Semi-Finals: Day Two

#1 Washington Capitals / #5 Tampa Bay Lightning


Lightning win game one and lead series 1-0 after a 4-2 win


The fortitude of Tampa's grinders never ceases to amaze us.

They just go and go and go and just score whenever they want to.

Unfortunately, Simon Gagne was injured last night after he hit his head off of the ice and had to be helped off.

Not good.

The Capitals were not ready for this and a turning point was the penalty kill for Tampa that kept the Caps off the board at a very critical moment.

Their penalty kill was perfect.

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#2 San Jose Sharks / #3 Detroit Red Wings


Sharks lead series after a 2-1 win in OT


So many overtime games for the Sharks. They're going to fall over and pass out before they even get to the end of this series.

And it was another goal from Joe Pavelski.

Seriously, he is such a winner it's disgusting.

Ben Ferriero was the OT hero in his play off debut and it's kinda cute that it was his 24th birthday when he scored.

Talk about a good day.

Double Date: Finnish Goaltenders

Amidst the confusion of the play offs, we lost this Double Date idea from Shanny in our emails. But we found it and couldn't be happier!

Enjoy this series of Pass or Fail dates.

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Double Date: Finnish Goaltenders

Niklas Backstrom


Convinces everyone he's Washington's Nick Backstrom

& gets everything for free.

Pass or Fail?


Miika Kipprusoff


Challenges you to a staring contest. Loser pays for the date.

Pass or Fail?


Kari Lehtonen


Invites you back to his place to see his awesome light fixture & magical chair.

(it's never to soon to bring back this gem)


Pass or Fail?


Antti Niemi


He keeps texting Dan Boyle

to make sure what he orders is on the “approved eating list”.

Pass or Fail?


Tuukka Rask


The two of you close the Limelight Stage & Studios with the most kick ass rendition of Islands in the Stream ever.

While waiting for a cab you puke all over his shoes.

Pass or Fail?


Pekka Rinne

While on a moonlit stroll you have a spirited discussion about who was more influential to the 20th century:

Alvar Aalto


or

Frank Lloyd Wright


Pass or Fail?


As always, it's up to you PASS or FAIL on these dates.

Semi-Finals: Day One

#1 Vancouver Canucks / #5 Nashville Predators


Canucks lead series 1-0 after a 1-0 win in Rogers Arena


Yawn.

The Canucks dominated from the first face-off and never looked back. It was like a pro team playing a pee-wee team. It just wasn't fair.

"They put on a clinic!" like Bob would say

Man, we miss his antics.

We're calling it jitter for the Preds. Come on, they're a good team. Look for Game Two to be a better, more physical effort from the Predators.

They ain't going down without a fight.

One coach we would never want to cross is Barry Trotz and we can imagine that his team will be better motivated for Game Two.


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News and Notes from around the league:


Here is the schedule for the Semi-Finals: Schedule

Get your game-face on!


From Shanny: Tom Gagliardi has agreed to buy the Dallas Stars which is a relief for the fans and the players and hopefully the deal goes through without much issues.


Kerry Fraser attempts to explain to fans the reasoning behind the penalties called on Milan Lucic and Daniel Briere after the hits they delivered to unsuspecting players.


And your Hart Trophy nominees are Daniel Sedin, Martin St. Louis and Corey Perry. We don't like any of the choices, well maybe Perry but uh, that's it.

The Jack Adams awards nominees are Alain Vigneault, Dan Bylsma and Barry Trotz. We are beyond excited. Yay for Dan!


Onto more coach news: Lindy Ruff was given a contract extension by the Sabres. Uh, really? Ooookay.


And finally it isn't Ovi against Sid, FINALLY!



Ryan Miller has admitted that the injury that kept him out of the Sabres lineup toward the end of the season was a concussion. Jeebus, they're everywhere!


Defenseman Shea Weber cannot for the life of him explain why the Predators had only three shots on goal and were totally bewildered as if they didn't know the game started.

EA Sports has their predictions for the semi-finals and they went 8-for-8 in the quarterfinals which is impressive to say the least. We did terribly awful in our predictions but that's to be expected.

Quarterfinals: Day Fifteen

#3 Boston Bruins / #6 Montreal Canadiens


Bruins win series 4-3 after another 4-3 OT win



Nathan Horton was the OT hero. And this is after all of that talk about him being a bust for not showing up in the first couple of games.


There was a lot of nastiness between the two teams and bad hits but that didn't overshadow the fact that Boston just played like the better team (which they are).

PK Subban tied the game up and sent it to OT but it just wasn't to be.


The Flyers/Bruins rematch will be interesting.


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#4 Pittsburgh Penguins / #5 Tampa Bay Lightning


Bolts win series 4-3 after a 1-0 win



This whole city is quiet. No one is talking about it, it's all hushed voices and speculations. No one wants to talk about this loss.


As Penguins fans, we knew that it would be an uphill battle without Crosby and Malkin but we had hope that our fearless Captain would be back for the play offs. It didn't pan out and the Penguins left couldn't close out a 3-1 series lead.

Of course.

The Lightning were insanely defensive and if you're a Pens fan then you know how they react to the trap. It's never good.

Now we have to rely on this upstart team to defeat the rested and offensively gifted Washington Capitals. Great.

Quarterfinals: Day Fourteen

#2 Philadelphia Flyers / #7 Buffalo Sabres


Flyers win the series 4-3 and Game Seven by a score of 5-2



Holy schnieke, that game.


The Flyers were just ridiculous, throwing everything they had at Ryan Miller and never letting up until the third when they let the score get to their heads.

Poor Buffalo. They had no chance.

Ryan Miller was under siege and the defense was being outworked.

It was a shame because the games leading up to this one were so very entertaining.

This reminded us of Game Seven last season between the Wings and the Coyotes when the Wings just rolled over the 'Yotes like they were nothing.

What a game.

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#3 Boston Bruins / #6 Montreal Canadiens


Habs win 2-1 and force a Game Seven tonight


Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta scored for the Canadiens and they held onto the lead for their dear lives heading into the last minute of the game.


The Bruins played amazing but just couldn't get the puck past Carey Price who won his first play off game at Bell Centre.


One of the big stories was the Milan Lucic hit on Jaroslav Spacek. He was given a 5-minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct. How this isn't a suspension, we'll never know.


Game Seven is already upon us and the house is divided on who should win.

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#1 Vancouver Canucks / #8 Chicago Blackhawks


Canucks win series 4-3 after a 2-1 win in OT



Alex Burrows scored both of the Canucks goals.

The OT winner was off a turnover from the Hawks defense.

It's heartbreaking as a Hawks fan to see this but at the same time, they took the number one seed to a Game Seven and then to overtime.

That's something to hang your hat on.

And what can we say about Jonathan Toews?

He was determined and the short-handed goal to tie the game was amazing and vintage Captain-never-give-up material.

The Canucks held the offensive advantage and they should be proud of 'exorcising their demons' but you let the number eight seed trample all over you for three games and almost lost Game Seven.

So, celebrate now because it's only going to get tougher.

We're tired from this series and we're glad that it's over.

Chew On This: Wednesday's Readings

Sidney Crosby is helping out the Penguins training staff by being all up in their ears during games. He just can't stay away.


Ken Campbell rants about the non-suspensions in the league and how the disciplinarians are afraid to suspend some players.


Bryan Bickell had wrist surgery and will be in recovery mode for 6-8 weeks. Seemed this injury came out of nowhere.


Mike Grier is beside himself over the Game Seven loss. His glove deflected the first goal into Ryan Miller's net.


The New York Rangers have decided to extend head coach John Tortorella for what is rumored to be three seasons.


Speaking of the Rangers, they are also on the look out for Brad Richards during free agency. This will be an interesting July for that man.


USA Today has their unofficial NHL Awards and they're pretty spot on.


The Leafs and Brian Burke are determined to help women's hockey grow and they have created a task force that will study it.


Despite losing in Game Seven, Jonathan Toews was a dominant force. Are we surprised by that fact? We shouldn't be.


There's been quite a bit of talk about the whining in the play offs this season. And Rory Boylen from the Hockey News doesn't like it.


More NHL Award nominees:

Masterton: Ray Emery, Daymond Langkow and Ian Lapierriere

Selke: Pavel Datsyuk, Ryan Kesler and Jonathan Toews


World Championships News:

Versus will be showing the preliminary games for the United States and the games if they get into the medal rounds.

Sat., April 30: USA vs Austria (10 am EST)
Mon., May 2: USA vs. Norway (10 am EST)
Wed., May 4: USA vs. Sweden (2 pm EST)

And a special analyst for those games will be Zach Parise. Uh, what? We will be there with bells on.

That's really exciting.

The US is without scoring because of so many reasons but we like to blame Canada for stealing all the good players.

TSN will be showing every Canadian game and every other game so if you're lucky enough to be in Canada then watching this will not be a problem. If we find any other website that is showing the games, we will let you guys know.

And here is the complete schedule for the IIHF World Championships.

Schedule.

Don't get too excited now.

Quarterfinals: Day Thirteen

#4 Pittsburgh Penguins / #5 Tampa Bay Lightning


Series tied 3-3 after a 4-2 win for Tampa


Game Seven? Really? We hate every Penguins player ever and blame this all on Sidney Crosby. And the non-existent power play which is getting old really fast.

Okay, rant done.

Steve Downie had a career game.

Somehow he pulled that outta his ass when he wasn't delivering borderline hits.

And Crazy Dwayne played like everyone thought he would.

We're still cracking up at the Chris Conner missed penalty shot.

But we feel bad because we like him. He's a battler.

Is it quitting if we don't watch Game Seven? It's gonna make us too nervous.

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#2 San Jose Sharks / #7 Los Angeles Kings


Sharks win series 4-2 in a 4-3 OT win in LA



Joe Thornton scores possibly the biggest goal of his playoff career so far. And slides around like a kid to celebrate.

It was funny.

The Kings didn't play bad but the Sharks offense was just too much.

So many weapons. We commend them for almost going to a Game Seven.

But at the same time, another Game Seven? Jeeeeez, boys. Just lose already.

It still isn't decided who they will play but it is gonna be an exciting series we are sure.