The Pittsburgh Penguins completed the sweep and the only thing I can say about the elimination of the Carolina Hurricanes is that I’m grateful they’ve been put out of their misery.  They definitely battled hard in the first two rounds but they seemed to fall apart against the Pens in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Penguins enjoyed an easy 4-1 win over the Hurricanes with goals from Max Talbot (who also had two assists), Ruslan Fedotenko, Bill Guerin and Craig Adams (empty-netter).  Captain, Sidney Crosby had two assists and goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, stopped 30 shots on net.  In the end, Pittsburgh …read more

The teams who will compete in the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs have been decided and I’m extremely excited!  There are a few surprises (Montreal just squeaking in) and things that I’m truly happy about (Chicago, Columbus and St. Louis making the cut) but aside from that, it’s pretty much what most of us could have predicted a couple months ago.  I am disappointed, though, that Dallas wasn’t able to pull it together this season to push past their problems and get to the postseason.  Maybe next year…
Here are a list of the teams that made it:

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

1
Z
Boston
114
1
Z
San Jose
117

2
Y
Washington
108
2
Y
Detroit
112

3
Y
New …read more

After losing to the Florida Panthers last night, the Ottawa Senators officially have no chance of making the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The disappointing 5-2 loss, combined with the fact that the Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Blackhawks (4-1) meant that the Habs are a point ahead of the Sens and currently sit in the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot.  “It’s not something that snuck up on us,” Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson said. “We’ve known this situation for a long time. Our focus hasn’t been only on trying to get into the playoffs, it’s been on turning things around, which …read more

It’s been a while since a hockey fight made me laugh out loud but this scrap between Alexander Semin (Washington Capitals) and Marc Staal (New York Rangers) will make you crack up.  Staal manages to pull Semin’s jersey and pads off so you’ve got Semin with no sweater on, smacking (yes, smacking – not punching) Staal as he lay on the ice. 

Semin got a 10-minute misconduct, an automatic ejection and a 5-minute major for fighting.  It really was surprising because I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him in a fight and he played Staal’s back like it was a …read more

The New Jersey Devils were defeated at home by the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 6-5 loss yesterday, with Niklas Hagman scoring the game winning goal.
Andy Greene of the NJ Devlis made third star of the night, gaining three assists and Maple Leafs player, Matt Stajan made second star by scoring two goals last night. First star went to NJ left wing, Zach Parise, who scored a goal in the third period. There were some really great goals during this game. Thomas Kaberle’s was amazing!
Here’s the scoring summary:

TOR: Stajan, M. (04:13 in 2nd), Stajan, M. (PPG, 05:31 in …read more

Even though the Pittsburgh Penguins easily won the series, I found it great to watch.  I wasn’t exactly crying in my soup when the Philadelphia Flyers were eliminated but, it was a decent run.  Watch the highlights from the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals:

Technorati Tags: 2008 eastern conference finals,eastern conference,finals,video,watch,highlights,pittsburgh penguins,philadelphia flyers

Everything that has happened in the 2008 Western Conference Finals has happened in the Eastern Conference Finals – until now. 
While the Dallas Stars forced the Detroit Red Wings into a sixth game (later tonight), the Pittsburgh Penguins routed the Philadelphia Flyers with a crushing 6-0 win and eliminated them from the playoffs.  It’s the first time in 16 years that the Pens have advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The game seemed to belong to Pittsburgh right from the beginning (and it was the team’s 16th consecutive win on home ice!).  Ryan Malone opened scoring on a power-play early in …read more

 
Well, well, well… the similarities between the Eastern and Western Conference finals continue.  The Dallas Stars raged back to force the Detroit Red Wings to go to Game 5 and now so have the Philadelphia Flyers.  Before their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, I was wondering if this would be the outcome.  Just like the Stars, the Flyers were one game away from being swept and, all of a sudden, they turned on the magic.
In fact, for the first two periods, this game was all about Philly.  It looked like they totally took the Pens by surprise which …read more

Oh. My. Gawd.  This is absolutely insane.  The Dallas Stars and now the Philadelphia Flyers are each one game away from being swept in the 2008 Western and Eastern Conference Finals, respectively.  I cannot even believe this.
Last night, the Pittsburgh Penguins VISITED the Philadelphia Flyers and dominated the game.  I was hoping that home ice advantage would work in the Flyers’ favor and make this a more exciting series but, instead, it was almost like it made the Pens stronger.  While Pittsburgh scored twice in the first and third (each), Philly scored once, halfway through the opening period and …read more

The Pittsburgh Penguins currently have the best record of any team in the playoffs since the postseason began.  With last night’s 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pens have improved 10-1.  Since this is their second game (and second victory), they are halfway to winning the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals.  If I were Philly, I’d be very worried.
To be fair, the Flyers have been dealt a couple blows – they lost Kimmo Timonen to a blood clot before the start of the series, Braydon Coburn got knocked out of the lineup early in last night’s game after taking a …read more