Blackhawks feelin' the love...or not?

Patrick Kane on their current stay in Vancouver: "...an elderly lady was in a car, and she had the oxygen tubes up her nose and she rolled down the window and gave us a certain gesture."

I guess Kane and the rest of his teammates are pretty well-known for someone to give them the finger.  This will do nothing but motivate the Hawks to put the past two games behind them and win on home turf tonight.

Re-blogged from: Ms. Blackhawks

Original source: Chicago Tribune

Childish play

You can view the stomp at 0:40 seconds

It looks like Bobby Ryan from the Anaheim Ducks has been suspended for two games after pulling off such a childish move. 

There was a scramble for the puck between Ryan and Jonathan Blum from the Nashville Predators behind the net.  Ryan then stomped on Blum's left foot out of nowhere.

It was a very immature and unnecessary thing to do, let alone a very dangerous move.  These guys are grown men.  I would expect them to know better.  It was like watching young kids fight for an ice cream cone or something.

The NHL was right to suspend him for two games, maybe even more, since the act could of caused injury to Blum's ankle.  Thankfully it didn't.

Toews, Sharp, Kane M.I.A.

Mar. 2011: L to R - Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, and Patrick Kane celebrating

            a  goal together on the first line. (Photo courtesy: www.blackhawks.com

The thing that I am wondering most about right now is the Sharp-Toews-Kane trio.  Where were they these past two games?  I personally disagree with Coach Quenville’s decision to bump Kane down to the second line and Hossa to the first line with Toews and Sharp.  I mean, it does make sense to have two strong lines on your team in order to shut down the Canucks’ first line with the Sedins and the second line with Kesler, but this decision has not worked well for the Hawks so far. 

I remember when Toes, Kane, and Sharp were on the first line together and they  dominated every play, every game, and mostly every team in the regular season.  What happened to them? What happened to Toews’ constant presence and play-making skills on the left side of the opponent’s net?  Where’s Kane’s ability to suddenly show up in front of the net, receive the pass from Toews and score?  And where are the plays and goals that Sharp makes from the point?  Where is this first line that every team used to fear?
 
There are other players on the team such as Hossa and Brouwer, who are just as skilled, but the Hawks’ first line is what brought them to win eight games in a row before the playoffs.  If it weren’t for Toews, Kane, Sharp, and the two other defensemen (Keith, Seabrook) in the regular season, the team wouldn’t have done as well as it did.  This Hawks team is nothing like they were last year when they won the cup.  But from what I’ve seen, if their first line starts to play like they did during the regular season, it’ll get the whole team going.  Maybe they wouldn’t be outplayed as much as they were in game one and two either.

Separating Toews and Kane is like separating the lemon from the lemonade - they can’t work without the other.  


*More Blackhawks and playoff coverage here.

Playoff beard day 3

Okay, let’s not press the panic button yet.  Yes, Vancouver is leading the series 2-0 but that’s common when a team has home ice advantage.  You can read more about it here.

I wasn’t able to catch the Lightning/Pens and Capitals/NYR game tonight due to a family dinner but here are the scores:

                             Lightning  3                                       Blackhawks  3
                            Penguins  0                                       Canucks  4
                            (Series tied 1-1)                                (Canucks leads series 2-0)

                            Ducks  5                                            Capitals  2
                            Predators  3                                      NYR  0
                            (Series tied 1-1)                                (Capitals lead series 2-0)

Playoff beard day 2

Forget the hype of the Original Six rivalry between the Habs and Bruins.  What really stood out tonight were the goaltenders in all three of these games.  It’s only the second day of the first round  and four teams have already been shut out.  Could this round be the battle of the goaltenders?  Perhaps they will be the ones to determine whether their team will move on to the second round.

Three games were played tonight - Bruins/Canadiens, Flyers/Sabres, and Sharks/Kings.  Here are the final scores:


       Bruins: 0
                              Sabres: 1                                   Sharks: 3 (OT)

       Canadiens: 2                       Flyers: 0                                     Kings: 2

       (Habs lead series 1-0)       (Sabres lead series 1-0)          (Sharks lead series 1-0)

More on day two of the post-season and videos of saves made by the goaltenders here.

Playoff beard day 1

Three out of the five games that were played tonight were low scoring games or a shutout.  Here are the final scores. Looks like my round one predictions are still considerable: 

                      Vancouver 2
                                        Tampa Bay 0
                      Chicago 0
                                            Pittsburgh 3
                      (Vancouver leads series 1-0)             (Pittsburgh leads series 1-0)

                      Washington 2 (OT)                             Detroit 4
                      New York Rangers 1
                          Phoenix 2
                      (Washington leads series 1-0)          (Detroit leads series 1-0)

                      Nashville 4
                      Anaheim 1
                      (Nashville leads series 1-0)

More on last night’s games here.

2011 round one playoff predictions

Photo credit: www.nhl.com

The post-season is finally here and it's time to grow that playoff beard (unfortunately I'm incapable of that). Here are my predictions for the first round:

Eastern Conference:
Washington Capitals (1) vs. New York Rangers (8) - Capitals in 5
Philadelphia Flyers (2) vs. Buffalo Sabres (7) - Flyers in 5
Boston Bruins (3) vs. Montreal Canadiens (6) - Canadiens in 7
Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (5)- Lightning in 7

Western Conference:
Chicago Blackhawks (8) vs. Vancouver Canucks (1) - Blackhawks in 7
Detroit Red Wings (3) vs. Phoenix Coyotes (6) - Red Wings sweep
Nashville Predators (5) vs. Anaheim Ducks (4) - Predators in 6
San Jose Sharks (2) vs. Los Angeles Kings (7) - Sharks in 5 

More on the 2011 playoffs here.