How Not To Play Hockey, Featuring the Flyers

I'm a Devils fan who is jazzed about this beautiful series win vs. a heated opponent. As I try to do with most posts, I'll be leaving my Devils bias out of it. Here's just a case of me losing it on an entire organization, something I've only done with Boston. Enjoy

Going into game 5 in Philadelphia, all eyes were on how the Flyers would react. After a solid game 1 victory, Philly lost all sense of what to do and got man handled by Jersey and dropped 3 straight. Included in those games was a ridiculously stupid penalty by Flyers leader Claude Giroux.

And to noone's surprise (Flyers fans excluded), Giroux earned a 1 game suspension from the headshot.

So the Flyers had to face a game 5 on home ice, without their star forward.

Here's what everyone was saying. Either:
A) the Flyers realize their own impending doom and they look horrid against the Devils who wipe them out of the building
or
B) they're inspired to win on home ice as their teammate watches from the bleachers and come out firing and win the game.

But what actually happened never really crossed my mind. I expected a physical game but what I saw was a game in which one team lost all sense of control.

What I saw tonight embarrassed me as a hockey fan.

Round 2 Series Predictions

First round results:
I said Rangers in 6
Rangers won in 7
.5

I said Bruins in 5
Capitals won in 7
0

I said Devils in 4
Devils won in 7
.5

I said Penguins in 7
Flyers won in 6
0

I said Canucks in 6
Kings won in 5
0

I said Blues in 7
Blues won in 5
.5

I said Coyotes in 6
Coyotes won in 6
1

I said Predators in 6
Predators won in 5
.5

So for the first round, in which many things did not quite make sense, I went 5/8. The first round produced each seed winning the series (1 Rangers, 2 Blues, 3 Coyotes, 4 Predators, 5 Flyers, 6 Devils, 7 Capitals, 8 Kings)

So the second round matchups are set up and it's gonna be a great round for hockey. I'm gonna give a brief prediction for each series. If you want a dissection of each, I took enough time to do that with the first round predictions over here.

Here is the schedule for the second round games.

1. New York Rangers vs. 7. Washington Capitals
Regular season series tied 2-2

What Went Wrong For the Pittsburgh Penguins?

5. Philadelphia Flyers defeat 4. Pittsburgh Penguins in 6 games
Game 1: Phi 4 Pit 3 OT
Game 2: Phi 8 Pit 5
Game 3: Pit 4 Phi 8 
Game 4: Pit 10 Phi 3
Game 5: Phi 2 Pit 3
Game 6: Pit 1 Phi 5

When you look at these scores, you can probably tell what type of series this was. It was a series with all offense and no defense and goaltending. These types of games clearly do not favor a team made like Pittsburgh's which is a team (supposedly) built on chemistry. Philly's offense is more of a powerhouse type and I gave their offense the nod in my series preview. And in a series with all offense and slim-to-none defense and/or goaltending, this translated poorly for the Penguins.

So what went wrong for Pittsburgh exactly? Rob Rossi of the Tribune-Review pointed out 3 things that could have led to this loss.


1) SIDNEY CROSBY COMING BACK:
All year long the Penguins showed that they were not to be affected by Crosby's absence. True, Evgeni Malkin and James Neal stepped up big time for the Pens but it was also their role players filling in here and there. Pascal Dupuis had a very good season and Matt Cooke played pretty well also. Once Crosby came back a couple of things happened: 1) Crosby expected to fit right into the Penguins chemistry which was clicking just about all year and 2) Everyone else expected Sidney Crosby to play like Sidney Crosby. These two things just were not able to happen at the same time. Crosby's intrusion into the Pittsburgh lineup kind of slowed down the play of some of the role players there and it wasn't as sparkling as it could have been. Also, Crosby was in the awkward stages of testing to see what he could do returning from another concussion. The combination of these two things definitely had an impact on the way they played in the first round against the Flyers.


2) THE STARS DISAPPEARED:
The stars of Pittsburgh, with the exception of Jordan Staal, simply did not show up to play this series. Let's face it; Staal, Crosby, Malkin, and M.A. Fleury all have the ability to win at least one game on their own. Staal pretty much won his game in game 4. Fleury provided great goaltending and won his game in game 5. But Crosby and Malkin did not really do anything to earn a victory for the team. Fleury was also a disaster. True he finally had a great game in game 5 but he just simply was not there for Pitt when they needed him. Malkin and Crosby simply didn't contribute offensively. It's as simple as that. Some are saying that Crosby was not quite himself this series. They said he looked hesitant at times and wasn't playing like he should, like a captain should. Obviously in a playoff loss, the blame should not land entirely on only three players but these guys were for sure a reason they lost this series.


3) FACE IT PENGUIN FANS; THE FLYERS ARE BETTER:
I know it hurts for Pen fans to hear this (and it hurts me as a Devil fan to say this). The Flyers have the better team here. Philly is a tough, physical team yet they are deep and posses a strong will to win. They are built with talented all stars and promising rookies and everybody did their part to advance. People hated on Ilya Bryzgalov but he played well in big moments and was one reason Pitt had trouble scoring. But this is a Flyers team that's extremely difficult to matchup against and the Penguins witnessed that first hand.


I just wanted to point out one more thing about this series. Let's call it point 4.

4) PITTSBURGH HAD NO DEFENSE:

Pittsburgh's defense was literally like Swiss cheese out on the ice. People criticized Fleury all series long but he literally received no help from his defense. By the end of the season it came out that teams had figured out how to beat Fleury. But what it seemed like teams were actually saying was "Hey guys. Pitt has no defense so we can literally get any type of chance we want against Fleury." And it worked. Down the stretch? Fleury was awful. In this series? Fleury was awful. But the Penguins defense literally let the opposition walk right in and get chances. Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek were god-awful for the Penguins. This was something that separated these teams. Granted, Philly also had weak-ish defense at times. But they definitely did a good job clearing up the middle for Bryzgalov and made his job a lot easier in doing so. Fleury just didn't have the support.


But hey Pitt fans. It's only game. Why you heff to be mad?

4 Penguins vs. 5 Flyers: PREDICTIONS

Well, it’s playoff time again in the NHL. After a season I’d describe as freakin’ awesome, 16 teams now have to battle it out to go for the Cup. They already announced the schedule for the first round and pretty much every game will be on national TV.

Last year I predicted each series round-by-round and I was correct with 10 out of the 15 series. I thought it was pretty solid for my first time around. I got several upsets right and I got 7 out of 8 first round series correct. So here I go for the 2011-2012 Playoffs!!!!!

EAST

4. Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 5. Philadelphia Flyers

Philadelphia won regular season series 4-2

This is easily the most intriguing first round matchup in the East. These two teams are familiar with each other and every time they play theirs always some bad blood. Things especially heated up in their game on April 1st when they had a huge brawl in which even the coaches got involved. That definitely got everyone excited for this series. Then they faced each other several days later on the last day of the season. So let's just say they know each other by now.

Their intensity hopefully does not shadow the great hockey that will be played in this series. The Penguins and the Flyers finished 1st and 2nd (respectively) in the entire league in scoring. Both teams are highly experienced with playoff hockey. This is certainly going to be one hell of a series.

OFFENSE:

Like I said, these were the top two offensive teams in the league. We'll start here with the Penguins who have the Art Ross Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin (109 points). Malkin has been unstoppable (called it) and showed everyone his injury problem was not so big. He had to carry his team without Sidney Crosby and did a fine job doing that. He had help though as James Neal, after doing 0 for the Penguins last year, finally proved his worth and had very good numbers at the end of the year (40 goals, 41 assists). These two players were sick all year. And then Sidney Crosby came back. Crosby chipped in 37 points in his 22 games and opened up the games of guys like Pascal Dupuis and Steve Sullivan. Throw in Matt Cooke's solid season and a couple of other solid secondary scorers, and you have yourself a pretty damn good hockey team.

The Flyers players were streaky all year. Jaromir Jagr was very good at times in his return to the NHL and Philly received nice help from Scotty Hartnell. When Claude Giroux wasn't injured, all he did was beast it up and he ended the year with 93 points in just 77 games. But the Flyers are a bit deeper than Pittsburgh I feel. Danny Briere has yet to ignite offensively and they have guys like Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds who have been adding timely scoring all year. They have 4 full lines of offense who I feel can all cause damage (and this is without injured forward James van Riemsdyk).

EDGE: I'm giving this to the Flyers. I just feel that the Flyers have more depth. The Penguins I feel can't simply match the same amount of scorers Philly has and although Malkin, Crosby, and Neal are all top 10 forwards in the league, it won't necessarily help if they aren't given any secondary scoring.

DEFENSE:

The Flyers have been in trouble defensively this year especially after Captain Chris Pronger was announced out for the year back in November. Unfortunately, nothing has changed since. Pronger was their leader and they had trouble replacing him (I mean Nicklas Grossman isn't THAT good). Kimmo Timonen is a solid player though and he's made a good pair with Matt Carle. But Philly's D just isn't that strong and they definitely have holes in them.

Pittsburgh's defense, on the other hand, looks very strong on paper. Brooks Orpik has had a nice year and Kris Letang has really proven to be a great defenseman. Then comes, in my opinion, one of the most underrated players in the league. Paul Martin has to be one of the most well rounded defenseman in the NHL. He quietly shuts down top forwards night in and night out. He doesn't have a demanding physical presence and doesn't score too much either. But there honestly aren't too many great defenseman who get as little attention as Martin. And for some reason Penn fans don't like him too much either.

EDGE: I feel that Pittsburgh has the defensive crew to get things done. In a tight series I think they'll hold together and play better than Philly's unit. I find Pittsburgh's Dmen better in their own zone and offensively also.

GOALIES:

For Pittsburgh, it's been a shaky season for Marc-Andre Fleury. He started out a little weak but really improved throughout the middle of the season. But by the end of the year he started playing bad hockey again (and enabled me to win in a fantasy league (he was the other team's goalie)). In the last week of the season, Fleury was 0-3, had a 5.31 GAA, and a SV% of only .788. That's not very good. Thankfully, his regular season stats were not as awful. Overall, it was pretty much an orthodox year for him. But his play down the stretch might concern some. I feel that it was just a phase. He's won a Stanley Cup and I'm certain he'll get into a groove once the playoffs start. It's what Penguins fans expect of him. Numbers: 42 wins, GAA 2.36, SV% .913, 3 shutouts.

Well the Flyer's goaltending situation has been a conundrum for the last few years. It came to a point where we just expected their to be a carousel of netminders for them come playoff time. But this year was supposed to be different. They paid top dollar for a legitimate starting goalie and expected him to carry them to the promise land. But Ilya Bryzgalov, aside from entertaining the hockey world with his observations, did nothing for the Flyers. He was miserable for the first half of the season and was punished by not playing in the Winter Classic. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky did a very good job playing instead of Bryzgalov. Eventually Bryzgalov started playing fantastic hockey and that lasted several weeks. So at this point, people assume Bryzgalov will start, but there has still not been official word on the matter. But I think Ilya has overcome a lot this season and he has more motivation now to quiet his critics. Numbers: 33 wins, GAA 2.48, SV% .909, 6 shutouts (yes those are his numbers thanks to his incredible stretch of games at one point where he was lights out. But these numbers don't reflect the type of season he's been having).

EDGE: The Penguins have the edge here. Fleury has proven himself to be one of the best netminders in the world. Whether or not Bryzgalov shows up, we all can assume Fleury will bring his A game which is always tough to top. In a close series like this, a goalie like Mar-Andre Fleury can make all the difference.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Philly leads the league in powerplay goals. By a lot. The players they have out there are all so good at what they need to do. Giroux can snap one in from anywhere, Hartnell and Simmonds can both create traffic down low, and Kimmo Timonen can quarterback the powerplay and take blasts from the point. Philly also leads the league in powerplay opportunities (thanks to their fans, I'm sure) and they do a lot with their chances. However, Philly is also the most penalized team in the league. I'll get to how good Pittsburgh is on their powerplay in a moment, but Philly cannot just give them chances. They have to do a better job of playing disciplined hockey. And that's a lesson they have to learn fast. There penalty kill isn't THAT solid either so dumb penalties might be their downfall.

Pittsburgh is right up there with the best powerplays in the league. Their first powerplay unit is Malkin-Crosby-Neal-Kunitz-Letang. The skill in those 5 alone is remarkable. But all of them on the ice together, especially one at least one of them is guaranteed to be open at any point, is just scary. The damage they can do is remarkable. They'll have plenty of chances against Philly, the most penalized team in the league. And just because Pittsburgh has to be good at literally everything, they are ranked as the 3rd best penalty killing team in the NHL. 

EDGE: Pittsburgh again. Although Philly has the most powerplay goals in the NHL, Pittsburgh has a better powerplay percentage. Also Pitt will undoubtedly have more chances on the PP and they have a better kill anyway. Easy choice.

CONCLUSION: This will be the closest played series in the first round. The pride of Pennsylvania is on the line and both teams will stop at nothing to win this one. Expect to see a lot of chippy play with a plethora of hits. If you want to see hockey at it's finest watch this series. You'll see big hits, sick saves, gorgeous goals, and who knows, maybe we'll even see Crosby fight. But I think the fact that Fleury is better than any goalie Philly uses and the deadly powerplay of Pittsburgh, it should be somewhat predictable who'll win this.

PREDICTION: PENGUINS IN 7 GAMES

Note: stick tap to dailyfaceoff.com for supplying starting rosters and stuff. Pretty sick site.

Atlantic, Central Division Make History

Due to expansion, the NHL changed their format to the Divisional system they have today. Ever since then, there has never been a division with 4 teams to reach 100 points.

This year, there were two divisions who had that.

Going into the season, people knew that the Atlantic Division (New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, and the New Jersey Devils) would be a tough division to face. Little did they know, these teams were the toughest in hockey just about all season long. Each team stuck to their own systems and powered through the league. Personally, being a fan of the Devils, I find it to be a pain in the ass that we have to play 3 of the best teams in the NHL 6 times each. But each team had to put up with it and it's truly remarkable what each team accomplished.

As for the Central Division (St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks), it was a little bit of a different story. Chicago barely reached the 100 point mark and they needed a win on the last day of the season. Detroit also waited for the last week to get there. But just like with the Atlantic Division, the Central Division showed true resilience and skill throughout the year and it is impressive that they were able to achieve this feat.

Now it is easier for this to occur ever since the shootout was established in the 2005-2006 season. But people should not minimize what these Divisions have accomplished. First of all, no Division has done it since the shootout has been integrated into the league so it clearly isn't THAT simple. And second of all, it's remarkable that two divisions were able to achieve it.

So congratulations to each Division. They do have the opportunity to do this again next year considering this thing was voted against and canceled. All 8 teams definitely have the capability to do it again next year and I wouldn't be surprised if they did. That is, as long as they still have the Islanders and Blue Jackets to beat up on...

Winter Classic 2012 Review; Success?

This year's NHL Winter Classic was an interesting selection. The 5th WC didn't have some of the aspects that the other games had. The first one in Buffalo had A) the football stadium surrounding with all of those fans and B) Sidney Crosby. The next year in Chicago they had the game in a historic ball park, a feature that drew a lot of attention. The same thing happened the next year with the game in Fenway Park in Boston. And then who can forget the Crosby-Ovechkin matchup next year. 

This season, the NHL didn't have the appeal of a historic location or a complete superstar playing in the game. The game was in the somewhat new Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and had the Rangers matched up against the Flyers. This year the NHL went with the rivalry Winter Classic. 

Did it work?

Not really.

As far as drawing in views, which is pretty much the only feedback available, this was the worst year of the Winter Classic.

2008: Pittsburgh @ Buffalo; Jan 1st; 1 PM: 2.6 Overnight rating

2009: Detroit @ Chicago; Jan 1st; 1 PM: 2.9 Overnight rating

2010: Philadelphia @ Boston; Jan 1st; 1 PM: 2.6 Overnight rating

2011: Washington @ Pittsburgh; Jan 1st; 7 PM (primetime): 2.8 Overnight rating

2012: New York @ Philadelphia; Jan 2nd; 3 PM: 2.4 Overnight rating

Well, to this game's defense, it wasn't the first WC, it wasn't in a historic ball park, it wasn't in a historic ball park, and it wasn't hyped up for months and months in advanced Crosby vs. Ovechkin. Additionally, this game was on January 2nd which may have lost a handful of views. And the fact that the start of the game was pushed back to the odd time of 3:00 didn't help. 

But this doesn't necessarily matter. In my opinion, the flow of this year's game was better of the ones in years past. The players said it was because of the ice which may be. The conditions for the ice were perfect at 3 o' clock making the playing smoother. Also, while the snow in '08 was pretty awesome, the skies were clear for the most part (besides for a slight flurry that lasted just a few minutes).

The game itself was an exciting one. The first period was physical and had a great feeling to it including a Jaromir Jagr move that was more classic than the Rangers jersey. Jagr took the puck up the ice and then split the two defenseman only to have his chance denied by Rangers' goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Jagr ended up leaving the game, however, due to a groin injury. 

The Flyers got 2 goals in the second (including Brayden Schenn's first career goal). The Rangers responded a couple of minutes later by Mike Rupp who ripped the puck past a screened Sergei Bobrovsky. Rupp then did his best Jagr impersonation. 

In the third Rupp added another goal followed by a goal by Brad Richards 2 and a half minutes later to put the Rangers up 3-2. The game kept moving and then with 1 minute remaining, there was a controversial penalty call that I'll get to in a second. With the Flyers goalie pulled and Ryan Callahan of the Rangers racing towards the puck, Philly's Kimmo Timonen interfered with Callahan. However, the refs called matching penalties; 2 minutes to Timonen for interference and 2 minutes to Callahan for holding the stick. This kept the teams even strength on the ice. 

A minute later, with 20 seconds left, this happened:

Just to remind you, Danny Briere faced Lundqvist 2 years ago on the last day of the season in the shootout to decide who made it to the playoffs. Briere won that matchup. Lundqvist won this one.

Just a stat about penalty shots in the last minute for teams down 1 goal. Shooters are now 0-11 on penalty shots with a chance to tie the game in the final minute over the last 15 years. A combination of the pressure, the choppy ice (because it's the end of the game), and the goaltending probably causes this statistic.

The Rangers held on and won 3-2.

Many argued that this incredible finished was really a fixed event so the game would have a more exciting finish. Well it definitely was that but I wouldn't go that far. What about you John Tortorella?

Go to 8:50 of this press conference. Tortorella completely bashes the reffing in the game. In my opinion, that's what he had to do. It's wrong but those calls shouldn't be acceptable in the NHL. However, the NHL fined Tortorella $30,000 for his comments about the officiating, a fair move as well.

As a blogger, I wasn't given press tickets for the game, but given that I live in Ranger territory, I had an abundance of friends who attended the festivities in Philly. As one friend put it, "Words can't even explain the experience."

From the pictures I saw, I can agree, being in a building filled with the best fans on earth, there can be nothing better. Here were a few great images:

So good job to the NHL. (On the right side of the blog, vote for your favourite Winter Classic!) See you next year in Detroit!

Top 4 Empty Net Fails in NHL History

Last night we saw a unique fail in the NHL. Rookie sensation Craig Smith, forward on the Nashville Predators, had a chance to put his team up 4-1 with a minute left in the game and with the Toronto net empty. Well things didn't quite work out.

This wasn't the first time we saw a terrible mistake happen with an empty net. Here are my top 4 fails of all time with the net empty.

4. Philadelphia Flyers

It doesn't look like much but here's what happened. On a delayed penalty, the Flyers pulled their goalie for the extra skater. After a Martin Brodeur save and a few bad Flyer passes, the puck wound up in their own net giving Brodeur (the last player on the Devils to touch the puck) the goal, the second of his career. What makes this fail so unique? Well the Flyers scored again to make the game 3-2 in favour of the Devils but failed to score another. This gave Brodeur the only game winning goal by a goalie ever. Which means the Flyers literally scored the game winning goal off of themselves.

3. Niclas Wallin

This one was probably the worst own goal in NHL history. Although he didn't intend to, it appeared Wallin shot it perfectly into his own net. Their truly was no explanation for it. The goal was credited to Dainius Zubrus. The Hurricanes later came back and won the game.

2. Craig Smith

I decided to put this one at Number 2 and you'll see why momentarily. But Craig was literally four feet away from the net. That means he had to shoot it at a 45 degree angle in order to actually miss it (that's college physics baby.) The Predators scored the empty net goal a little bit later and won 4-1. The funniest part of the play was A) the fact that the fans cheered B) the announcers thought it went in C) the stadium goal spotlights went on D) the goal horn sounded E) the cute embarrassment of an NHL rookie F) seeing his teammates hold in the laughter. The worst part of the play? He's on my fantasy team.

1. Patrik Stefan

Patrik Stefan is rather synonymous with the word "suck". And this play proves it. He came right in and took his eyes off the puck for a fraction of a second and then swung and miss. And then, in a desperate attempt to redeem himself, he comically slips and gives the puck right to a guy on the Oilers. To make things even better (or worse), the Oilers went right down the ice and scored within the ten seconds they had. The Stars won the game in a shootout but his play will forever be remembered by hockey fans. "Can you. Believe. What we. Just saw?"