The Great Saturday Live Blog

7:21 PM WHAT A START! The Leafs pour it on the Habs. Other scores early:
7:01 PM Here's the previous results this season for MTL-TOR.

Game 1 - 10/7 at TOR: 3-2 Habs
Game 2 - 10/28 at MTL: 5-4 Leafs in OT
Game 3 - 11/11 at TOR: 5-1 Leafs
Game 4 - 12/2 at MTL: 4-3 Habs
Game 5 - 1/27 at TOR: 4-1 Leafs
Game 6 - 2/26 at MTL: 5-4 Habs
Game 7 - 3/17 at MTL: 3-2 Habs

So there you go, things seem stacked up against TOR tonight, but they're gonna have to pull one out at home.

Other 7:00 PM games
Florida - Carolina: Meaningless
Ottawa - Boston: Sens must win for home ice.
Tampa-Atlanta: All about seeding tonight.
Anaheim-CBJ: Anaheim must win.


7:00 PM Here we go folks. Bob Cole and Harry Neale will have the call.

6:58 PM Interesting to watch CBC News. This is how the other half lives I suppose.

6:47 PM So we turn our attention to Montreal and Toronto. VANCITY will play Dallas most likely on Wednesday.

6:45 PM Confirmed Playoff Matchup List: Pittsburgh-Ottawa, Vancouver-Dallas, Minnesota-Anaheim, San Jose-Nashville.

6:43 PM Thornton will go to the box for either a hook or a trip, Power Play for Vancouver. Vancouver has won the Northwest Division regardless. VANCOUVER SCORES! Two deflections, VANcity clinches the 3rd seed.

6:41 PM Overtime beginning momentarily.

6:40 PM 18 seconds left, San Jose has iced it, Offensive Zone faceoff for VAN.

6:39 PM CHEECHOO SCORES! On a riccochet in front Jonathan Cheechoo ties the game 3-3. We're likely headed for OOOOOOOOVERTIME.

6:38 PM Thornton is back. Emppty net, less than a minute.

6:37 PM Cooke is back, but Thornton is not. 1:00 to go.

6:34 SJ is close to killing off a big penalty on Thornton for boarding on Cooke. Cooke was roughed up pretty bad. Thornton is out as well. They've killed it off.

6:31 PM Kevin Bieksa scores and it's 3-2 VanCity. Michalek and Thornton scored for SJ. 2-2 LA-PHX

6:15 PM I'm back, we're tied at 2 in SJ, and 45 minutes till MTL-ToR.

4:47 PM 1st Intermission, 2-0 Canucks. I'm going to take a break at this point, I'm not sure when I'm going to be back but it WILL be before the Canadiens-Habs game at 7:00 PM. I promise. Don't be surprised if you hear from Derek before then too.

4:34 PM Good pace to this one, you can tell these teams want it bad.

4:18 PM Pyatt's 23rd from Salo and D.Sedin at 4:38. 2-0.

4:17 PM Bieksa and Morrison get the Asssist on Cooke's goal, and they SCORE again. Taylor Pyatt tips Sami Salo's shot after Michalek loses the stick. 2-0 Vancity.

4:13 PM Matt Cooke SCORES! Kevin Bieksa went to the net (btw, Bieksa is the NHL's most underrated player) and Cooke backhanded the rebound home. 1-0 VanCity. 10th of the year for Cookie.

4:13 PM Michalek and Thornton had early chances, and Thornton's hit on Danny Sedin is the first of the game.

4:11 PM Hopefully this broadcast is a smooth one. HNIC's "Alternate" or #3 Game have had a history of being a little sketchy.

4:10 PM I'm picking San Jose for this one. 4-2 Sharks at the end. Let's put out what's on the line today in this one. If San Jose wins and Anaheim loses, San Jose will win the Pacific Division and get the #2 seed in the postseason. If both teams win and Nashville loses, the Sharks will be #4 and the Preds #5 for that 1st-Round Series.

For Vancouver, if they win, they win the Northwest, if they lose and Minnesota beats St. Louis tonight, Minnesota moves ahead in the Northwest, but VanCity has 1 more after tonight's game.

Buffalo's win today clinched the President's Trophy, rendering tomorrow's NBC telecast completely meaningless.

4:03 PM Jim Hughsson and Drew Remenda calling VAN-SJ on CBC.

3:55 PM Time for game 2 of our quadruple-header. Vancouver at San Jose on Hockey Night in Canada. Head to Canucks and Beyond for Alanah's pre-game. Enjoy.

3:44 PM What a performance by these Islanders today. Ted Nolan kept preaching this message: "Don't think, just play." and they certainly did that. They just went to work and made a case for them to be in this postseason. Wonder how much higher they'd be if DUnham hadn't sniffed the ice when DiPi went down?

3:31 PM Ryan Smyth gets an empty netter and the Islanders have done their job. Final Score: 4-2. Detroit routs Chicago, Buffalo beats Washington. Head to Canucks and Beyond for some pregame notes from Alanah and will be back in 20 minutes!

3:28 PM It's not over yet. Carter scores and it's 3-2.

Editor Note: It was Richards who got that shorty on an awesome display of skill undressing Witt and Hill before backhanding one off the bar and in. Unreal. If it's on YouTube check it out. The Isles nearly blew it. Still can't believe they let Stefan Ruzicka walk in like that. Lucky Dubi bailed them out before Poti's empty netter.

3:21 PM The Isles just ran 5 minutes off the clock without a stoppage. 3:48 to go in Philadelphia, 3-1 Isles. Former Isle Jeff Hamilton makes it 7-2 Detroit's lead goes down to 5 again. Buffalo still up 2-0.

3:13 PM At the Joe, Patrick Sharp and Andreas Lilja had an OK scrap with a couple of haymakers thrown. 4-on-4 right now in Philly.

3:09PM Isles back to the PWR PLAY. We're halfway through the 3rd right now and the Isles appear to be holding on. We will be taking a short sabbatical in between the 1PM games and the Canucks-Sharks, but we'll return 'round 3:55 PM.

3:02 PM Isles kill off the 5 vs. 3. Just a note, Mikael Samuelsson has 5 points today for Detroit.

2:59 PM Isles are on a 5-on-3 as Upshall goes off.

2:57 PM We're back for the 3rd, Isles are on the PWR Play. TO remind you, it's 3-1 Isles, 7-1 Wings, 2-0 Sabres as we begin the 3rd.

2:40 PM 7-1 Detroit. What sucks even more is that Chicago has to play on Sunday. I'd certainly just wanna pack it in after this disaster. Everything's at the intermission at this point. So we'll take a short break.

2:36 PM Despite being outplayed late, the Isles take a 3-1 lead to the locker room with 20 minutes left to play.

2:32 PM Gagne scores on a PP for Flyers. 3-1 Isles. No.40 for Gagne. Remember when people said Forsberg made him? Not anymore. That goal was all Gagne cutting in and scoring on a nifty backhand. It was also a career milestone as it was his 200th career goal. Congrats. Isles nearly get it back but Niittymaki stops Yashin.

2:26 PM 6-0 for Detroit.

2:25 PM 7-2 O's lead the Yanks now. Heh.


2:22 PM Nice goal by Park. Epitome of hard work. He was a member of that Wild team in '03 which made that run to the WCF before being swept out by Anaheim. The Isles are looking good here. They've stepped up. P.S. The Blackhawks suck. It's Groundhog Day in Chicago every year for that once proud Original Six franchise.

2:18 PM RICHARD PARK SCORES! 3-0 Isles, on gritty play by Park and muscles a backhander past a diving Alex Picard and Nittymakki.

2:14 PM This is 5-0 Detroit. Calder has 2 against his former team.

2:09 PM Philly kills it off this time.

2:07 PM 4-0 Detroit, Tomas Holmstrom's 30th.

2:06 PM Another Philly penalty. A cross-check on Ruzicka

2:05 PM YASHIN SCORES! Another fireball from an Islander forward. Poti and Blake on the assist at 1:10 on the Power Play. Yashin's 18th.

2:03 PM Isles on the Power Play again.

1:59 PM 2nd Period has started in Detroit, getting close in Philly and DC.

1:55 PM - Yea, I thought Steve Trachsel was still a Met.

1:51 PM- So we just flipped to YES Network to get a Yankee update and the boos are out in the Bronx. It's 5-2 Orioles already and they're only in the 2nd. Guess Kei Igawa's debut didn't go as planned. Oh well. Btw the Yanks made another error. That's 7 in 4 games. Steve, you're a Mets fan. Any thoughts?

1:47 PM- All three games are at the end of 1 period. Here are the scores:

Isles lead Flyers 1-0 on Satan's 27th.
Sabres lead Caps 2-0- Roy with No.20 and Connolly is now credited with his 1st.
Red Wings ahead of the Hawks 3-0- Markov, Samuelsson and Calder for Detroit.

Random thought. Who's worse? The Hawks or Caps.

1:44 PM- Dubielewicz makes one crucial stop and the Flyers miss a rebound wide. Just as I'm about to say they get the job done, Dubi makes one last save as the buzzer sounded on a tricky backhand. The Isles had no shots the final 8+ minutes. Shots are 11-8 Philly. If I'm Nolan, I'm not satisfied. His club needs more desperation in the next period.

1:42 PM- Dubi robs Jones on the doorstep but the Flyers go on the power play with under 2:00 left to play in the first. This is a must kill for the Fishsticks.

1:34 PM- Not much doing on this Fishsticks PP. They really haven't taken advantage of some chances since taking the lead. It could comeback to haunt them.

1:32 PM- Islanders on their 2nd PP. 7:15 left in the first.

1:28 PM Calder scores. 3-0 Wings.

1:26 PM - Connolly sets up Paille. The Sabres lead the Caps 2-0. It's Tim Connolly's first game back from a concussion which kept him out the first 80.

1:24PM 2-0 Detroit. Samuelsson scores.

1:23 PM Note that all of my posts will be in black or red, all of Derek's will be in blue.

1:22 PM Yashin hits the crossbar. 1-0 Buffalo on Roy's goal, and 1-0 Detroit on Markov's goal.

1:20 PM Satan Goal from Bergeron and Blake at 3:30 on PP.

1:12 PM- Randy Jones takes a hooking penalty giving the Fishsticks an early power play less than 2:00 in. Can they cash in?

1:17 PM- Miro Satan scores to put the Isles in front 1-0 on a slapper from the right hash. The Isles power play looked great. This team looks ready. What else would you expect from a Ted Nolan club?