  and "at the top" quite a bit. It's true that they show up first in the standings, but that's a 2 point lead (equivalent to one win) with the Bruins having played 3 fewer games.

Julien Rants About Canadiens

“The frustrating part is that you end up with 17 minutes in the penalty box when you should have been on the power play. It’s as simple as that,” Julien said. “It’s frustrating because tonight, as everybody saw, there was a lot of embellishment and this is embarrassing for our game, embellishing. Right now, they’ve got over 100 power plays so far and it’s pretty obvious why. We’re trying to clean that out of our game and it’s got to be done soon."

This has been a complaint about the Canadiens for as long as I remember. They can't keep up with the roughness of the game, so they take dives to cause penalties. Part of it is just the game, and it's on the ref to notice the difference, but part of this is just such typical Canadiens style of hockey. Over the past 10 years I have noticed how soft they have gotten. They get pissed when a team like the Bruins come around, because they can out-physical them at every turn. The NHL really needs to get it's hand on this, because if it doesn't it's going to become like soccer, and no one wants to see that.

Canadiens 4, Bruins 3

Whenever the Bruins play the Canadiens, the Bruins allow themselves to be surprised by Montreal's speed. They don't seem to give the Canadiens credit for being so fast. The simple fact is the Habs close down space much more quickly than anyone else. Five feet of passing lane is not a passing lane against them. It's a trap. When the Bruins lose to the Habs, they typically allow a goal or two from a turnover that was caused by not respecting Montreal's speed.

Speed is, however, almost all there is one can respect about Montreal (apart from goaltending). We witnessed more typical Montrealness last night: Alexei Emelin cross-checks Tyler Seguin in the ribs (and even breaks his stick doing so), and there's no call. Zdeno Chara sticks up for his injured teammate and gets 17 minutes in penalties. Emelin gets 5. And 0 for what he did to Seguin. We'll see if Brendan Shanahan's YouTube account has anything to say about Emelin's cross-check, but I doubt it. After all, how could cross-checking an opponent's best offensive player in the ribs be seen as "intent to injure?"

The Bruins lost Chara's services for 17 minutes and allowed 2 goals in that span. One of Montreal's goals was due to a screen that Chara could have cleared out. Another was a loose puck in the crease Chara could have knocked out.

I'm not blaming the refs. The Bruins made plenty of mistakes to deserve to lose this game. And refs are human. But you wonder why the NHL has injury problems, then you see Emelin do what he did and go unpunished, then Chara attempts to make Emelin pay, but it was Chara and the Bruins who paid the price.

That's why players like Matt Cooke collect regular paychecks and Marc Savard goes to therapy for depression. Because the NHL doesn't punish dirty play or dirty players, but it does punish retaliation for dirty play.

Oh and it wants to emphasize the enforcement of holding and interference. Apparently Seguin getting hit after giving up the puck wasn't interference either.

Anyway, tough stretch ahead for the Bruins. This condensed 48 game schedule is finally going to start to feel condensed. For the rest of the season, they only have one pair of back-to-back off days. Starting Tuesday in Washington they play 5 games in 8 days.

-The Captain

Bruins 2, Canadiens 1

The Bruins continue to roll, improving to 7-1-1 on the season. This is a really strange feeling because of the Lockout. It's February 7th and we've only seen the Bruins lose 1 game in regulation. That's just weird.

Tuukka Rask has been the biggest reason. He only faced 21 shots last night, but some of them were very tough to stop. He's been outstanding this year. His style looks completely different from the 2009-10 season, when he'd collapse into the net. He's challenging shooters now, cutting down the angle, making himself as big as possible. And he can read the game very well, especially for a 25 year old.

The offense hasn't been overflowing. The power play is still painfully inept.

Tyler Seguin has a scorer's instincts, though. He improves any line he is on. I liked how Claude Julien shuffled up the lines, putting Seguin with Krejci and Lucic. Those line shuffles helped win the game.

It seems like we're much deeper into the season than we actually are. There are 39 games left to play. Under normal circumstances I might try to restrain myself from being too positive.

Fuck that, though. We waited months for hockey and now our team is on top of the Eastern Conference. This is fun and I'm going to enjoy it.

-The Captain

Bruins @ Canadiens Preview

This is the first of 4 meetings between the Canadiens and the Bruins this year. Boston has won 4 straight over them, but Montreal is off to a strong start this year (6-2-0).

The Bruins have let up 2 goals or less in the 5 of their 7 games they have played so far this year, and one of the games they didn't came at the backend of a 3 games in 4 days stretch. Needless to say Boston knows how to play some defense. What could really use some work is their power play, which is just 3-30 on the season (near the bottom of the NHL). Then again, when isn't it?

Tonight is a good test, as Price is a good goalie, and the stadium will obviously be rocking tonight in Montreal. I really believe in this Bruins team this year, and even though the Bruins are a little beat up I think they are the more physical team, and can shut them down with their defense.

Bruins win 3-1
Player of the Game: Rask
Game starts at 7:30pm

Remembering Why We Hate the Montreal Canadiens

The Bruins, after a lengthy break that felt like a mini-Lockout, are back in action tonight, playing the hated Habs in Montreal's Bell Centre. It's been a long time since these two rivals met, so I thought we could all remind ourselves why we hate the Montreal Canadiens.

#1 Their Fans
It's hard to find a whinier, more entitled fanbase in the Western Hemisphere. They called the police after Zdeno Chara checked Max Pacioretty. They moan when one of their players dives and a penalty isn't called. Their biggest criticism of former head coach Randy Cunneyworth was that he couldn't speak French, not that the team was 18-23-9 during his tenure. The Quebec Culture Minister got involved in that situation, and groups called for a boycott of Molson products until a French-speaking replacement was hired. Remember, the players can all speak English, Cunneyworth just couldn't do press conferences en Français.

Oh, and they sometimes boo The Star Spangled Banner.

#2 How They Play the Game
They play a different type of hockey in Montreal. It's more like European soccer. Players collapse at the slightest touch, hoping to draw a penalty. It's disgusting.

Now all teams have a player who has occasionally embellished a trip or a slash in order to get a Power Play for his team. What's different in Montreal is how blatantly they go about it.

Diving is a part of the hockey culture in Montreal. And while they're criticized for it, the NHL rarely does anything about it.

#3 P.K. Subban
He's a talented player. But there's so much not to like about this guy. He's one of the worst and most obvious floppers on the team. You see him play the game with such strength, then he acts like he's being helplessly thrown around.

This next play sums up Subban nicely. He goes from tough guy to turtle in 0.3 seconds.

There aren't many players on this team that are worthy of respect. They're not all diving diva douches like Subban. And Milan Lucic's old pal Michael Komisarek has moved on to Toronto. But looking at their roster and the only players I have any measurable respect for are Brian Gionta and Carey Price.

I hate the players, the coach, the team, the fans, the city, the Province.

I can't wait for tonight.

-The Captain