1) So
Marc Bergevin was on Hockey Night in Canada last night in an interview with Ron Maclean, and he kinda let it slip that the series with Boston would get underway on Friday.
"We'll see if Moen is healthy to go on Friday," was the main indication from Bergevin, as we await official announcements from the NHL.
Should this become confirmed in the next 24 hours, expect the Canadiens to play an afternoon game on Sunday, to be televised on NBC's main network.
Here's the rub:
If the Philadelphia Flyers win tonight, there's no chance they or the Rangers will get going against Pittsburgh on Thursday, as they're scheduled for game seven on Wednesday.
If the Rangers win tonight... well there's no problem there.
Is the NHL going to ask San Jose or Los Angeles, or Colorado or Minnesota to play back-to-back to start their second round match ups with Anaheim and Chicago respectively, instead of asking the two most rested teams in Montreal and Boston to kick things off?
2)
562
That's the number of hits between San Jose and Los Angeles through six games.
121
That's the game one hit total, with Los Angeles throwing 69 of them.
63
That's last night's hit total between these teams.
Los Angeles has outhit San Jose in 5 of 6 games. They scored eight goals in the first three games, and had their defense and goaltending been where its been since then, they'd probably have already won this series.
It's not just San Jose blowing it here (we'll get to that part of it in a minute). Darryl Sutter and this team of champions are showing that if you stick to the gameplan you believe in, you have a chance--even down 3-0 in a series. Talk about wearing a team down, knowing you're going to probably go to the limit with them; L.A. has stuck to their game. And the defense tightened--watch that 5-on-3 kill from last night, it was just spectacular. And Jonathan Quick has been in Conn Smyth form for three games.
3) San Jose should have ended it last night with the way they were playing. They looked ready to end it, especially as they seized momentum a couple of failed powerplays created, to tie the game up at 1-1. Then they caught an embarrassingly bad break, with Justin Williams pushing Alex Stalock, as the puck was loose but covered under his equipment. Williams never touched the puck, and somehow, Chris Lee didn't notice this, even though he was standing on the net practically, with the best possible angle in the building to notice. And the play is not subject to review, because the puck crossed the line and it was called a goal before any whistles went off.
a) Not "somehow". Chris Lee is the worst official in hockey. EVERYBODY KNOWS IT, except for the people who matter most--the department of NHL officiating. He's a part of the game story 95% of the time he officiates. How is that not a massive red flag?
Absolute embarrassment!!!!!!
b) All goals should be reviewable. GET THE CALL RIGHT! There's too much on the line for this nonsense, and the technology has been there for years for them to get all of these right.
Worried about delays?
Everyone will take the delay over getting the call wrong. Everyone.
I'm not even going to get into the semantics of what the rulebook says. The rulebook needs an enormous revision in too many areas. Not reviewable? Mockery!
You can't score a goal by pushing the goalie and never making contact with the puck. Call incidental interference. Call interference. Call the play dead because the puck was covered.
4) Now let's get back to San Jose.
They should've ended it last night, but one miserable call, one awful and embarrassing call unglued them. How fragile do you have to be to allow that to happen with the possibility of eliminating the Kings still well in frame?
This is the biggest test of their franchise's history. This has been San Jose in a nutshell in all these years of having a team that's good enough to win, but the difference this year is that they're better than they've ever been. They are better than the Kings too. But the Kings know how to win. And this is the best possible way for the Sharks to learn. Can they overcome this incredible turn of events to get to the next level?
I believe that if they do, they'll be hoisting the Stanley Cup in June.
5) Stalock played well. And McLellan said after the game: "He has a shot to play Game 7."
I'd be beyond shocked if this actually happens.
Here's another thing McLellan said after the game: "We got cheated. Simple as that."
I don't think either of these two statements are good for the Sharks, no matter how just they are. But pressure does tend to impair judgment. McLellan's job has to be on the line, but playing games with his goalies and building in excuses for his team don't seem like strong leadership moves.
Here's what was good for the Sharks:
Logan Couture unloading on Mike Richards with a few minutes left, and Joe Thornton going after Doughty and Quick. They're not defeated yet, and that emotional investment after an exhausting and emotional hockey game could pay dividends.
6) What is there to say about Pittsburgh. Tongue in cheek, I was going to tweet that 4-0 was probably just enough to call this one a game. I restrained myself, because I didn't necessarily believe in the statement. But most of me was ready to move onto Colorado-Minnesota--as I did. And then I changed back to the Pittsburgh game to see 4-3 with more than three minutes remaining.
Raise your hand if you think Pittsburgh is making it out of round two.
No one?
Okay then...
7) Can Minnesota beat Chicago?
I don't think so.
Can Colorado beat Chicago?
They shouldn't be able to, but man would it be exciting to watch them play each other.
8) Irony is the Rangers beating Philadelphia and having a tougher time with Pittsburgh than Philly would.
New York has a chance to close out the series in Philly tonight, and so long as Claude Giroux doesn't make any guarantees ahead of the game, there's a chance they might do it.
Giroux came out after the Flyers horrible start and guaranteed they'd make the playoffs. He came out after game three in this series and guaranteed they'd push this back to New York all square.
In all seriousness, clinching a series in Philadelphia is pretty tough business.
9) Can Anaheim beat the Kings or Sharks?
I don't think so.
10) Take into account that the St. Louis Blues stumbled into the playoff with their entire top nine forward crop hanging by a thread. Everybody toughed it up and played, including David Backes (the Blues claim he wasn't concussed, which is the biggest insult to anyone with functional eyes and half a brain). They had Chicago on the ropes, but they were running on fumes, and they still made the games very close. Chicago prevailed in championship-like fashion.
But Doug Armstrong has a lot of questions to answer. Steve Ott came over in the trade with Ryan Miller and did nothing for St. Louis, and they gave away a goalscorer in Chris Stewart to make it happen. Brenden Morrow was banged up and it showed when he played. And Miller needed to be the difference in round one, and he wasn't. The Blues didn't have a go-to scorer all year, and they traded David Perron for Magnus Paarjavi (they'd have done better in that deal getting a bag of pucks in return).
The Blues were atop the hockey world for most of the season, and they didn't even make it seven games in the first round.
Chicago deserves all the respect they get, but this is an epic failure on St. Louis' behalf, and you can't blame the coach this time.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»