Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo shouldn’t be nervous about tonight’s game seven against the Chicago Blackhawks. He shouldn’t be embarrassed about earning tonight’s start because Cory Schneider, the backup who replaced him in game six is hurt (but feeling better). Everyone wants to be the goalie who dominates his way through the playoffs. Everyone wants [...]
This weekend, the sportswriting world lost Mike Penner of the LA Times. Penner was probably best known for his brilliant writing about his decision to become a woman. His byline changed to Christine Daniels. He subsequently returned to living as Mike Penner. Penner covered the Ducks when they first joined the NHL and it seems [...]
What a crazy season. Jeff Gordon says he’s already hearing trade chatter from certain NHL GMs, with many already thinking about giving up their season and trying to dump salary. What separates NHL GMs from most other sports, is that NHL GMs only seem to think about salary implications after a contract is signed. Vinny [...]
The Penguins are going to the Stanley Cup finals thanks to last night’s impressive win over the Penguins. Puck Daddy had a nice look at how the Penguins did it. I’d like to add one other reason to the pile, though. Penguins coach Dan Bylsma had the Penguins play an aggressive defense, with players pinching [...]
What can you say about “Evgeni Malkin’s performance last night? There were stretches where he looked downright Ovechkin-esque, doing everything but playing goal. And shoving Sidney Crosby. He’ll get there, though. I thought Malkin’s potential seemed to have plateaued, but after last night’s game, I’m curious just how much he’s capable of. Over in the [...]
Ha! The Penguins are really selling the seven defenseman concept. Philippe Boucher, the Penguins seventh defenseman scored last night’s game-winning goal. This is par for the course for the Hurricanes, though. They’ve lost game one of every playoff game this season. Tonight is game two of Detroit-Chicago. The Blackhawks aren’t hitting the panic button yet, [...]
Last night we saw two game threes go into overtime, with each game ending 3-2. In Raleigh, the Bruins looked completely out of steam, yet still made it to OT before losing. In Pittsburgh, the Caps seemed to spend the whole game on the penalty kill. And while the penalty kill was strong, it prevented [...]
Wow. Two crazy game sevens last night. Down in DC, Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist made some stunning saves against the Capitals, but ended up giving up a soft game-winner, once again showing how vulnerable he is when you shoot shortside on him. For whatever reason, Lundqvist just does not fully hug the post. The Rangers [...]
The beauty of the playoffs is that teams see each other over a series, allowing each to adjust. This is key as last night’s Ranger win over the Capitals was a bit of an upset. The Rangers want to do it again. The Capitals are looking to put themselves back on track. Washington goalie Jose [...]
We always talk about the NHL coaching carousel but some coaches do seem to evolve. Chicago coach Joel Quenneville, who always seemed a little too player friendly to me, has taken to benching players and it seems to be working. Colorado’s Tony Granato, who replaced Quenneville in Colorado after being replaced by Quenneville (an extreme [...]
