Season opens on the road for the NHL

The new year’s promises have been made as the season gets under way and in the West it’s the cellar dwellers from last year that have gotten out of the blocks the quickest, attempting to put all of the resolutions to practice, while in the East it’s business as usual. Phoenix, is splitting time between bankruptcy court appearances and the ‘thin’ ice to take the lead in the Pacific, with fellow non-playoff participant LA right behind them. Columbus and St. Louis have both gotten out to a 2-0 start in the Central with the Blues splitting the net 9 times in two games. On the other side, the last teams standing were are the first ones rising as the Flyers are off to a 3-0 start and putting up 13 goals in three games and the Pens are right behind them at 2-0. Montreal is out to an early lead in the Midwest and the Caps seem to have an offensive juggernaut scoring 15 goals in 3 games but their defense hasn’t caught up yet, yielding 11 at the same time. It’s still the first round so we’ll see how things look when everyone comes back from the European showcase games and gets back to business. Who has gotten off to the start they needed to set the tone for the year? Who do you think will be the last unbeaten team in the NHL this year? Let us know here and in the NHL team rooms and chat rooms.

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NHL draft has some spark of it's own

NHL 2009 Draft First Round
PK TEAM............SELECTION
1. N.Y. Islanders..John Tavares
2. Tampa Bay.......Victor Hedman
3. Colorado........Matt Duchene
4. Atlanta.........Evander Kane
5. Los Angeles.....Brayden Schenn
6. Phoenix.........Oliver Ekman Larsson
7. Toronto.........Nazem Kadri
8. Dallas..........Scott Glennie
9. Ottawa..........Jared Cowen
10. Edmonton........M. Paajarvi-Svensson
11. Nashville.......Ryan Ellis
12. N.Y. Islanders..Calvin de Haan(from Min)
13. Buffalo.........Zack Kassian
14. Florida.........Dmitry Kulikov
15. Anaheim.........Peter Holland
16. Minnesota.......Nick Leddy (from NYI)
17. St. Louis.......David Rundblad
18. Montreal........Louis Leblanc
19. N.Y. Rangers....Chris Kreider
20. New Jersey......Jacob Josefson(from CGY)
21. Columbus........John Moore(from ANA)
22. Vancouver.......Jordan Schroeder
23. Calgary.........Tim Erixon(from NJ)
24. Washington......Marcus Johansson
25. Boston..........Jordan Caron
26. Anaheim.........Kyle Palmieri(from CLS)
27. Carolina........Philippe Paradis
28. Chicago.........Dylan Olsen
29. Tampa Bay.......Carter Ashton(from DET)
30. Pittsburgh......Simon Despres

Pens defy odds win first road game 7 since 79’

Like their brothers in arms, the Pittsburgh Pirates that completed the feat back in 79’ going into Baltimore to beat the Orioles and win the World Series, the Penguins went into Joe Louis Arena, took control early, then held on for 2-1 win to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup. Despite losing Sid the Kid for the entire 3rd due to injury, they had just a big enough lead, and just enough gas in the tank to hold on. At one point in the third the Wings had seven shots on goal to none for the Pens, including one goal. Pitt didn’t get a shot for the entire period, clearly hanging on for dear life. Perhaps Detroit was paying too much attention to Crosby and Malkin, as it was Talbot who did the damage again, scoring twice in the second period to provide the margin of victory. The defending champs just didn’t get the efforts from the players they thought would bring it, and leave it, in a game 7. For example, many expected Hossa to make a difference, 18 minutes on the ice with not a lot of ink on the stat sheet to show for it. Lindstrom and Zetterburg had 3 and 5 shots respectively but Fleury was not the same guy the torched for 5 goals in game 5. Super Mario’s gang delivered as promised, protecting their house in game 6, then taking their show on the road and making history in game 7. What was the turning point for the Wings and why couldn’t they put the Pens away? Let us know here and in the Stanley Cup Finals chat room and team rooms.

Pens hold serve and now the finals begin

On previous post we mentioned that this series, perhaps more than others would follow the golden rule of officially not beginning until the home team lost or there was a game 7, well, game on! Also noted was that Pittsburgh needed to get some firepower from somewhere other than Crosby and Malkin, which they did as it was the line of Kennedy and Staal that did the damage, spotting the Pens a 2-0 lead which they held on to despite serving up two power plays in the third period. Pittsburgh gutted out a 2-1 win and sent Lord Stanley’s cup to Detroit where it will be handed out Friday, one way or another. One rumor that was disproved was that the Wings are running out of gas as they pummeled the Pens in the 3rd period getting twice as many shots on goal. It Fleury was after redemption after being taken to the woodshed in game 5, he got it stopping 26 of 27 Red Wing shots and almost single handedly keeping hope alive. So now the series can start as a home team has not lost, but we’ve hit the wall that is game 7. The Motor City will be rockin’ as this will be as good as it gets. This is a night where the stars are supposed to shine so whose will shine brighter? Let us know here and in the NHL chat rooms.