Playoff Predictions: Round 3

I know I'm a little late putting these up, but better late than never, right?

On April 23rd, I made my second round predictions, and I got half of them right. That's not too bad considering Keith Jones - who went 8/8 in round 1 - only got one correct prediction in round 2.

Here are the standings so far:

Ashley: 9/12
Susie: 3/12
Maggie: 6/8
McKenzie: 8/12
Duthie: 5/8 *
Panger: 5/8 *
Milbury: 5/8 *
* I don't have the 2nd round predictions for Duthie, Panger or Milbury. I suck.

Now, I am clearly beating everyone, even the so-called 'hockey insider' Bob McKenzie (sorry Bob, I love ya anyway).

Here's what everyone is thinking for Round 3...

PITTSBURGH VS. PHILADELPHIA
Ashley - PITTSBURGH
Susie - PITTSBURGH
Maggie - PITTSBURGH
Duthie - PITTSBURGH
Milbury - PITTSBURGH
Panger - PITTSBURGH
McKenzie - PITTSBURGH
Cherry - PITTSBURGH <--maybe it's because he loves Staal

DETROIT VS. DALLAS
Ashley - DETROIT
Susie - DETROIT
Maggie - DETROIT
Duthie - DALLAS
Milbury - DETROIT
Panger - DETROIT
McKenzie - DETROIT
Cherry - DETROIT

Check out Faceoff Factor for staff predictions. I'm tied for the lead because I'm just that damn good. Or, the hockey gods are smiling down on me and giving me a whole lotta luck.

Let's just hope that my predictions are spot on this time around, especially in the East. It would suck big time if Philly started prancing around with Stanley Cup dreams in their heads.

And just so everyone knows, I made my predictions Monday night before I heard what everyone else was saying.

World Championships Slideshow

The dream is over.

The Montreal Canadiens were the so-called miracle team of the season. Few believed that they would even make the playoffs, let alone finish first in the conference. The possibilities excited Habs fans and led them to dream of La Coupe.

Looks like it wasn’t meant to be.

The Philadelphia Flyers lost the first game of the series, but came back to win the next four and vault themselves into the Eastern Conference Finals. Not bad for an organization that blew up its team after finishing dead last in the NHL last year.

There is much focus on what went wrong with the Habs. Gosh darn it, they were supposed to end the Cup drought in Canada this year. They were so good in the regular season, but average at best in the post season.

Everyone is talking about the young Carey Price. It’s pretty obvious that he let in some soft goals but he is so far ahead of the learning curve as it is that no Habs fan should be worried. He has shown us time and time again throughout the regular season that he plays a sound game. He is almost always in position and gives up few rebounds. I just think that the pressure of playing playoff hockey in Montreal got to him this past month and he was mentally tired from playing so much hockey in the last 18 months. He will learn from this experience and be that much tougher to play against next season. Who knows, maybe ‘the plan’ of winning number 25 next year – the Habs’ 100th anniversary - will work.

Something that people are not talking much about is how well the Flyers played (I can’t believe I just wrote that). They played a hard-hitting game, yet weren’t overly dirty. They got traffic in front of Price and scored and scored again. Briere was great and Biron came up with the big saves, but Umberger was the Johan Franzen of the East, scoring 8 goals against Montreal.

The Habs, on the other hand, allowed Biron to see just about every shot coming at him – it’s hard to score when the goalie sees you coming from a mile away. The Flyers also got into the heads of the Canadiens. I swear it was as though the Habs were scared of the Flyers. You’re not going to win many battles when you shy away from the opponent.

All in all, the Flyers deserved to win that series.

But thumbs up to the Montreal crowd for showing their support for their goalie even when the game was out of reach. Very classy.

[Go Pens]

World Championship Coverage

The World Championships will be held in Halifax and Quebec City from May 2nd to May 18th, and I will be covering the tournament for Faceoff Factor.

Make sure to stop by FF on a regular basis to check out the WC coverage, as well as coverage of the NHL playoffs.

Playoff Predictions: Round 2

A few weeks ago, I made my first round playoff predictions and compared them to Susie, my dog, and the TSN crew: Maggie the Monkey, James Duthie, Darren Pang, Mike Milbury, and Bob McKenzie. Here's the results:

Ashley: 7/8
Susie: 1/8
Maggie: 5/8
Duthie: 5/8
Panger: 5/8
Milbury: 5/8
McKenzie: 6/8

Now, I don't mean to 'brag' or anything, but I did better than the so-called experts when it came to round 1 predictions. Unfortunately, in the dog vs. monkey category, Maggie is running away with the title so far.

Tonight, TSN had their round 2 playoff special and Maggie, McKenzie, and Darren Dreger offered their predictions. Here's how it all went down...

MONTREAL VS. PHILADELPHIA
Ashley - MONTREAL
Susie - MONTREAL
Maggie - MONTREAL
McKenzie - MONTREAL
Dreger - PHILADELPHIA

PITTSBURGH VS. NEW YORK
Ashley - PITTSBURGH
Susie - NEW YORK
Maggie - NEW YORK
McKenzie - PITTSBURGH
Dreger - PITTSBURGH

DETROIT VS. COLORADO
Ashley - DETROIT
Susie - DETROIT
Maggie - DETROIT
McKenzie - DETROIT
Dreger - DETROIT

SAN JOSE VS. DALLAS
Ashley - SAN JOSE
Susie - DALLAS
Maggie - SAN JOSE
McKenzie - SAN JOSE
Dreger - SAN JOSE

UPDATE:
I was watching Up Front on OTR tonight and Landsberg said that Keith Jones went 8/8 in round one. He gave his predictions for round 2, so I thought I'd put them down...
PHILADELPHIA
SAN JOSE SHARKS
NEW YORK RANGERS - on their way to the Cup (WTF?)
COLORADO

Sean Avery has a new job this summer...

This article was linked in Pensblog's c-blog, and it is just too good to not post here.

According to Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo Blogs, Sean Avery may have a new position once his Rangers lose in the second round of the playoffs: a Vogue intern.

Yep, THAT Vogue....Anna Wintour and all.

I wonder if Avery will be demeaned and insulted at every turn...maybe they could call him 'fatso'.

I hope the fashion world keeps him.

Who's the best?

The NHL is announcing their nominees for the NHL Awards, and yesterday was goalie day.

The three Vezina nominees in 2008:

Marty Brodeur
Evgeni Nabokov
King Henrik Lundqvist (is that how you spell it?)

Hmm...I'd give it to Brodeur this year. Nabokov may have won more games, but the Devils took a big hit in free agency and Brodeur carried the team to the playoffs.

Today was d-man day, with the Norris nominees being:

Nicklas Lidstrom
Dion Phaneuf
Zdeno Chara

Okay, Lidstrom will likely win since he's the best thing since #4 was in the NHL. Phaneuf definitely deserves the nomination since he's one hell of a defenceman. But Chara? Sure, he's good - really good - but I would've liked to see Gonchar get some recognition for the first time ever. He was not only reliable in terms of points (as usual), but he has really improved in his own end, too. Maybe I'm a little biased, but whatever - Gonchar gets no love from the NHL.

Oh Montréal, qu'est-ce qui ce passe?

Last night, the Habs won their first round series against the Boston Bruins by a score of 5-0. The Bruins showed up to play and were great in the first period, but Carey Price was just a little better.

This win means that the Habs are now 27-0 when they lead a playoff series 3 games to 1, and Price became the fourth rookie goalie to record a shutout in a game 7.

This kid is the real deal. He may not lead the Canadiens to the Cup this year, but there is something about him that makes me confident that the Habs are in good hands for the next several years. Everyone comments about how calm, cool and collected he is on the ice, and that is the truth. In fact, I don't think I've ever really seen him anything but calm - just watch him in interviews.

Do I forget about games 5 and 6, when he let in 10 goals? No, but I also don't forget the previous 8 games, when he let in 10 goals in those 8 games. I also don't forget about how his team messed up in front of him, which led to some of those goals in games 5 and 6.

Price will make mistakes - that's the price (no pun intended) you pay when you have a 20-year-old starting goalie - but he will do good things for the Habs.

Okay, enough about that...

Anybody who has seen a Montreal Canadiens game at the Bell Centre (whether it be live and in person, or on TV) will know that Habs fans are very vocal. I've said this before - that place can rock like no other arena in the NHL. I personally love how they sing and are so passionate about their team.

A lot of people don't like how they 'boo' the best player(s) on the other team. In the Boston series, it was the Zdeno Chara that heard the boo-birds when he touched the puck. Boston fans, in turn, booed Alex Kovalev. I think that some people believe that these fans don't appreciate the talent of these players, but I would have to disagree with that idea - I think that fans acknowledge how important and how talented these select players are, and they single them out and voice their displeasure over these players touching the puck. I think of it as these fans showing how passionate they are for the game and showing their support for the home team.

That passion and support for the Habs was out full force last night, especially with the Canadiens playing so well. CBC showed the fans partying and singing in the streets, waving their flags and hugging each other.

Who would have guessed that something else would happen...

Some people decided to riot. Police cars were set on fire, other cars slashed and vandalized, stores looted, and all the likes. Many are left scratching their heads over this one - why riot when your team wins...after round frickin' 1? Besides, it's not like this is 1955. Maybe they were upset that Jean Chrétien and Stéphane Dion were in attendance at the Bell Centre...who knows.

I'm upset that some 'fans' would decide to do this (although one could make the argument that there were few Habs fans among this gang of schmucks), but I'm also upset that some people believe that most or all of Habs fans exhibit this kind of behaviour. It really bothers me that we're looked at like we're some 'crazy French people' who are, essentially, psychotic. I know that 99% of Habs fans are good people who are upset over this incident, just like I know that 99% of Bruins fans would not kick a person in the head for wearing another team's sweater.

So, to the world out there that looks down at us Habs fans, we're normal hockey fans. We love our team. We voice our displeasure when they don't play as well as we know they can. We scream and sing in absolute joy when they show us their heart and soul on the ice. We celebrate our victories, whether they come in 4 games or in 7, because we believe that victories should be celebrated. It has been awhile since the mayor of Montreal has said that the Stanley Cup parade will be held on the 'usual' route, but we also have faith that the team can win Cup #25 sooner rather than later...and before the Leafs win #14.

[Go Pens, Go Habs]

Mayor Gary Roberts

Can Montreal seal the deal in Boston?

Les Canadiens de Montréal missed their shot Thursday night. Leading the series 3-1, they could have delivered the knockout punch to the Boston Bruins.

They could have, but they didn't.

The last 30 minutes or so showed a Carey Price that we haven't seen in awhile. He was average, at best, which only magnified his team's scoring problems.

The Habs finished the season with the best power play in the NHL, but you would never know it in this series. Add to that their inability to score many goals 5-on-5, and you have a team that relies on its goalie. Carey Price may be an unbelievable goalie, but he is only 20 years old and playing under the microscope in Montreal.

The Boston Bruins, on the other hand, are playing very well. They didn't beat the Habs all season, but they won game 3 in Boston, and they handed it to the Canadiens in game 5.

The series is now returning to Boston and the Bruins have all the confidence in the world. The Canadiens are getting Saku Koivu and Francis Bouillon back and are in a position where they must win this game. They do not want to lose again and have the pressure of a game 7....and to have that game in Montreal.

I want the Habs to get it done and move on to round 2, but I am not super-confident. Claude Julien was coaching the Habs in 2004 when they were playing the Bruins and came back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series in 7. Can he lead the Bruins to the same result? If so, it may be the biggest upset of the post-season.