Sunday, April 19, 2009

The Return of Mr. Scoreboard

Well, with another day off to contemplate - we turn our attention to the out-of-town scoreboard. Our predictions have had a run of bad luck today.

That Newark team that invokes the name of Satan (The Devils) have climbed back into home-ice advantage by beating the Hurricanes in Carolina to go up 2-1 in the series. The Newark team somehow managed to win an OT game - something they have struggled with as of late. Marty beat Cam in save percentage 93.3% to 91.4% and that was the difference. And Carolina Left Winger Ray Whitney, the 16 year veteran, managed to be minus-3 in a 3-2 loss.

And the Flyers avoided a 3-0 hole by outscoring Pittsburgh 2-1 in all three periods for a 6-3 win. Penguin Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury only saved about 83% of the shots he faced, letting in 5 goals on 29 shots.

Boston, up 2-0 on the Habs, will play in Montreal Monday night.

Also tomorrow - a reeling Washington Capitals team heads into Madison Square Garden to take on our suddenly red hot Rangers...

2 comments:

  1. It's fun watching playoff hockey when a) you have nothing on the line, and b) you know there is no chance your playing either team in the next round. For the Rangers, first they have to win to more (calm down Dave, not trying to disturb your chickens), but after they finish off the Caps, they play the highest seed remaining, which would be the Bruins (assuming they beat Montreal). But if the Bruins lose to montreal, then Montreal is the lowest seed left, and they would play the devils (with the 1 and 2 seeds gone). So it is actually impossible for the Rangers to match up with the Devils in the next round. Carolina on the other hand is "possible" just incredibly unlikely. The only way the rangers would play carolina is if ALL FOUR TOP SEEDS LOST in the first round. This would then set up a flyers-canadians, and carolina-rangers.

    Watching the game last night, you can see Jersey and Carolina are evenly matched, low scoring teams. Which actually makes for some pretty boring hockey. Every period is like OT where neither team takes a chance, and neither goalie is really tested. The reason the rangers series has been so great is because the caps are so much more offensively dynamic then the rangers, so it feels like at any moment they could explode for 6 goals and blow the rangers out of the building.

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  2. Well said. The Rangers seem to be beating a team that is more talented than they are by using intelligence, teamwork, coaching, and force of will. That's an oversimplification - because we are more talented at the Goaltending position - which is huge. But our overachieving makes this extra-special.

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