Game five tonight, and the Stanley Cup hangs in the balance. It is essentially a best of three and the Boston Bruins do have a decided advantage. Throughout this playoff season, the Vancouver Canucks have played better away from Rogers Arena, that is until this series.
The key for Boston tonight is to score early, take the sure to be crazy crowd of Canuck maniacs out of the game. The pressure on the favorites has ratcheted up to an almost unfair level, their fans are nervous, the media is in full-fledged freak mode and the team is back to answering the questions they thought they put to bed in the first round.
Roberto Luongo is the starter tonight for Vancouver… that shouldn’t have even been an issue as the Canuck blueline has been awful in their past two games, repeatedly hanging their goaltender out to dry. You might be able to blame him for one loss, and then blame him for not giving the team a shutout in their second, but considering the disappearance of their power play, their inability to bury scoring chances that have been there, and their almost total lack of discipline in key game situations… the problems go well beyond the net.
It’s going to be a good one tonight.
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Random Notes
- The Predators officially announced Lane Lambert as assistant coach yesterday. No specific roles assigned until it is known if Peter Horachek is returning. Horachek is a candidate for the Dallas Stars head coaching job.
- The search is on for Lambert’s replacement in Milwaukee. Ian Herbers, Lambert’s assistant is a lead candidate, along with former Wild head coach, Todd Richards, who also had a stint with the Ad’s.
- A couple of notable signings yesterday. Toronto signed RFA netminder James Reimer to a three years deal and Montreal signed Sergei Kostitsyn’s big brother Andrei to a one year contract extension.
-.Columbus is doing it again. The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that the Jackets are in discussions with Philadelphia about a trade for Jeff Carter. You begin to wonder when Columbus will start trying to surround Rick Nash with complimentary players instead of competition.
- Here we go again. Matthew Hulsizer is trying again to get a deal done for the Phoenix Coyotes… let’s hope the Goldwater Institute is on vacation.
- Check out
On the Forecheck later today as my review and grading of Shea Weber will be posted. Thanks to Dirk for asking me to participate.
- Jim Balsillie… owning the Toronto Maple Leafs? The rumors are flying… now that would be fun! I wonder when he would start selling season tickets for the Hamilton Maple Leafs? (sorry… couldn’t resist!)
- Tonight’s playoff schedule – Boston @ Vancouver – Series tied 2-2 – Coverage on NBC and CBC.
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You are invited to follow me on Twitter. Search for @PredPAPaul… Not only will I be updating when I get news or updates, but we are having a bit of fun by getting your input on Gnash introductions, weigh in on Twitter and who knows, we may use your introduction for the best mascot in the NHL at the next Preds game!
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COMING UP ON THE NEXT SLAPSHOT RADIO…
The podcast for Wednesday night’s show is posted. We chatted with Versus/NBC analyst Keith Jones last night to preview game four of the Stanley Cup final, plus we checked in with Eklund to get his take on the game and the wheeling and dealing going on in advance of the NHL Draft plus a talk with the dean of ESPN hockey John Buccigross.
You can get check out our podcasts at
the SlapShot Radio podcast page.
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