Hockey World Blog

All Things Hockey

Posts Tagged Montreal Canadians

Conference Quarterfinals Recap – Day 14

Apr 27

Posted by Matt in News | No Comments

Boston vs. Montreal – Mike Cammalleri got things going for the Canadians with a power-play goal, his third of the series, midway through the first period. The wicked one timer came off a great pass from P.K. Subban. Early in the second, it was Dennis Seidenberg who tied things up for the Bruins on a great wrap-around effort. Five minutes later, it was Montreal who answered right back. This time, on the two-man advantage again, Brian Gionta slammed home a rebound to give the Canadians a 2-1 lead. Carey Price held strong through the second and third periods, allowing only one goal on 32 shots in the victory.

Montreal ties the series at three games a piece, and are now headed for a game seven of their own. Tim Thomas played strong in this one, and there wasn’t much he could do about the two five-on-three goals that Montreal scored. Look for goaltender battle in game seven, but for Tim Thomas and the Bruins to come out on top with home ice advantage.

Buffalo vs. Philadelphia – The other day I was calling for Ryan Miller to have a huge game and lead his team to round two. Unfortunately, game seven wasn’t really going in Miller’s favor as he was pulled early in the third.

Things looked good for Miller in the first, however. Despite Philadelphia controlling play and out-shooting the Sabres, things were all tied up. Well, they were all tied up, until Braydon Coburn scored on a weak wrist shot from the point. Buffalo finished with only two shots on goal in the first period.

While the Sabres rebounded in the second, and began applying some pressure, the scoreboard fell in favor of the Flyers even more. Less than five minutes in, it was Danny Briere on the power-play who scored his sixth of the series. The Flyers power-play hurt Buffalo once again as James van Riemsdyk scored midway through the second to give his squad a 3-0 lead.

Less than two minutes into the third, the damage would continue to build. As Ville Leino skated in along the left wing, he blasted a slapshot over the shoulder of Ryan Miller to give Philly a 4-0 lead. Miller would be pulled after, and hope was lost for the Sabres. They would tally a couple in the third period, but could never cut the deficit to less than three goals. Philly closed out the win, 5-2, and will now head to round two.

Vancouver vs. Chicago – This would be the series to watch, and the game to watch of the evening. Game seven, Chicago and Vancouver. The Canucks stole the first three games, only to allow the defending champs to climb back in with three straight of their own. In a close matchup, we saw ridiculously good goaltending from Corey Crawford. He absolutely proved himself as a number one ‘tender in this series. Despite all he had, the Blackhawks turned the puck over one too many times, and it finally cost them. Let’s take a look at the video highlights for this game seven.

Tags: , , , , ,

Conference Quarterfinals Recap – Day 9

Apr 22

Posted by Matt in News | No Comments

Chicago is still in it after playing the last two games on the verge of elimination. Boston, who looked shaky early on, has settled down as well. Let’s take a look at what happened on Day 9.

Chicago vs. Vancouver – Chicago is getting hot again and Roberto Luongo is definitely cooling off in this series. Marian Hossa opened things up for the Blackhawks just six minutes into the game as he skated through the neutral zone and into the slot virtually untouched. His wrister from between the circles easily found the back of the net. From there, the onslaught was on once again. This time, under thirty seconds later, it was Duncan Keith who drilled home a slapshot from the point. Later in the first, Patrick Kane joined the party with his first goal of the post-season, on the power-play, to give the Blackhawks a 3-0 lead going into the break.

Not even a minute and a half into the second period, Patrick Sharp hit Marian Hossa with a great pass to send him in all alone. Hossa needed no deke as he rifled a snapshot over the glove of Luongo for a 4-0 lead. Luongo would take a seat on the bench, after this goal, in favor of Cory Schneider. Just over three minutes later, it was Duncan Keith with another bomb that found the back of the net. Keith finished with two goals and two assists on the night.

The third period was scoreless, despite a lot of pressure from the Canucks. Corey Crawford finished with 36 saves on the night, completing the shutout. This is definitely one of the most exciting playoff matchups we have going on right now.

Boston vs. Montreal – Here we have another exciting playoff series, which looked to be completely one-sided after two games. Montreal jumped out to the early lead after Brent Sopel buried a clapper from the top of the right circle. It looked like it would be a low scoring affair, however, as teams headed to the locker room with Montreal ahead 1-0.

Things really opened up in the second period, beginning with Michael Ryder’s top shelf goal to tie the game 1-1. Montreal followed it up with a pair of quick goals from Michael Cammalleri and Andrei Kostitsyn. Boston wouldn’t go down that easy, though, as they bounced back with goals from Andrew Ference and Patrice Bergeron. After two periods, this one was all knotted up 3-3.

Early in the third it was P.K. Subban who gave the Canadians another lead, 4-3, on the power-play tally. Chris Kelly answered back for Boston and tied the game 4-4. Things remained even through the end of the third and we headed to overtime. It look less than two minutes, however, for Michael Ryder to bury the game winner for Boston. When it looked like the Canadians would run away with this series, Boston charged back and now has the series tied 2-2.

Los Angeles vs. San Jose – After a scoreless first period, the Sharks jumped on board with three straight goals from Ryane Clowe, Jason Demers, and Ryan Clowe again, early in the second. But instead of coasting away, the Kings rallied to within one goal after Brad Richardson and Justin Williams tallied. Things remained tight, but the Sharks maintained a 3-2 lead heading into the second intermission.

In the third, however, San Jose came out strong and took over the game. First it was Joe Thornton scoring his first goal of the post-season. Less than a minute later, Joe Pavelski tallied to give the Sharks a huge 5-2 lead. That wasn’t the end of the onslaught though, as Torrey Mitchell followed it up with another goal which gave the Sharks a very comfortable 6-2 lead. Alexei Ponikarovsky would pull the Kings to within three at 13:11 of the third period, but it wouldn’t be enough. San Jose skates away with the victory, and now a 3-1 series lead. They are looking extremely confident at this point, and should be able to clinch in game five on Saturday.

Tags: , , , , ,

Playoff Ramblings

May 17

Posted by Matt in Soap Box | No Comments

Here are some thoughts on the playoffs over the past couple weeks:

My post praising Miroslav Satan’s performance during the playoffs must have been the ultimate jinx. He carried a six game point streak when I wrote about how excellent he had been. In the four games that followed, and an epic collapse by the Bruins, Satan posted zero points, was a minus one, and only had nine shots on goal. Good news for the Bruins though, they’re still going to land either Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin in the draft this summer.

Daniel Briere has been huge for the Flyers in the playoffs

Daniel Briere has been huge for the Flyers in the playoffs

The Philadelphia Flyers are the first ever seven seed to end up with home ice advantage in a playoff series. How did they pull this off? Well, I think its fair to say that they aren’t necessarily as bad as their seed and 88 point season may indicate. Remember this team has several young, but experienced, scorers. Mike Richards has been great, and Danny Briere has played his best playoff hockey picking up 17 points so far, with seven multi-point games. On top of that, the Flyers are picking up a lot of secondary scoring, especially in Claude Giroux who has six goals and seven assists in 13 playoff games. Ville Leino, a late season acquisition, has even made his presence felt with nine points in as many games. You certainly can’t forget about the defensive prowess this team has, lead by perennial all star Chris Pronger. He’s more than capable of shutting down the oppositions top scorers.

So perhaps the Philadelphia Flyers are finally molding into the team that many thought they were going to be. Maybe the leadership issues and problems in the locker room are a thing of the past. They have all the confidence and momentum in the world right now, and will be a tough team to handle.

The Chicago Blackhawks are outstanding. Young captain, Jonathan Toews has been very impressive so far with 21 post-season points. Goaltending has not been the huge issue everyone thought it would be. Antti Niemi has been solid, and has out-dueled two very good goaltenders in Pekka Rinne and Roberto Luongo.

Things seem to be clicking on all cylinders for the Blackhawks, minus the presence of two players. Marian Hossa had a very good first round against Nashville, posting six points in the series. But since them, he’s been very quiet, much like last year, with only three points in the seven games played since finishing off the Predators. Along with Hossa, Kris Versteeg has been less productive than I expected so far. His six points and minus two rating seem low for a young player with the talent level he has. Remember, Versteeg posted terrific numbers as a rookie last season, but is perhaps seeing a decrease in ice time with the top line being so effective.

The San Jose Sharks are still very much competitive in the west. It seemed like everyone wrote them off after being crushed by the Red Wings in game four of that series. Did everyone just forget that they still had a 3-1 series lead? Even if they were still the Sharks who choke in the playoffs, they could have surely taken one game and prevented the Wings from going on. But instead, they bounced back like a true contender and eliminated Detroit in five.

Montreal is having one of the most impressive playoff campaigns in recent years that I can remember. First, they squandered the top seeded Washington Capitals in seven games. This is a team that featured several of the world’s top players: Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, and Green. Then, they followed that performance with a seven game dismantling of the defending Stanley Cup champions. Surely a team that can take out two of the top NHL clubs is capable of making it to the finals, right?

Finally, here’s to hoping for an original six match-up in the finals.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Eric Belanger Pulls Out His Own Tooth

Apr 24

Posted by Matt in Media | 1 Comment

I dont think I’ve ever seen anything like this. In the first period of last nights game between the Capitals and Canadians, Eric Belanger takes a high stick to the face and goes down immediately. Later, on the bench, Belanger pulls some gauze out of his mouth, reaches in, and pulls out his own tooth. Oh yeah, and he went on to finish the game.

Tags: , ,