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Posts Tagged Chris Pronger

Time to Retire

Jan 15

Posted by EB in Soap Box | No Comments

Today’s NHL is younger, faster and stronger. Yet, today’s NHL still has some old guys refuse to understand that. Sure, they were once something in their day, but that was in their day. Here’s a list of players that should think about hanging ‘em up and begin to enjoy the golf season a little more.

Teemu Selanne, quit playing games with the fans Sir. Commit to a year or don't, no in between.

Rick DiPietro – New York Islanders goalie at the age of 30 has seen better days. Playing only 47 games dating back to the 2008-2009 NHL season, and now out for most of the rest of the season with surgery to repair a sports hernia, how much play does he really have left? DiPietro signed a 15-year, $67.5 million dollar contract before the 2006-2007 season. If the Islanders can opt-out of the agreement because he is unfit to do the job, maybe then they can continue with their youth movement and start winning some games.

Chris Pronger – Pronger has had a good run of being one of the dirtiest, biggest and toughest defenseman in the league to go up against. Nowadays though, he has turned into that old guy at drop-in who can’t really skate anymore so he slashes the heck out of you. That is of course until his concussion like symptoms after taking a stick to the eye from Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mikhail Grabovski. The snow-ball effect kicked in and eventually Pronger had knee surgery that is seeing him sidelined for the remainder of the season. His age has set in and everyone would respect him for retiring, knowing that Pronger is Hall of Fame bound, won Gold medals as well as the Stanley Cup and that he could kick the crap out of you and me with one hand tied behind his back.

Teemmu Selanne – When you think of Selanne you can’t help but be amazed that the 41 year old put up 80 points in 73 games last season. Absolutely amazing. But, with every great thing comes something bad. Selanne is bordering the Brett Favre of the NHL. (besides that of Peter Forsberg) Selanne continues to go year by year, not letting the Anaheim Ducks or any team know if he plans on playing. That’s great when he does play, but what happens when he just retires when the Ducks are leaving a roster spot open for him? Leaves them high and dry. Time to hang ‘em up or quite playing games in the off-season.

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NHL Players Vote Dion Phaneuf Most Overrated

Jan 12

Posted by Matt in News | 1 Comment

Dion Phaneuf was voted most overrated hockey player by his NHL peers

Dion Phaneuf was voted most overrated hockey player by his NHL peers

In a recent poll conducted by Sports Illustrated, 161 NHL players voted on the most overrated player in hockey. After the feedback was tallied, it turns out Dion Phaneuf is considered by the majority to be the most overrated. His stats look great so far this season as Phaneuf has tallied 7 goals and 21 assists for 28 points in only 42 games. The heavy hitter could be benefiting from playing alongside the likes of Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul, however, both of whom are currently in the top 5 in NHL scoring. This is the first season since his breakout year in 2007-08 that Phaneuf has lived up to any of the hype he had early in his career.

Despite his good numbers this season, Phaneuf’s peers clearly don’t think he is deserving of any hype. Dominant defensive players can play against the opponent’s top offensive talent night in and night out, shut them down consistently, and show up as an additional offensive threat on the blue line as well. Nick Lidstrom and Shea Weber would be great examples, and both are having tremendous seasons once again. While they have maintained solid plus/minus numbers, Phaneuf has struggled in recent seasons to be a consistent plus player. His offensive numbers are great again, but until he can turn up his defensive game as well, his NHL peers will look down on him for being overrated.

Coming in at number two on the overrated list, which is becoming less and less of a surprise as time goes on, is Alexander Ovechkin. After being a perennial 50 goal scoring threat, Ovechkin has faded in the past two seasons and is only on pace for 34 goals in 2011-12.

Third on the list is Montreal Canadian’s center Scott Gomez. I think we can all agree with this assessment. While his name isn’t mentioned much anymore, his cap hit of roughly $7.36 million from 2007 to 2014 makes him highly overpaid. Gomez is currently on the shelf with a nagging groin injury and has 4 assists in 13 games played this season.

Behind Gomez, and fourth on the SI list is Roberto Luongo. His inability to capture a Stanley Cup may have landed him high on the list. However, it could also be that Luongo is nothing more than a good goalie on a great team. Many teams now are employing average goaltenders at a low cap hit, in order to make the most of the rest of their roster. They’re also seeing a lot of success by doing it. The Canucks, however, continue to pay big bucks for Luongo’s services.

Rounding out the top five is Dany Heatley. Since being traded from Ottawa, we’ve watched Heatley’s stock sink. His first year in San Jose was solid with Joe Thornton centering him. Beyond that, Heatley began falling apart. He’s on pace for less than 60 points this season with Minnesota.

The rest of the most overrated players in the NHL fall in line as follows:

6. Ilya Kovalchuk
7. Vincent Lecavalier
8. Jay Bouwmeester
9. Ryan Kesler
10. Mike Komisarek
11. Chris Pronger
12. Jarome Iginla
13. Alexander Semin
14. Olli Jokinen
15. Ed Jovanovski

How accurate do you think the NHL players were? If it were your list, who would you have voted most overrated?

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2011-12 NHL Season Preview: Philadelphia Flyers

Sep 4

Posted by EB in Season Previews | No Comments

Key Offseason Additions: Ilya Bryzgalov, Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, , Brayden Schenn, Jaromir Jagr, Maxime Talbot

Key Offseason Losses: Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Kris Versteeg, Ville Leino, Dan Carcillo

Last Season Ranking: 2nd in the East

Mike Richards and Jeff Carter won't be partying anymore as both players have been traded to different teams.

Offense: It is hard predicting all that the Philadelphia Flyers can achieve this year offensively with the massive amount of trades that happened during the off-season. Captain Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Kris Versteeg all parted ways in the Flyers remodel. Together, the three combined for 80 goals, 98 assists to total a whopping 178 points. Simply put, that is a lot of points lost.

Flyer’s fans will be happy to know that the incoming class will most likely pick up the slack and put forth a mighty good effort in out-doing their predecessors. Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek are both solid two way players that will bring a lot of heart to the game. Veteran Jaromir Jagr is a wild card but is coming off of a slightly higher than point per game season in the KHL as well as a head turning display in the World Championships for the Czech Republic. Throw in gritty, get-under-your-skin-and-draw-a-penalty Maxime Talbot and the Flyers are starting to look like a good mix resembling that of the Stanley Cup Champions Boston Bruins.

The Flyers still have one more asset from the off-season trades and that being young Brayden Schenn. Schenn only played 8 NHL games last season for the Los angeles Kings but still managed to produce 2 assist and 11 shots. His Junior career was spent with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL where as a rookie, he not only lead the team in scoring, he lead the league amongst all rookie scorers with 28 goals and 43 assists to total 71 points in 66 games played. It is still yet to be determined if he will be playing this season, but the future for the organization has a definite plus side with him in it.

The Flyers still have a very solid core, made up of Claude Giroux, Danny Briere, Scott “Carrot Top” Hartnell and recently extended contract James van Riemsdyk. It is important that the four of these players not only assist the new players in learning how to play Broad Street Bully hockey, but also be able to adapt to new line-mates.

Defense: Philly’s defense did not change nearly as much as the offense, as a matter of fact, only 1 new defensive player has been added to the roster. Big 6’3″ Andreas Lilja, who played last season with the Anaheim Ducks and most known for his years with the Detroit Red Wings, will be looking at limited ice time unless he can earn more.

Ilya Bryzgalov looks to be the solid goaltender the Philadelphia flyers have been missing

The team will once again be coddled by veteran and Stanley Cup winner Chris Pronger. Pronger is coming off of an injury plagued season. Pronger underwent two recent surgeries, a plate and pins inserted in his right hand and disk fragments removed from his lower back. It is expected that Pronger will not be ready in time for training camp, but stated his hand which is limiting the majority of his weight training, is between 80 and 85 percent healed.

Overall, the Flyer’s defense looks as good as last year, which saw them as 11th best in goals against average with 2.63. That stat will most likely improve…

Goaltending: Perhaps the biggest move of the off-season was the addition of net-minder Ilya Brzygalov. Bryz played for the Phoenix Coyotes, and in leaving, most likely burned some bridges. But that really doesn’t matter now as becoming the number one goalie over Sergei Bobrovski, Ilya has said all the right things to Philly fans. “This is a team with rich history,” Bryzgalov said. “The highest goal is to win the Cup. That’s what this game is all about. That’s all that matters.”

Could Bryzgalov take the Flyers to the promised land? Not sure, but being known as a somewhat difficult teammate, it will be interesting to see if the Flyers later down the road want to dump him as they did Richards and Carter, only to be denied by his 9 year, $51 million dollar deal taking him to 40 years of age.

HWB Playoff Prediction: Playoff bound.

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Philadelphia Flyers acquire negotiating rights to Ilya Bryzgalov

Jun 8

Posted by Chris in News | 2 Comments

The Philadelphia Flyers took one step closer to resolving their goaltender situation as the team traded the Phoenix Coyotes for the negotiating rights to goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.

In exchange for his negotiating rights, Phoenix received forward Matt Clackson, a third-round draft pick in 2012 and future considerations. The Flyers will now have sole negotiating rights to Bryzgalov before he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

“We’ll see what we can do,” said Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren. “He’s certainly not an old goaltender. We feel like he’s got a lot of good years left in him. We’ll see how it goes. When you get into a negotiation like this, you’re dealing with a salary cap and you try and get a number you can live with.”

Perhaps no team in the NHL more desperately needs a top-tier goaltender than the Flyers, which became evident this spring in the playoffs after the team consistently started different goalies and hardly played the same backstop in back-to-back games.

However, sources close to the situation stated that Phoenix intended to re-sign Bryzgalov, but talks broke down when Bryzgalov indicated that the money he seeks would make him one of the highest paid goalies in the NHL. Whether this is true remains unclear, but Bryzgalov, who finished this past season with 36 wins – including seven shutouts – could command a raise from the $4.25 million he was making previously – especially in a free agent market thin on quality, proven starting goaltenders.

“After several discussions with Ilya and his agent, it became very clear to us that we were not in a position to sign Ilya to a long-term contract,” said Coyotes’ general manager Don Maloney in a statement. “We will now focus our efforts on adding another goaltender to our roster for the upcoming season.”

While the Flyers need a goalie, their cap situation makes it difficult for the team to even match Bryzgalov’s previous contract, let alone make him one of the highest paid netminders in the game. The team currently has less than $500,000 available in cap space for next season with only 18 players under contract. Although the cap is expected to go up, the Flyers will still have to move a player or two in order to fit Bryzgalov under the cap. Rumors continue to circulate that Jeff Carter has been targeted and inquired about by several teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs. With a long-term contract and a cap hit of roughly $5.25 million, Carter would be a cap-friendly commodity for any team looking to beef up their offense.

Don’t be surprised if the Flyers try to unload defenseman Chris Pronger, either. Pronger, whose cap hit is $4.92 million, was plagued by injuries most of last season. At 36-years-old, Pronger may have seen his best days and the Flyers could look to unload the physical defenseman and his hefty contract.

With the NHL Entry Draft two-and-a-half weeks away, the Flyers will most likely try to figure out where they stand with Bryzgalov before the draft and then make any necessary cap moves at the draft or in the days preceding the draft.

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Chris Pronger Slash Goes too Far

May 1

Posted by EB in News, Soap Box | No Comments

In game one of the Boston Bruins vs. Philadelphia Flyers, the Bruins put on a clinic, pounding the Flyers 7-3. The game saw plenty of scoring, some rough stuff as well, but it also saw exactly what the league does not need.

About 10 minutes into the first period Flyer’s defensman Chris Pronger was skating to beat out Bruin’s forward Daniel Paille for an icing. Slight contact was made by Paille and Pronger took exception with a hard two-hander to Paille’s side. The play resulted in matching penalties, 2 minutes to paille for tripping and 2 minutes for slashing to Pronger.

After dissecting the video a few times, you will notice that Pronger did not ever touch the puck for an icing, but instead had his stick lifted by Paille. The linesman still made the correct call, or more so, did not make a bad call. It is difficult at the pace to really know who touched the puck first, and more times than not, the defender will be given the benefit of the doubt. Pronger however was upset as he could have been injured on the play if hit or taken into the boards the wrong way. Many critics would favor a no-touch icing or a variation of it to protect the safety of the players. The question though is, why did Pronger not get ejected for his slash, or further yet, why didn’t Pronger receive any suspension or fine for his actions? Had Pronger hit Paille on the wrist and potentially broke it, would he of then?

The NHL has evolved into a much faster, stronger game; any veteran will tell you that. Those veterans will also tell you the reasoning for so many head-shots and injuries to the players nowadays is because of the lack of respect between players. The NHL is definitely making steps in the right direction with a constant look at implementing new rules or tweaking existing ones to keep their players safe, but the problem though is the NHL, like many other major sports leagues, are reactionary.It takes one players actions resulting in a major injury before they fix it.

The NHL needs to step up and not be afraid to challenge the players for their actions. Pronger is a big player, a veteran who has seen it all and been through it all. He of all players should know better to not have reacted in such a way. If the NHL truly wishes to protect their players, instill a sense of respect for one another in hopes of lowering the injuries, they should have suspended Pronger. Send the message to players that such blatant disregard for players safety by wielding your stick like a weapon more than a tool, will not be tolerated. Not tolerated because the NHL does value the players safety and the integrity of the game.

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Tuesday’s Take: Chris Pronger Rule

Nov 30

Posted by EB in News, Soap Box | 6 Comments

There seems to be some buzz about Philadelphia Flyer’s Chris Pronger and the disallowed goal. The video can be seen here for your own review.

People are on two sides of the fence; it is a penalty or it is not a penalty. For those for it being called a penalty see Pronger’s actions as not playing the puck but intentionally interfering with the goalie. Those against it feel that the current rule book does not specifically state Pronger’s doings as wrong and therefore should not have been called.

The rule is as follows:

“An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty (Rule 75) will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender’s face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play.”

For those who think it is not a rule are getting hung up on one minor detail:

“positions himself facing the opposition goaltender.”

Seriously? I know Philly fans are a bit dramatic in thinking Gary Bettman and the NHL are out to get them, however you have to acknowledge that Pronger intentionally waved his hand in the goaltender’s face to interfere with him. Yes this is not “facing” the goaltender, but it is a blatant improper interference with the goalie and not resembling a screen in any way.

Please hockey fans, and Philly fans especially, quit complaining about minor things that are so obviously a penalty.

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Who’s Injured?

Oct 8

Posted by Matt in Fantasy, News | 2 Comments

Unfortunately, for a number of players, it seems like the injuries are piling on heavy right as the season gets underway. Here’s a look at some of the bigger names who will be missing time to start the season:

Brian Campbell – A sprained knee will keep Campbell out well into November. He was injured in the pre-season against the Penguins.

Marc Savard – Savard is experiencing post-concussion syndrome and there’s no telling when he will return. He’s been doing some light lifting and bike riding, but no high intensity work as of yet.

Jordan Staal -Suffering from an infection on his foot after having surgery late last season to repair a torn tendon. He’s had multiple procedures done to try to get things going, but was recently placed on long term injured reserve, meaning he will miss at least 10 games.

Kyle Okposo -Had successful shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum. He suffered the injury during a practice where fans could attend, and will be out 2-3 months. Expect him back sometime in December.

Vinny Prospal – Prospal is out with a sore right knee. His injury was originally thought to be short term, but no progress has been made. He has yet to start skating again, and will likely be out until the end of October.

Matt Stajan – A separated shoulder, which occurred September 21st, will keep Stajan from playing. Expect a return towards the end of October.

Joffrey Lupul – After missing much of last season with a herniated disc in his back, Lupul will have to sit out a bit longer. He had surgery in December, and hoped to be ready for this season. During his off-season training, Lupul was found to have a blood infection in his back. He’s been placed on injured reserve, and there is no timetable for his return.

Andrei Markov -Markov is recovering from surgery after tearing his ACL late last season. His successful surgery was in the middle of May, and recovery is expected to take 6 months. This places Markov with an expected return sometime in November, depending on recovery.

Michael Leighton – A bulging disc in his back will keep Leighton out for about a month.

Chris Pronger -Pronger is still recovering from off-season surgery on his right knee. He has began skating, but has said he needs to gain more strength before he can return to the lineup.

Mark Streit – A torn left labrum and rotator cuff will keep Mark Streit sidelined for quite a while. His injury occurred during an intersquad scrimmage. After taking a hit from Matt Moulson, Streit fell hard into the boards. Unfortunately for the Islanders, he could be on the shelf for up to 6 months.

Alexandre Burrows -The Canucks winger was placed on injured reserve after having surgery to repair a torn labrum. He’s expected to be out approximately two months.

Peter Meuller – The Avs will be without Mueller indefinitely as he recovers from a concussion suffered during the preseason. There’s a bit of controversy behind this as Mueller was supposed to be wearing the new Cascade M11 helmet, but was not due to fitting issues. The Denver Post blog “All Things Avs” explains it in full detail.

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Hockey World Blog Season Previews 2010: Philadelphia Flyers

Sep 4

Posted by EB in Season Previews | 1 Comment

Key Offseason Losses: Arron Asham, Simon Gagne

Key Offseason Additions: Nikolai Zherdev

Last Season Ranking: 7th in the East

Captain Mike Richards should lead the Flyers to another productive season, possibly even the Stanley Cup.

Captain Mike Richards should lead the Flyers to another productive season, possibly even the Stanley Cup.

Offense: The Flyers are coming into their own as a team offensively lead by a very physical and talented Captain Mike Richards. Richards has a supporting cast of Jeff Carter, Danny Briere, Claude Giroux and Scottie Hartnell. Sure it seems I’m just listing the whole team, but when you really look at the production of all these players, all 40+ point players, the team has 3 solid lines. Throw into the mix playoff stud Ville Leino and young gun James van Riemsdyk, it is very possible that the Flyers are capable of making another push for the Cup.

Philadelphia had a tough decision to make in the offseason and ended up trading away Simon Gagne. Gagne posted 40 points in 58 games played last year. To ease the pain of his loss, the team acquired a personal favorite player of mine in forward Nikolai Zherdev. Zherdev took a season off and played overseas with the KHL and did not put up great numbers. Perhaps he viewed it as a vacation as in his last two NHL seasons he had near 60 point seasons.

Defense: What’s not to love about the Flyer’s defense? They have grit, size and skill. Lead by veterans Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen, the defense will once again be solid.  Second pairings should note the production Matt Carle who had 6 goals, 29 assists and a +19 rating. The team also picked up Andrej Meszaros from the Tampa Bay Lightning to add to their depth and line the 3rd pairing. Meszaros could sink or swim as with Tampa Bay he was mediocre at best, but while previous to them with the Ottawa Senators, Meszaros had 3 seasons of near 30 points each season.

The only other note in regards to the worry of Pronger resting for the start of the season recovering from surgery will not be a factor as he should be prime come later in the season.

Goaltending: Last year Philadelphia had some goalie problems, problems to the extent of starting 4 different goalies throughout the season problems. All that should be behind them as the team should split time between Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher. Leighton was by far the better goalie of the two producing a .920 save percentage with a 16-5-2 record. Boucher still was not bad in the save percentage category, .900, yet when it came to his record, it was a mere 9-18-3.

Season Outlook: The Flyers almost did not make the playoffs last season, but once they did, almost won the Cup but lost to a better team in Chicago. This year expect another stellar performance from the Bullies and a drive like none other after the sour taste from losing after being so close. The addition of Zherdev should prove fruitful for the organization, and with the team mainly being players in their prime, Philly will be tough to beat this season.

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Zherdev’s Fantasy Profile

Jul 14

Posted by EB in News | No Comments

Forward Nikolai Zherdev has been signed by the Philadelphia Flyers for the upcoming year. Will he produce or will he flop? Here’s my take and why.

Zherdev played last season over in Russia and posted 39 points in 52 games. With only a +3 rating and a team leading 79 penalty minutes leave not much to be desired. Yet looking at the previous two seasons in the NHL, Zherdev posted a team leading 58 points in a Rangers uniform and 61 points for Columbus, 8 points less than NHL All Star Rick Nash. And in both seasons his penalty minutes were much more curved than in the KHL. His NHL seasons are much more like his 1st round 4th overall draft in 2003 prediction of talent.

Zherdev is a solid player despite the naysayers. Sure he needs to be whipped every now and then to make sure he is playing day in and day out, but who better than the Philadelphia Flyers? Captain Mike Richards and big veteran defenseman Chris Pronger are just the players to do it, not to leave out beastly Scott Hartnell for backup. What so many fans fail to realize is that prior to his trade to the Flyers, backbone of the playoffs Ville Leino only put up 7 points in 42 games with the Detroit Red Wings. Leino’s poor production was a direct result of his lack of effort on the ice. Leino, in a nutshell, was transformed once he went to the Flyers into a hard working, corner digging offensive powerhouse in clutch times. Zherdev will follow suit.

So, my overall prediction for the newly acquired Flyers Zherdev: Pick him late in the draft. He will put up at least 60 points this season, perhaps even more depending on who he plays with, although I foresee him winging with Leino forming a one two punch that will contest with any second line in the NHL. Factor in his previous seasons production, as well as only being signed to a one year “tryout” season, Zherdev will be looking to increase his pay of 2 million to much more.

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Keys To What Could Be Last Game of Season

Jun 9

Posted by Eddie in News | No Comments

Tonight is game 6 between the Flyers and Blackhawks. Chicago leads the series 3-2 as they try to win their first Stanley Cup in since 1961 on the road tonight in Philadelphia. Sad to think this could be the last game of the season. But all good things come to an end. If the Hawks can close out the series and claim the first-and only- road win of this Stanley Cup final, the 2010-11 season will begin for the other 29 teams tomorrow morning.

Things aren’t always sunny in Philadelphia for the Flyers. They are the first team since the 1994 Vancouver Canucks to reach the Finals without recording 90 points in the regular season. Let’s go back to the end of the regular season when they had to beat the New York Rangers just to make the playoffs. It came down to a “Win or Go Home” situation for both teams. The Flyers trailed 1-0 heading into the third period before Matt Carle scored a power play goal early in the period to tie the game. Teams remained tied until the shootout, when Claude Giroux scored the biggest goal of the season to get them into the playoffs. Brian Boucher was the goalie that night on April 11.

Boucher played until he got injured against Boston, when Michael Leighton came in, saved the day and helped them get to the finals. Then came along the Chicago Blackhawks, when in game one they scored at will, “Chelsea Dagger” blared throughout the United Center. Now the Broad Street Bullies of 2010 have a goaltending controversy. Both goalies haven’t really gotten the job done, and now head coach Peter Laviolette has remained tightlipped on who will sgtart game six, but expect Leighton to get the start because he’s the one who got them to this point. I feel if they lose, they will lose with who got them there, and thats Leighton.

The Chicago Tribune decided to mock Chris Pronger by calling him Crissy Pronger, dressing him in a skirt and saying he 'looks like Tarzan, skates like Jane'. Look for him to lay someone out Kronwall-style tonight.

The Chicago Tribune decided to mock Chris Pronger by calling him Crissy Pronger, dressing him in a skirt and saying he 'looks like Tarzan, skates like Jane'. Look for him to lay someone out Kronwall-style tonight.

Tonight’s first puck will drop shortly after 8:00 p.m. Eastern on NBC. If you’re cool enough to live in the northern part of the country, you can watch better commentating on CBC. Before the teams take the ice tonight, here’s what to expect in game six.

Look for the Flyers to win

Every team that has won game four in the finals since the lockout has won the Stanley Cup. If that is the case, look for the Flyers to win at home and steal one on the road in game seven. The key to a seven-game series has always been “protect home turf and steal one on the road”. Well for either team to win, they have to hold true to that, unless Chicago can win at home in game seven. But there’s a small chance for every home team to win a seven-game series.

Quick Striking

Chicago has to continue pouring it on Philadelphia with quick goals. Look at the scenarios in this series:

Game 1- Two goals in 4:04 helped turn a 1-0 PHI lead into 2-1 CHI

Game 2- Two goals in :28 was enough for a 2-1 victory

Game 4- Two goals in 3:49 helped make what appeared to be a PHI rout into a one-goal contest

Game 5- Three goals in 5:58 helped blow open the game, Two more goals in 1:25 fended off PHI’s momentum, and Two more in 1:47  kept PHI from making a comeback

Going Long Distance

This Stanley Cup playoffs hasen’t featured many multi-overtime games. Can you name how many games have gone past the first overtime this season? Two. They were both in the first round when Boston defeated Buffalo in game four in double OT, and the next day when Ottawa extended their series with Pittsburgh in game five with a  triple overtime thriller on April 22. The last game to go into multi-overtimes in the finals was two seasons ago when Pittsburgh won game five in triple overtime. If you’re a fan of the local news or The Tonight Show, expect it to begin a little later than usual because I sense an overtime game tonight.

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