The Kings look to make history tonight in Game 7

Its crazy how much can change in seven days! Last week was checkmate for the Los Angeles Kings; tonight they are trying to make history by becoming just the fourth team in NHL history to win a series in game 7 after going down 3-0. 

The first two games of this series were all San Jose. The Kings looked lost, had huge defensive breakdowns, weren’t producing enough offense and Jonathan Quick looked nothing like the elite goaltender who won the Conn Smythe trophy in 2012. Martin Jones started the third period of game 1 after Quick allowed 5 goals on 28 shots. He would stop all shots faced, but the Kings would fall 6-3, with San Jose scoring an empty net goal. 

Fans assumed game 2 would be better, I mean there was no way Quick would allow 5 goals again. They were partially correct, he wouldn’t allow 5 goals, he would allow 7 and, after taking a 2-0 lead in the first period, the Kings would fall 7-2. 

The Kings started to turn things around in game 3, but would ultimately lose 4-3, in overtime. The Brent Burns opening goal and the Patrick Marleau game winning goal were weak and people started to question whether Jones should be given the start for game 4. To Coach Daryl Sutter’s credit, he only pulled Quick once and started him in each game. While many were questioning Quick’s ability, Sutter's confidence in him never wavered. 

From game 4 on, Quick wouldn’t disappoint his teammates or his coach and the Kings would go on to win 3 straight games. Quick would win game 4 with a final score of 6-3, before getting a shutout in game 5 at the Shark Tank, and allow only one goal in the Kings’ 4-1 win in game 6. When his team faced elimination, when they needed him most, Jonathan Quick stood tall. 

Heading into game 7 tonight you’d have to think the Kings have all the momentum, the Sharks have now had 3 opportunities to close out the series, and haven’t yet come close to doing so. Now it’s not as though this series hasn’t been without controversy. I’m sure many Sharks fans feel “cheated” to paraphrase from Coach Todd McLellan, after the game winning goal in game 6, but you can’t deny these last three games have been quite entertaining. I mean when else will the Los Angeles Kings truly be seen as the underdogs in a series?

I also can’t help but wonder how instrumental former Philadelphia Flyers captain Mike Richards and leading goal scorer Jeff Carter have been in this Kings comeback. While Carter was injured during the series against the Boston Bruins, both were members of the 2010 Flyers team that was the last team in the NHL to successfully overcome a 3-0 series lead. As we all saw in the 2012 NHL36, Richards is still very vocal in both the dressing room and with the referees even though he no longer wear the ‘C’ so I can imagine he has been very impactful behind the camera these last few games. All teams preach that they need to take it one game at a time, or one period at a time, so that the task doesn’t become overwhelming, but that can’t be easy to accomplish. Having veteran experience who has been in this situation before must have been invaluable for the Kings. 

The Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and last year made it to the Conference Finals; they know how to win and how to shove the other team off the ledge once you have pushed them to the brink. They have closed out 6 of their last 7 playoff series’ and so that is why I will be cheering loudly for the Kings to make history tonight and win game 7.

Penguins Control Game 5 and Take a 3-2 Series Lead

The curse of the 3-1 lead turning into a 4-3 loss is finally over, the Penguins take Game 5 with a late 3-1 lead and head into game 6 with a 3-2 series lead.

The Penguins finally put together a good defensive game and peppered Sergei Bobrovsky with 52 shots in what can only be described as complete dominance over the Blue Jackets.

Game 6 is tomorrow at Nationwide Arena and, if it anything like the first five, it should be an exciting, fast paced game.

Is #FreeBortuzzo Finally Happening??

The Pittsburgh Penguins may be facing the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight without defenceman Brooks Orpik, who left practice early yesterday and did not practice with the team today. This is the playoffs meaning there will likely be no injury update from Coach Dan Byslma, but Orpik has officially been declared a game time decision. This is a blow for the team, Orpik together with partner Paul Martin have been the Penguins best defensive pairing this series, but his absence potentially opens the door for Robert Bortuzzo, a young defenceman who has struggled to crack the lineup when the Penguins have been healthy this season.

I an ideal world, Dan Bylsma would keep Orpik and Martin together as his top defensive pairing, but if Orpik is out, I would pair Bortuzzo with Kris Letang, Rob Scuderi with Paul Martin and keep Olli Maatta with Matt Niskanen.

Robert Bortuzzo is a young, hard hitting, defensive minded defenceman. He doesn't really have a scoring touch which is why I think pairing him with Letang, who has a very strong offensive upside, would be ideal. Bortuzzo's defensive presence would allow Letang to join the rush, where Letang is a more comfortable and effective player. Bortuzzo also adds energy to the lineup with his big hits and physical play, something the Penguins have been lacking so far this series.

Scuderi and Letang have been the weakest of the Penguins defensive pairings, which is why I think they need to be separated. Scuderi is another one of those "stay at home defencemen" which essentially means that he is not fast so doesn't often join the rush. Martin, on the other hand, is fast, effective, offensive and moves the puck very well. If Martin is on his game and can play sound defensively, I think he can mask some of the mistakes that Scuderi has made so far this series.

The third pairing of Maatta and Niskanen has to remain in tact as far as I am concerned. They played together most of the season and have therefore developed good chemistry together. Maatta who is in his rookie season and playing in his first every NHL playoffs, has at times this series made some mistakes, and Niskanen had a poor start to game 3, but more often than not, they have been playing consistent hockey and are a strong third pairing.

The team might appear weaker on paper without Orpik in the lineup, but the Penguins haven't been desperate yet this series, and certainly haven't been matching the compete level of the Columbus Blue Jackets and I really think Bortuzzo can help with this. He is young, he has fresh legs, and most importantly, he knows that if he doesn't take advantage of this opportunity now, he might have to wait a year to get another one. I would expect a strong, high energy game from Bortuzzo, and hopefully he helps the Penguins take game 5.

Apparently no lead is ever safe....

The Penguins started out strong with a short handed goal early on, but apparently in this series no lead, whether it be 2 goals or 3, is safe. Fleury was on his game for 59 minutes and 30 seconds but all he will be remembered for is one gaffe with 27 seconds left to go with the Penguins up by one....

My Early Birthday Present from the Penguins

Below is my third Penguins Playoff recap, where once again the team who scored first went up 3-1 only to lose 4-3, this time in regulation.

Because 60 minutes is just never long enough...

Game 2 had it all, double overtime, two short-handed goals, another 3-1 lead blown, this time by the home town team, and a first ever playoff game victory. Check out my thoughts on this and much more in the video below:

Women's Gymnastics: Where my love for sports began when I was eleven

Last month in Pittsburgh I was lucky enough to meet two time Stanley Cup Champion and fourth liner for the Penguins Craig Adams and posted the picture to Facebook. My Aunty Frances commented that my grandfather, who I called Papa, would have been so happy that I became a sports fan, and the comment got me thinking about the various people in our lives who influence our decisions, interests and hobbies.

My Papa passed away when I was only 11 years old so I unfortunately can't remember very much about him. What I do remember is that he was friendly, calm, always smiling, loved food and that my sister and I used to sleep on his belly when we were younger. The summer before he passed, we spent two weeks in Montreal with my Nanny and Papa visiting our aunts, uncles and cousins. This would end up being the last time I spent an extended period of time with my Papa so the best memories of him are from this trip.

Two memories stand out the most, my favourite has to be from the drive home from Montreal. My sister and I were sleeping in the back and my Nanny was asleep in the front, and we were heading to my dad's house near Barrie so it was a solid 5-6 hour drive. We were about halfway through the trip when the car all of a sudden stopped and my sister and I woke up confused as to where we were. My Papa informed us that we were at the Hershey Chocolate Outlet in Smith Falls, much to our excitement. My sister asked him why we had stopped here and he told her, while smiling, that she had recommended the stop. Confused my sister answered that she was sleeping, that we were all sleeping, and my Papa insisted that she had demanded we stop so we could get chocolate. A little while later we were on our way home, with tons of chocolate, laughing as my Papa insisted that he had stopped at our request, because of course he wouldn't have wanted the chocolate. I can remember getting home to my dad's and smiling as we told him that Papa had stopped to get us chocolate on the way home. To this day when I hear someone mention Smith Falls, I can't help but smile and remember my Papa.

The second memory is potentially what started my eventual love for everything sports. My Papa had a weak heart and he therefore couldn't stay outside in the summer heat for very long. My cousins had a pool in their backyard so we spent most of the day outside swimming and enjoying the sun. I remember that my Papa was never sad that he couldn't join us, he was quite content to stay inside with the air conditioning and watch the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, or whatever else happened to be on tv at the time. I can't remember how it started, but I eventually ended up inside with my Papa watching the women's Gymnastics and I was fascinated. For those of you who don't remember, this was the year of the Magnificent Seven, the first women's team from the United States to secure a gold medal at the Olympics. I can remember sitting next to my Papa on the couch unable to look away from these amazing young girls and telling him one day I wanted to be one them. We watched the team events, the individual events, the preliminaries, the finals, and the gala, I just couldn't get enough of it. I'm sure he would have preferred to watch something else, but he never complained, just sat next to me on the couch and listened to me ramble on and on about how amazing it was.

At eleven years old, this marked the first time I had ever watched a sporting event for an extended period of time and enjoyed it. I loved it so much that months, and even years, later I would try to find televised competitions for university gymnastics. Since 1996, I have also tried to watch as many Olympic competitions as I can; researching the athletes, trying to understand the events, and cheering for the Canadians, all the while remembering my Papa, who had introduced me to worldwide event. Before 1996, I never knew sports could be as fun to watch as they were to play.

My love for hockey didn't start until my early twenties so sadly I was never able to share it with my Papa, but I like the idea that, if he were still around today, this could be something we could do together, even though I'm sure we'd argue over which teams to cheer for. I also feel like sports, whether it's hockey now or gymnastics when I was eleven, will forever remain a connection to my Papa and that will always make me smile.

My first ever Video Blog!

Rather than write a game 1 recap with my thoughts on the game, I decided to try my hand at video blogging (vlogging), so without further ado I present my first ever Penguins reaction video.

Hope you enjoy it!!

I got the idea for this video after I fell in love with Steve Dangle's Leaf Fan Reaction (LFR) videos and thought maybe I could try doing a video after each Penguins game next season. I am using the playoffs to gauge both my ability at creating the videos and to assess difficulty and time involved in the process.

Comments, suggestions and constructive criticism's are not only welcome, they are greatly appreciated. With your help, I think these videos could be entertaining and informative. Thanks!

Time for my Western Conference predictions!

Yesterday I wrote my Eastern Conference predictions for the first round of the playoffs, so now it's time for my Western Conference predictions.

There is only one game tonight and it is between the first seeded Anaheim Ducks and the eight seeded Dallas Stars, who are making their first playoff appearance in five years. This is one matchup that has me a bit conflicted, I have grown to love the Dallas Stars this year and I really want them to win, but I just don't think they can matchup against the Anaheim Ducks. Heading into the playoffs I had been hoping that Dallas would matchup against the St. Louis Blues, but alas, you can't always get what you want. This series more than any others feels like a David versus Goliath matchup. I don't want to discredit the Stars, they are a very talented team, but the Ducks have had excellent goaltending, strong defensive play, and they have Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf who have unreal chemistry and plenty of playoff experience. Oddly enough the only worrisome factor for me with the Anaheim Ducks is the coach behind the bench. Bruce Boudreau is an excellent coach, he's won tons of division titles, first with Washington and now with Anaheim, but his teams seem to do poorly in the playoffs. The Capitals never made it pas the second round and the Ducks were upset by the number seven Detroit Red Wings last year. Even with the "flaw" I think the Ducks experience will ultimately win out and I going with Anaheim in 5 games.

For the second straight year since signing both Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the Minnesota Wild have made the playoffs, this time they are facing the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche have been quite the story this year, they finished second last in the league last season, won the draft lottery, drafted Nathan Mackinnon, hired Patrick Roy as a coach, and went on to finish with the second best record in the West. Some have said they think the Avalanche have outperformed and that it will eventually catch up with them, and, while this does usually happen in sports, I don't think it will be in the first round. They might be down Matt Duchene but they have been getting outstanding goaltending from Seymon Varlamov  and contributions up and down the lineup. I think Nathan Mackinnon, last years first overall selection, will cool off during the playoffs, he is almost guaranteed to win the Calder Trophy as the leagues best rookie, but playoffs are a different beast and I don't think he will be as effective. The Wild are currently missing both of last seasons goalies, Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding, and are currently playing with Ilya Bryzgalov who just hasn't performed well in the postseason, advantage Colorado. I am going to go with Colorado in 6 games.

The most anticipated matchup in the West has to be the reigning Stanley Cup Champions Chicago Blackhawks versus the original Stanley Cup favourite this year, the St. Louis Blues. The only sad part about this series is that one of these two teams has to lose. The Blackhawks finished well down the stretch, especially since they were playing without captain Jonathan Toews and star Patrick Kane, both of whom are expected to be back in time for game 1 tomorrow. The Blues on the other hand finished on a six game losing streak, more or less limping into the playoffs. They are also without one of their stars TJ Oshie who was sidelined late in the season with a concussion. Their other stars are also banged up, among them David Backes, Patrik Berglund and Brendan Morrow. If the Blackhawks can get both Kane and Toews back, even if they aren't 100%, it is a huge competitive advantage for them in the series. Goaltending has also been weak for the Blues lately, can't blame Miller for everything, but he certainly hasn't stolen a game for his team in a while and, on the other side, Crawford is a tried and tested Stanley Cup winner, so again advantage Hawks. For this one, I've got to go with Chicago in 6 games.

Lastly it is the battle of California, or one of the three possible battle of California scenarios. This is one of the more interesting ones for me. The San Jose Sharks are stacked with talent and their goalie, Antti Niemi, is not only elite, he is a proven winner having won the Cup in 2010 with the Chicago Blackhawks. They are an offensive threat at all times with Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. They are also a team with tons of playoff experience, just like their opponent the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings play one of the heaviest, defensive, frustrating games out there, and when Jonathan Quick is on his game, he is almost unbeatable. Add to that their offensively gifted players like Jeff Carter, Marion Gaborik and defenceman Drew Doughty, who is currently injured but is expected to return at some point during this series, and they seem like a team that has it all. This series feels like it could go either way to me, it might be one of the more interesting, close series' in the first round, or it could be a wash and one team will take the reigns and never let go. I can't decide which is more likely, but I will give the advantage to the Kings who are two years removed from their Stanley Cup victory with many returning players. I'm going to go with Los Angeles and just a random guess I'll say they do it in 5 games.

So now you've seen all my predictions, how do they compare to yours??

My selections for the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals

I am so happy spring has finally arrived, not only does it bring my birthday and the warmer weather with it, but it also brings the most exciting time of the NHL season, the playoffs. Thirty teams have been reduced to sixteen and they must now face off head to head in four rounds until only one remains. Tonight marks the beginning of the quarterfinals and in a just over a week sixteen teams will become eight.

The Boston Bruins finished first in the Eastern Conference and, with the most points in the league, they also captured the Presidents Trophy; but in hockey nothing is guaranteed and if they want to move on to the next round, they must first get through the dynasty that has become the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings are making their twenty-third consecutive appearance in the post-season, a feat made all the more impressive because they have spent much of the season without their veteran stars Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. While the veteran absence has surely been felt, the Red Wings are not without young talent, in fact almost half the active roster is from the Calder Cup winning Grand Rapid Griffins, including forward Gustav Nyquist who has been on fire lately. The Bruins would seem to be the obvious choice to win this series, they have hardly struggled all season and their core still consists of a number of members who won the Stanley Cup in 2011, but their head to head matchups this season seem to favour Detroit, so I am going to go with the upset here. I am picking Detroit in 7 games.

The Penguins clinched their second consecutive division title this season and boasted the second best record in the East so they will be facing the first wildcard team, the Columbus Blue Jackets. This is the best matchup the Penguins could have hoped for in round 1, now all that's left is to see if they can take advantage of it. The Penguins and Blue Jackets faced off five times this season and the Penguins won every game, but if we have learned anything the last few seasons with the Penguins, it is that the playoffs are a different beast. If the Penguins want to be successful they will need to continue to score but most importantly Marc Andre Fleury needs to be on his game. If Fleury can play the way he did in 2009, the Penguins should have enough depth and skill to make it past any team in the league, but that's a big if. The Blue Jackets are making their second ever appearance in the playoffs and while Sergei Bobrovsky has been playing exceptionally well, they are a very young team with little to no playoff experience in their lineup. Unfortunately for the Blue Jackets, veteran forward and Stanley Cup Champion Nathan Horton will be sidelined for at least the first round. It is a huge loss for the young team and they will need to play at another level if they want to compete with the Penguins. Many have predicted that the Penguins will sweep the series, and, while I think the Penguins will win, I think the Jackets will win a couple games. I am going with Pittsburgh in 6 games.

The Montreal Canadiens were the only Canadian team to make the playoffs this season and they will be facing off against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are making their first playoff appearance since 2011. As with Pittsburgh, I think this is the best matchup for the Montreal. Montreal is a skilled team and they have excellent goaltending with Carey Price, but they are a smaller team and they often get pushed around during the playoffs. They added to their size this season with defenceman Douglas Murray and to their grit last season with Brandon Prust, but if they want to win, they will need to stick to their game plan and work on beating their opponent through skill as opposed to force. Tampa is also a smaller skilled team with excellent goaltending in Ben Bishop. They surprised a lot of fans by not only making the playoffs, but by finishing second in the Atlantic Division for home ice advantage, and they did this without Steven Stamkos for much of the season. They may be down two former captains in Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis, but they did add grit at the deadline with the acquisition of Ryan Callahan and have grown together as a team during the adversity they faced this season. I think this will be one of the closest series' for this round, but I've got to go with Montreal in 7 games even if just for my dad.

The last playoff series in the first round for the Eastern Conference is between heated rivals the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers. This series has the potential to be one of the most entertaining in the entire playoffs, they play each other hard and there is little to no love lost between these two franchises. Philadelphia started slow this season, much like their captain, but as soon as he picked up his game, the team started to pile on the points. They have received excellent goaltending so far this season from Steve Mason and their forwards have been hard to contain. If their skill wasn't enough, they aren't known as the Broad Street Bullies for nothing, they are a tough, heavy team to play against, you really need to fight for time and space when you are facing the Flyers. The Rangers are no slouches either, their scorers have started to pick up and they play a frustrating defensive style, backstopped by former Vezina trophy winner Henrik Lundqvist. I can almost guarantee this series will have a ton of penalty minutes, in fact the winner of special teams will likely take the series. For personal reasons I just can't pick Philadelphia so I am going with Rangers in 7 hard fought games.

So now you know my predictions, how do they compare with yours??

Fantasy Pool Grade: Solid A for effort, D for execution

This year marked the first time I’ve ever participated in an NHL fantasy pool; I finished in 9^th place with 883 points. Sounds like a pretty good start doesn’t it? Top 10 finish in my first ever fantasy pool. Well that changes when I add that there were only 15 participants and the winner, Cailleach Dynasty, finished 318 points ahead of me with 1201. So where did I go wrong?

To start this is a keeper pool so I inherited someone else’s team and had the opportunity to “keep” 10 players before the draft. This was back in September so I can’t remember exactly who I kept but I believe my choices were Zach Parise, Jason Spezza, Patrick Kane, Tuukka Rask and maybe Jonas Hiller, I can’t remember that far back. Spezza definitely did not have the bounce back year I had hoped and he brought in the fewest points for my keepers with 67. Rask was outstanding for me and gave me a total of 129 points, and Patrick Kane was able to accumulate 107 points, even though he was injured the last few weeks of the season. Safe to say my keepers weren’t really my problem, in fact they performed rather well. My problem then seems to stem from my draft choices.

I got lucky with a few of the random draft picks such as TJ Oshie from the St. Louis Blue who brought it in a total of 102 points and Brandon Saad of the Chicago Blackhawks who was good for 80 points, but that’s more or less where my luck ended.

My biggest problem was probably that I drafted with my heart, which doesn’t always allow for the smartest choices. I am a diehard Penguins fan, I will always be a diehard Penguins fan, and what that means is that I want to load my team with as many Penguins players as I can, draft rankings be damned. Now I bet I know what you’re thinking, how can picking Penguins players be a bad thing? They are a pretty kick ass team during the regular season, and you my friend would be correct; except this was a keeper pool so the good players like Sidney Crosby, James Neal, Jussi Jokinen, Chris Kunitz, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Paul Martin and Marc Andre Fleury were already taken. That’s right, I took Penguins players nobody wanted and stacked my roster with them. Again this wouldn’t always be a bad move except the Penguins bit the injury bug this season like it was the Stanley Cup so many of my players were out half the season or more.

Now I knew Brooks Orpik and Rob Scuderi weren’t likely to get me tons of points, but I had hoped they would have decent plus/minus scores, and I love my boys, so I figured I could do without the points. This was of course before they both went down with injuries and were scratched for multiple games. Beau Bennett is an extremely dynamic player, a guaranteed top 9 forward who can definitely play in your top 6. I was proud of myself when I picked him up, and then he played like 12 games this year and brought in less than 10 points. I know a lot of people would have dropped him from their lineup, but he is my all time favourite player (he is the 19 in hockeythoughts19) so I couldn’t do that to my boy.

Not all my Penguins picks were bad though, Matt Niskanen, who basically went into the season as trade bait, was given a huge role for the Penguins this season and managed to get me over 80 points. He was so good I had about five or six trade offers for him, yes all from the same person. Olli Maatta was another one of my pickups from the Penguins late this season, while he didn’t get me very many points this year, if his sophomore year is anything like his rookie campaign this year, I should be just fine on defence next season.

I had excellent goaltending from Tuukka Rask and Jonas Hiller this year, which was to be expected, but goaltending was one of the weaker points for my team. I was unable to get more than two starters so my backup was Jeff Zatkoff, from the Penguins, and for a while I also had Peter Budaj of the Montreal Canadiens (that one was for you, dad). The problem is that backups don’t get a lot of starts and therefore don’t necessarily get you a lot of points. Goaltending is definitely one area I hope to improve upon next season.

Next season our fantasy pool will be changing, we are going to a rotisserie style pool and points will be awarded for things like hits, blocked shots, faceoff wins, saves and save percentages on top of points, assists and plus/minus stats, which should keep things interesting. I have already been trying to figure out my strategy and determine which players I’ll be keeping. Have I learned my lesson when it comes to choosing with my heart? Jury is still out on that one, I love my boys and even in a loss, I love knowing that my bench is full of Penguins players. I realize they have no idea that I have chosen them for my pool, but it feels wrong, almost traitorous, not to stick by my team, so I’ll have to wait until next year to figure out whether my heart or my head wins out. One thing I definitely learned is that fantasy pools are fun and add an extra thrill to the season. I have never paid so much attention to who was on the ice for a goal against, or rooted so thoroughly for Tuukka Rask and the Bruins, it definitely added another dynamic to an already amazing game and I can’t wait to see how I do next season.