The Second Round Thus Far
It's kind of forming into Round 1 in the big picture: The Western Conference seems to be finishing quickly and the Eastern Conference looks like it it will drag out.
I don't know what to make of the Blues-Kings series. Elliott is playing like he's back in Ottawa, the Blues are making too many mistakes, and the Kings are actually scoring (mainly due to Elliott and the Blues mistakes). It's hard to see the Blues doing anything outside of winning just one game to avoid the sweep.
The same but for different reasons can be said for the Coyotes-Predators series. Rinne is settling into being decent with a few highlight saves, Radulov and Kostitsyn (Andrei, or "the bad one") are breaking curfew, and the Coyotes are playing good without allowing too many mistakes being turned into goals. Oh, and Smith is quite the actor. In the first round he was flopping like a fish out of water, in this round he's making even the most routine save look like the hardest save ever.
The Flyers-Devils series is interesting. First game: High scoring. Second game: Mostly New Jersey. Third game: Like Game 1, different outcome. Either way, goaltending has been questionable. We have see the good and bad of Brodeur during the games, and Bryzgalov hasn't helped Philly much...then again, Philly hasn't helped Philly. They seemed to have lost a bit of edge from their first series with Pittsburgh, or is it because Bryzgalov is going into Space Cadet mode a la "24/7".
Rangers-Capitals started boring, now entertaining (and not because of the new Holtby Parent's Cam). What I find strange is the unnecessary need to nit-pick Ovechkin's ice time. We seen the warning signs last series against Boston, so why fix something that is working. Ovechkin is slipping from Superstar status. It's a slow decline, but it's happening. Moving on to Game 3, what a game. Triple Overtime! Let's see what Game 4 holds today shall we?
Links
The World Championship is on. Check out the IIHF website for their running blog and their usually funny power rankings.
Puck Daddy reports the HBO is bring back "24/7" for the Leafs/Wings Winter Classic. Hello behind-the-scenes Brian Burke. Also, hello Toronto Media bitching about the access HBO gets compared to them.
The best Hockey rap since...uh....the last one.
Finally, a legit excuse as to why I'm single (well, during April, May, and some of June). (Post Media)
Lineup NOTables
New York Rangers vs. Washington Capitals
New York: Brandon Dubinsky (lower body), Mats Aasen-Zuccarello (wrist) and Michael Sauer (concussion) are out. Henrik Lundqvist will start.
Washington: Tom Poti (groin) and Tomas Vokoun (groin) are out. Braden Holtby is in net.
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