*I was super late in posting yesterday's blog so if you missed it...
Day Five: Sitting On The Edge*
After a day riddled with discipline hearings, we finally got a night of hockey without any unsavory incidences and even an NHL debut as two-time National Champion Chris Kreider replaced the suspended Carl Hagelin in the lineup.
Before we get to the games, let's start with the suspensions….
New York's Carl Hagelin was suspended for three games for his hit against Daniel Alfredsson while Ottawa's Matt Carkner was suspend for one game for continuing to engage an unwilling combatant in Brian Boyle. Here's how I look at it…they probably both deserved two apiece, but Carkner was ejected from the game and Hagelin wasn't.
There were other hearings yesterday with the verdict yet to be delivered, but while we wait I'd like to say that I don't buy for one second that all this nonsense is a direct result of Shea Weber only being fined for his WWE move on Henrik Zetterberg. Should he have gotten a game, probably, but these are grown men fully aware of what is right and what is wrong. To say this is because of Weber "getting off easy" is to say that these incidents are pre-meditated and I'm not buying it. It's the playoffs and their emotions are getting the best of them. End of story.
Alrighty then….In Ottawa, Kreider became the 301st former NCAA player to lace them up in the NHL this season, but not after Kreider-mania took hold of just about everyone paying attention to this series. Will he? Won't he? Will he be good enough? Who will he play with?
Yes, No, Yes, Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards. Nothing quite like jumping off the deep end, eh? The good news is that he held his own in his 11 minutes of ice time and once he adjusts to the faster pace and builds some chemistry, he'll be good to go. He's got explosive speed, great vision, a high hockey IQ and great hands. He's not the seconds coming, but he is a very good hockey player and it won't be long before he's making an impact for the Blueshirts.
The Rangers won the game 1-0 and took a 2-1 series lead thanks to a third period goal by Brian Boyle who was heartily booed every time he touched the puck at ScotiaBank Place. Truth is, the Rangers were lucky to win and they owe it all to the King. Henrik Lundqvist faced 39 shots, many of which came from below the hashmarks in that prime scoring area. The Sens were out shooting, out hitting, controlling puck possession….they did everything but score. If they keep doing what they're doing they have a good chance of making this a three game series.
In Washington, the Capitals and Bruins finally remembered how to score. Tied at two after two thanks to the usual suspects from Washington - Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin - and the not so usual suspects from Boston - Rich Peverley and Dan Paille - it was another unusual suspect in Brian Rolston to break the tie early in the third. To say he's experiencing some new life in Beantown would be a gross understatement. For a graybeard, he's playing some fantastic hockey right now.
Brooks Laich tied it back up with six minutes to go by taking advantage of a defensive gaffe by the Bruins and it looked like we'd be heading to yet another overtime. Apparently, Zdeno Chara decided it was time to rest the body as he unleashed a bomb from the point with less than two minutes to play that beat Brayden Holtby to give Boston the 4-3 win and 2-1 series lead.
In the late game in San Jose, the Blues were all over the Sharks for the first 50 minutes as they scored three power play goals and had a 4-1 lead. With as good as the Blues are with the man advantage, you're really playing with fire each time you take an undisciplined penalty. The Sharks didn't take many, but the Blues don't need a lot of time to make it hurt where it counts as we saw last night.
The good news is that the sharks fought back hard in the final five minutes and even scored twice to make it a one goal game with 16 seconds left in regulation. It was too little too late for Game Three but set a pretty good stage for Game Four on Thursday.
Tonight, we have Florida and New Jersey, Nashville and Detroit and Phoenix and Chicago.
Enjoy the games!
**********
The ladies at
Sassy Swag (shown below) are running a contest for the NHL playoffs....Just tweet "I hope _____ wins the Stanley Cup so I can get my sassy on with
@SassySwagStyles" for a chance to win free swag!
For those of you who are CHL fans, they'll be running the same contest for the OHL, WHL & QMJHL once they sort out who's playing in the conference finals and then once again for the Memorial Cup...
Julie
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