Weekend Wrap Up OR Can we please have some game 7s on Wednesday

Seriously, all the games friday were mostly disappointing. I'm glad series got extended, but there was nothing really of the high-light reel variety going on.

Saturday, though had some greatness:

First, there was the ridiculousness of the Hawks/Preds game:



Watch the whole replay. Why does Martin Erat make a blind pass to the slot. Why is there is only one Predator d-man in front for 2 hawks when the Preds have an extra man? That was gross

Later that night the Penguins had a "I don't care if Fleury is playing badly, we're gonna win" comeback.



and then to win the game Staal did his best Crosby impression and fed the puck to Dupuis who really quick-released a great shot:



Even later that night the Avalanche lost the game and series. I hope everyone now forgets the Dan Boyle own goal. Just look at this:



Coyotes/Wings are going to 7, unfortunately, the Kings are not.

What'd I miss?


-bress

Weekend Wrap Up OR When will we see some double OT?

Penguins are up 2 games to 1 over the Senators. Crosby's doing it all, as usual. Lets take a look at the shift that pretty much defines him as a player:




Ken Daneyko said some interesting about this - that Spezza should actually back of Sid a little, so that he can't get turned out so quickly.


Flyers are up 2 games to 1 over the Devils.

Parise did some magic Friday night



And then the Devils wasted a throwback Marty effort last night as Carcillo won the game in OT.

The Red Wings/Coyotes series has to be the fastest series. The yotes are up 2-1. I love this goal:



Capitals and the Canadiens had a wild one Saturday night as the Caps tied up the series 1-1.



Some people are saying that Gomez, by fighting, actually sparked the Caps. However, the Canadiens were already on their heels at this point, giving up 2 straight goals. I'm fine with Gomez trying to re-energize his team. He can't stop this Backstrom shot. No one can.



Bruins and Sabres are tied up at one game apiece. Same with the Predators and Hawks and the Canucks and Kings

The Sharks are being so spring shark-like:

What you missed last night while you were actually doing editting work on a possible new video

Sharks beat the Leafs, 3-2: Giguere had 2 shut-outs in a row. Impressive, but not epic. However, everyone shit themselves when he gave up the first goal last night to Boyle. No big tragedy. Had he been able to keep out one of the other two or had Nabakov not been OUTSTANDING, then the Leafs might have won.

Coyotes beat the Oilers, 6-1: The play that is the epitome of this game was the Radim Vrbata short-handed goal. I don't know what Oilers D-man he outraced, but it was embarrassing. Then a simple but effective move led to the goal. Oiler deflated, Coyotes elated.

Ducks beat the Kings, 4-2: Jonny Quick made spectacular saves last night, but it seemed that rebounds of those aforementioned saves eventually made it to Ducks' sticks and turned into goals.

Flyers beat the Devils, 3-2: Lets make sure everyone understand this right now: Just because a player gets injured as a result of a hit, does not make said hit dirty. Last night, right as Anssi Salmela scored Jeff Carter finished his hit. Like he supposed to do. Unfortunately Salmela took it poorly, landing on his face. Everyone calm down. This sometimes happens, but Carters hit was good hockey. Also, this doesn't mean that because a player does NOT get injured that a dirty hit didn't occur.

Avalanche beat the Blues, 5-2: Chris Mason was so freaking terrible in this game

What you missed last night while you were cleaning your kitchen

It's Wednesday, so its time for mid-week Monsters!

Flames shut-out the Canadiens, 1-0: Dion Phaneuf - It would be easy to put down Kipper or Iggy as the Monster for this game, but Dion really did it all (besides score). He hit, ask Kopecky or Pacioretty. He put tons of shots on net. Great game Dion. Some good fights in this game, but I still don't understand the tackle after a big clean hit. Just wait a bit and then go get the guy.

Senators beat the Oilers in the shoot-out, 4-3: Alexie Kovalev - His game can be summed up in the shift in which he assistes on Cheechoo's goal (finally). I can't ever remember Kovalev forechecking, let alone hitting a d-man, then stealing the puck and feed the slot-crashing Cheechoo. There were other spots of briliance for Kovalev, but that stood out. And he scored in the shoot-out.

Wild win over the Leafs, 5-2: Nik Backstrom - Yea, he had plenty of offensive support, but the Leafs were kind of swarming last night and Backstrom made big and impressive and timely saves.

Blues roll over the Canucks, 6-1: David Perron - kid had a hat trick, enough said.

Bruins shut-out the Penguins, 3-0: Tim Thomas - guy had the shut-out. He can really thank his post as well. There was some sort of weird carrom off the glass that somehow defied the laws of physics after hitting the post.

Sharks beat the Predators, 4-3: Dan Boyle - He got the game winner on a ridiculous rush capped off with a rocket of a shot that went bar and in.

What you missed last night while you were trying to get the last piece of apple pie

Rangers shut-out the Devils, 3-0: Avery was a good boy last night. I hope people paid attention to Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist is an odd-style goalie. He plays super deep in his net and covers almost the complete bottom third. He is almost always beaten up high. Last night, however, Lundqvist made some nice glove saves. And when he does that and holds onto the puck, he's damn near unbeatable. Avery is important, but Lundqvist is the guy that makes or breaks the Rangers.

Coyotes beat the Stars, 6-5: Of the 11 goals scored in this game, I would estimate that 9 of them were of the ugly variety. I mean really ugly. Ugh. I can't believe that Versus chose this game over the Sharks/Flames. Seriously, why are you even reading a bad recap about 2 teams who will miss the playoffs. Move on...

Sharks beat the Flames, 2-1: Joe Thornton found Dan Boyle on the power play to get the sharks out to a 1-0 lead. Boyle put the one-timer high glove, back from where the pass came from. A very very very good shot. Later Jarome Iginla did a stop move that froze the D and Nabakov and then he ripped a wrist shot through both sets of legs. Great innovative skill. Cheechoo got the game winner. Simple, hard hitting, playoff-type game.