Updates

Great game in Ottawa so far. The afternoon start has not dimmed the emotion, or the carnage! 1-1, Whitney and Spezza scoring.

Pierre McGuire of NBC says that Rick DiPietro will do the pre-game skate, and is a game-time decision.

1-0 Rags up on Atlanta on a crazy Sean Avery goal.

I am headed to Devils-Lightning Game 2 tonight, so updates after that one.

Enjoy! Section 218, Row 19!

LiveBlog Sunday

Derek and I will be trying a liveblog on Sunday night.

We may work it differently, but ideally for me, Derek would cover CGY-DET and DAL-VAN and I would do PIT-OTT and MIN-ANA, but we'll see when Sunday rolls around. Check it out!

Nashville and Dallas Even the Score

Great stuff in the Nashville-Dallas game. You can tell in these game twos, these series are starting to get nasty. Something that wasn't exactly true last year, but you can tell that it's not just the SJ-NSH rematch factor, this Minnesota-Anaheim series is loaded with hate as well.

Back to Nashville, they are certainly better prepared to take on the Sharks. But inexcusable stuff from Alex Radulov, with his hit from behind on Bernier. That's the one occasion where the nastiness and physical play went too far. He deserved his ejection. What a player he is though. Just maybe needs a lesson.

Watching Minnesota-Anaheim, A. Chris Cuthbert rules, B. WTF is Chris Kunitz thinking PULLING BRETT BURNS' HAIR. You just don't do that. You could tell that just ticked Burns the hell off and he started to wail on Kunitz like a fat kid to a vegan supermarket attendant.

Anaheim got the better in the end, capped with a beautiful Ryan Getzlaf rush. What a goal that was, just an incredible backhander. Skoula got taken to school on that one. This Minnesota team is playing absolutely uninspired hockey offensively. Getzlaf is the real deal though.

As for Dallas, jeez, they say the Devs play boring puck. After game 1, they sure toned down the excitement factor. Good for Marty Turco with his first playoff shutout.

I MAY be going to Game 2 tomorrow at the Swamp, more on that tomorrow.

NBC has Rags-Thrash Game 2 tomorrow, CI and most of the rest of the nation get Pens-Sens on NBC. Strader, Micheletti and Pang will call NYR-ATL, Doc, Eddie and Peter McNab (remember him old school Devs fans?) will call PIT-OTT.

Later that night, it's the Isles-Sabres game 2 (MSG for locals, VERSUS for out-of-towners) and as previously mentioned, Devs-Bolts game 2 on FSN.

I find it a little annoying that the Devils have an Ad for the NHL Playoffs on NBC and VERSUS on the dasher at the Meadowlands, when neither network will be airing a game of this series. Oh well.

See you all tomorrow.

A blog to follow from a Ranger

Folks, if you're interested, Ranger defenseman Jason Strudwick is keeping a playoff blog. It's pretty darn good and one we recommend.

The defenseman isn't eligible for the playoffs but did a solid job down the stretch filling in after coming back over from Switzerland.

Check out his thoughts or even send him a question. Believe it or not, actor Michael Rappaport had one answered in the last entry:

Strud's Playoff Blog

Shanny on the Fan

Brendan Shanahan talked with Mike and the Mad Dog this afternoon. Enjoy:

http://wfan.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=619026

Here's Doc Emrick's Weekly Audio Commentary:

http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nhl/mike_emrick/20070412_20k.wax

On the NHL's Scheduling

I don't mind that all 3 New York teams were on the same night. But seriously, 5 times in their first round series, playing on the same day is ridiculous.

It's hard enough to follow every game with 2 going on at the time, but 4 at the same time, 3 with teams in your local area that you at least somewhat care about?

It especially hurts the road teams on FSN. The Devils will switch places with the Isles on FSN 2 when they head to Tampa and New York comes home. This hurts a lot of fans' abilities to watch playoff games.

I didn't mind it happening once, but 4-5 times is absolutely ludicrous.

All Crosby, All the Time Saturday on NBC

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2007-04-12-hiestand-mnf_N.htm

From Michael "Hockey-Hater" Hiestand at USA Today:

Eventually, the NHL might want to try replacing playoff games with Sidney Crosby skating around by himself.

Saturday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Penguins star will be on NBC — which will have a "Crosby-cam" on him full time. The move has the Canadian Broadcasting Company seeing red. It pays the NHL $65 million a year in TV rights fees and wanted Pittsburgh-Ottawa on its prime-time Hockey Night in Canada. Instead, it got Tampa Bay-New Jersey so NBC, which pays no rights fee, would get hockey's big star.

The rationale: Canadians already like hockey, while the league needs any help it can get with its microscopic U.S. TV ratings, which are slightly less tiny when Crosby appears. NBC averages 1.1% of U.S. households for games with Crosby and 0.8% without him. Versus attracted 0.19% of U.S. cable TV households with Crosby on, compared to its 0.13% overall NHL average.

NBC producer Sam Flood says the pregame show will cover "the Crosby mania" in Canada. Canadians who can't get NBC will at least get Crosby snippets online: NBC will take Crosby-cam shots from the game's third period and let its studio analysts analyze that footage on nbcsports.com.

Hockey Tonight - Game Twos

San Jose - Nashville game 2 should be interesting. Jonathan Cheechoo skated today and will be a game time decision.

Vancouver-Dallas game 2 has a chance of being dull, just because the teams are likely still very tired from the game two days ago. That's at 9:00 pm on VERSUS, with Hockey Central at 8:30.

Minnesota-Anaheim. I spoke to Greg Wyshynski on Thursday, he and I agree that after seeing this Anaheim team play, they might be able to make some noise in this thing. That's on CI at 10:30, Joined in Progress on VERSUS after Stars-Nucks.

Devils and Rangers Win; Isles Lose

2 goals for Parise, Elias, Gionta and Raffy all cash in and the Devils with a decent win, although a little undisciplined for my taste, 5-3. They take Game 1, but you don't get the feeling that they dented the psychies of this Tampa team.

Marty showed up big time in the 3rd period. That save on St. Louis will be on all the highlight reels when he retires.

The Devils offense looked dominant at times. The Madden line look discombobulated on the O, but they had bigger things to worry about. The EGGs and the ZZ Top line looked great, capitalizing on turnovers and turning them into goals.

Game 2, I would have to say is a must-win for both teams. The Devils really need to nail it in that the Lightning aren't getting anywhere in this series.

Isles lose 4-1 in Buffalo, didn't see too much of it. But it just looks like Buffalo was the better team.

Psh, Derek and his special guests. Hope you'll join him tonight at Midnight.

A Thought

As the Devils are about to wrap up a 5-3 home win over Tampa, who ever would've believed that those two teams would play as undisciplined as they did compared to Atlanta and the Rangers?

That's why you can sometimes toss stats out the window. Need proof? Last night's marathon 4 OT win by the Canucks (5-4) over Dallas is. The two teams combined to score 12 total goals during their regular season series.

Playoffs are a completely different animal. And as I say that, the Sabres are ahead by two on the Fishsticks thanks to the 2nd of the night by Chris Drury.

As Steve noted earlier, if you want to catch our analysis on the night's action and other playoff stuff, check us out later tonight at midnight.

I'll also be joined by a special guest. So stay tuned!

Rangers Win

It took almost 10 years. Technically, the Rangers' last playoff victory was May 18, 1997- a Game Two win over the Flyers in the ECF which featured a Wayne Gretzky hat trick. The final one of the brilliant Great One's career.

It was just as exciting as I always envisioned. Of course they had to make it nerve wracking when Thomas Pock took only the second minor of the night which in itself speaks volumes about how much more playoff ready this team is compared to last year. And so with 71 seconds left, the Thrashers pulled Kari Lehtonen for an extra attacker. But the Rangers would dig deep and not allow a desperate Atlanta squad to steal a 'W' they earned with brilliant play from Jaromir Jagr, Michael Nylander and share will from Petr Prucha and Ryan Callahan.

I can't tell you how unbelievable it was to see them win! They played a solid road game and got the job done. Home ice is now theirs for the time being.

So what must they do on Saturday at 3 PM? Play physical against the Thrashers and continue to be disciplined like tonight.


See ya'll later!

Rangers;Devils Lead, Isles Tied

Aaron Asham has tied it at 1 for the Isles in Buffalo, great 2-on-1 between him and JBlake.

Devils lead 3-2, still playing pretty well, but have to stay outta the box in the 3rd and keep Madden and Pando on Lecavalier and St. Louis.

Rangers are up 4-3 on ATL.

For a complete wrap-up and analysis of tonight's action, plus a preview of what's to come check out Derek's "Hard Hits" show tonight at midnight:

Hard Hits

Devils;Rangers Lead

Both teams are up 2-1. Parise and Elias for the Devs, St. Louis for TB. Jagr and Roszival for the Rags, Eric Belanger for ATL.

Isles-Sabres scoreless so far.

So far, the Devils appear to be the dominant team whenever Lecavalier and St. Louis are off the ice, as I predicted. Impossible to judge based on one period, but both our scoring lines came ready to play and appear dominant at times (Particularly the Zajac line).

If the Devs stay out of the box, they will win this game. Oduya took 2 penalties to give Tampa the 5 on 3, which St. Louis cashed in on the 2nd one on an absolute scorcher. 2 somewhat weak goals for Holmqvist, he doesn't look quite ready for this.

We shall see. Stay tuned and keep looking for updates here at BoNY.

Hard Hits Previews NHL Playoffs Live Tonight

That's right. I'll be over at Blogtalk Radio hosting my hour long playoff special. It starts in less than 20 minutes from now. We'll be analyzing the locals' chances in each of their respective series and also breaking down last nite's action as well as making our Cup pick.

Check it all out here:

Hard Hits


P.S. Steve. Just a correction. It's Eric Perrin. And also, beware of Jason Ward. He's been getting 2nd line duty as well as PP and PK time. He could be a factor in your series.

Also, penalties shouldn't be much of an issue since you're talking about the two least penalized teams in hockey. Tampa wasn't shorthanded that much more than the Devs.

It could come down to even-strength. Watch for Tampa's blueline to jump into the rush.

I kind of disagree with Tort's move to not have Denis backup. That seems crazy but he's not your normal coach. Maybe he knows something we don't.


Enjoy the games!

Post #500: Tonight's Picks

Devils win 4-2 in their Game 1. Zajac the winner.

Thrashers take the Rangers 4-3.

Sabres beat the Isles in OT 3-2.

Detroit beats Calgary 2-1

Devils-Lightning, Game 1 Tonight

I am so very excited to watch the Devils tonight, after 1 taste of playoff hockey, it makes you like a rabid wolf who's got a sniff of meat. You want more, and more and more! Er...4 OT's last night have gotten us all a little delirious. Anyway...the Devils take on the Lightning tonight in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Series.

The Lightning have a somewhat balanced attack, but there is certainly a drop-off after Lecavalier-St. Louis-Prospal, goes down to the Brad Richards line (Usually with Nathan Perrin and Russlan Fedotenko). They have a backline that can contribute big time with Dan Boyle and Filip Kuba. Their goaltending situation is the reason the entire NHL On VERSUS panel picked the Devils to win this series. Johan Holmqvist is an unproven playoff rookie, and Marc Denis is...well, not on the roster at the moment. Karri Ramo has been promoted to Holmqvist's backup. So, not to certain on the backline for Tampa.

The Devils have gotten here, as they usually do, through solid team play, timely scoring, fantastic goaltending, you know, the usuals. This year there is some drama around the New Jersey Devils as coach Claude Julien was fired with 3 games remaining and coach Lou Lamoriello took over and went 2-0-1. The key to the Devils winning this series will be again, timely scoring, but the EGG line really must come through. If they don't score early and often the Devils will be in trouble.

I think that the other key in this series in the Madden-Pandolfo line versus whatever line has 2 of Tampa's holy trinity on it. If you can neutralize Tampa's offense to the point where only one player can score, the Devils will have a chance. Also, Brian Rafalski's offensive involvement will be a key to this series. If he can rack of the assists and get the Devil power play moving, New Jersey can take this easily. If they end up calling a lot of penalties, likely it'll be the Lightning guilty of most, and the Devils will finish this up quickly.

As I've said before, Devils in 5.

LET's GO NJ!

Isles vs. Buffalo

The Isles improbably find themselves in the playoffs tonight vs. the Sabres in Buffalo. The Isles are big underdogs and while I don't expect them to win the series, I think the team's experience during the last four games of the season and the rough period in March that preceded it has toughened this team up. I think they will play with confidence and a loose "we're just happy to be here and have nothing to lose" attitude. The Sabres, on the other hand, didn't make it to the finals last year mainly because of injuries, but had a fantastic season this year and is the favorite by many to win the Cup.

So clearly, the pressure will be on the Sabres. If the Islanders were to steal game one or two in Buffalo, I think it will be a long, hard fought series. To do so, the Isles will need to shutdown the center corridor that the swift Buffalo skaters use as a runway to gain speed. If they cross the blue line flying on a consistent basis, the Isles are in big trouble. Witt and Hill will be no match for the speed of Buffalo's lines. The Isles need to play, gasp, Devils hockey, and line up across the red line forcing the Sabres to dump and chase. Next, the Isles need to keep the puck on the boards and win the little battles in the corners. On offense, they need a solid fore check with lots of cycling and guys clogging the crease.

Finally, the Isles need to play a tough, physical series as we all know that toughness is the way to get to Buffalo. The Sabres do not react well to taking a physical beating. However, the Isles have to be smart about it. As the team with the highest amount of shorthanded vs even minutes in the league this year, it seems as if the refs are programmed to call the mildest infraction on the Isles. It will be a fine line between playing tough and going to the box. And the Isles cannot panic when Buffalo uses its speed. No hooking and grabbing - just play positionally and rely on teammates to pick each other up.

Obviously, the goaltending match up for game 1 favors the Sabres. And I think Dubie will be exposed to an offense that is capable of blowing any goalie away. That said, Dubie played two periods against the Sabres in a blow out loss two weeks ago in relief of Dunham, and played fairly well.

Well,I'm just giddy about the Isles making the playoffs and any wins after this is gravy. We are playing the Sabres after all.

Rob

It's Over!

Henrik Sedin wins it on a feed from Daniel. Winner Winner, Quardruple Overtime Chicken Parm Dinner. 5-4 VanCity.

What a game. Thanks for staying up. See you in about, oh, 15 and a half hours for Devs, Rags, and Isles!

"We Have Played Two Games"

Says Dave Strader. Feels like about 5 or 6.

Quadruple Overtime folks. Stay awake with me! 4-4 after 6 periods.

And Still...More Hockey

First to blink. Simple as that. We're headed to TRIPLE OT in Game 1 of the West Qtrs. We only had 1 Triple Overtime all of last post-season (It was in Edmonton and San Jose's Conference Semi, Edmonton won it). If Turco doesn't see a lot of action at the start of the 3rd OT, he may be in some real trouble and susceptible to a late goal, because Luongo looks ready to do this all night.

Recap the scores and goal scorers tonight:

East Qtrs. - Game 1: OTT Leads 1-0
Penguins 3 (Staal, Gonchar, Crosby)
Senators 6 (Meszaros, Kelly, Preissing, Heatley, Neil, Comrie)

West Qtrs. - Game 1: SJ Leads 1-0
Final/Double OT
Sharks 5 (Carle, Grier, Rivet, Michalek, Rissmiller)
Predators 4 (Radulov [2 Goals], Dumont [2 Goals])

West Qtrs. - Game 1: ANA Leads 1-0
Wild 1 (Demitra)
Ducks 2 (Selanne, Penner)

TRIPLE OT IS NEXT!