Flyers vs Hawks for Stanley Cup

  The Philadelphia Flyers will continue their improbable quest to capture the 2010 edition of the Stanley Cup when they take on the Chicago Blackhawks starting this Saturday in Chicago. Both teams have gone a long time since sipping champagne from Lord Stanley, the Hawks 50 years, and the Flyers 35, so both teams are due. The teams are similar in that they like to establish net presence with large forwards such as Dustin Byfuglien of the Hawks who scored 3 game winners against San Jose and Scott Hartnell of the Flyers whose long flowing locks alone screen goalies. Both teams also have young, accomplished captains in the Flyers Mike Richards and the Hawks Jonathan Toews who both were on the 2010 Team Canada gold medal winning team along with celebrating multiple World Junior Championships. Toews is a young Steve Yzerman while you coulld compare Richards to Bob Clarke as he plays with more of an edge. The defence for both teams is strong with Olympians Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook leading the way for Chicago and Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen for the Flyers.

      I look for the series to be decided by the goaltending . Can Cinderella story Michael Leighton hold up for team orange  or will Finnish upstart Antti Niemi continue his winning ways. This position will be the demise of one of these teams.

       Both teams have alot of firepower with Patrick kane, Patrick Sharp , and Marian Hossa for Chicago and Simon Gagne, Jeff Carter, Daniel Briere, and Claude Giroux for the Flyers.

        Another great part of this series will be the fans as they are worth at least a goal for the home team. I will go out on a limb and say Flyers in 7

Canadiens Ready to come off the Canvas

The Montreal Canadiens must like facing elimination, since they have overcome elimination twice in this year’s Eastern Conference NHL Playoffs. Just ask the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins what they think of the Canadiens’ chance to rally and sidestep elimination.

For those of you old enough to remember Archie Moore get up off the canvas at the very last millisecond, and then rally to overcome Yvonne Durelle in one of the most memorable fights of the century, you know that  it’s never over till it’s over. Right Yogi?

It’s time for Carey Price to start in nets for Montreal. Jaroslav Halak needs a long rest now and the Canadiens will need to get more than one shot on goal against the Philadelphia Flyers in all three periods this time to stand a chance.

Game 5- the start of another comeback for the comeback team of the year in the NHL.

The Comeback Kids Comeback

PK Subban Leads the Way

PK Subban, only 21 years of age, led the Canadiens last night to a convincing 5-1 victory, with three assists, a plus three, stellar defensive work, and vintage like Frank Mahovlich end to end rushes. It makes you wonder why he was kept under wraps this year trying to make the jump to an eighth place team?

The Canadiens seem to play better with their backs up against the wall, as they outhustled the more muscled Philadelphia Flyers. The Canadiens, still trailing in the series two games to one, once again have the Flyers where they want them. The Canadiens seem to do best when the majority of fans expect them to lose. I don’t know what kind of complex this is, but goaltender Jaroslav Halak seems to rise to the occasion when the chips are down. Tomorrow afternoon at the Bell Centre is the place to be.

Leighton Unlikely Hero as Flyers Win

  The Philadelphia Flyers  rolled to a 3-0 victory over the Habs last evening at the Wachovia Center bolstered by the strong play of Quebec born Simon Gagne and Daniel Briere and the netminding prescence of goalie Michael Leighton. Gagne since returning from injury has scored key goal ater key goal while Briere has played like a little dynamo in leading the Flyers firepower. Leighton meanwhile has back to back shutouts against Montreal to open the series and is gaining more confidence with each save. It truly is a great story when a goalie who has been claimed off of waivers on four separate occasions can step in and play so well. his counterpart in the Canadiens net , Jaroslav Halak , has been very ordinary. This after leading the Habs to two game 7 victories over the Capitals and Penguins where he could do no wrong. The Habs will now return to the Hallowed Halls of the bell Center where they look to get back on a winning mode. The Canadiens have had a wonderful  end to their Centennial Season but unless the ghosts of Canadiens past are exercised they will go down to defeat to a couple of  focused French Canadians and a goalie that nobody wanted.

Flyers Win 3-0 in a Sleeper in Game 2 of the Conference Finals

The stronger, bigger, and more confident Philadelphia Flyers won their second consecutive game in the third round of their Conference finals 3-o over an intimidated Montreal Canadiens squad in a sleeper.

I’ll admit I didn’t lose any sleep over it, because I actually fell asleep at the mid point of the game. I’ve been waiting for Carey Price to start, and when game three gets underway at the Bell Centre in Montreal, I expect to see him between the pipes.

It’s never over till it’s over, some sage once said, or was it some Yogi once said? Yogi Berra that is. The Canadiens playing their underdog role to the hilt now have the Flyers where they want them.

Flyers Ground High Flying Canadiens;Celtics Take the Magic out of the Magic

What happens when two giant underdogs face off against each other?  One has to lose. The Montreal Canadiens took a thumping from the hard nosed Philadelphia Flyers in game one of their Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday nite 6-0.

The Canadiens needed to lose some might say to preserve their underdog status, and now they they can get cranked up again as truly the underdogs as they attempt yet another comeback in this year’s NHL playoffs. Jaroslav Halak played like he needed a rest, so don’t be surprised if Carey Price gets a starts in game two. Rookie PK Sabban looked like a rookie for the first time in the playoffs, so he may need a rest too, for that matter, the Canadiens looked quite deflated overall, but don’t count them out.

In the NBA Eastern Conference Finals the surprisingly able underdogs coasted to a 92-88 victory after being ahead by 20 points at one point, as veteran Ray Allen continued his starring role in helping  his Celtics to defeat the Orlando Magic Sunday afternoon. In this Game One victory the Celtics continued to neutralize the stars of the NBA by keeping  Dwight  Howard to thirteen points. In the last series, the Celtics managed to keep Lebron James from playing a starring role.

When you think of it, stars like James, Howard, Ovechkin, and Crosby are tasting defeat at the hands of true underdogs in a playoff year that has to be described as the year of the underdogs in both the NBA and NHL.

Flyers vs. Canadiens- Which Fairy Tale Season Ends?

  As the Eastern Conference Final begins today it shows that teamwork and heart can overcome obstacles and achieve great hings. When the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs began , the Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens were given long odds to win a series, let alone play a series against each other in order to determine who will represent the  Eastern Conference at the Big Dance. Imagine two teams , who finished 7th and 8th in the Conference and who both squeaked into the playoffs on their last game of the regular season respectively would still be playing hockey this late in May.

       Both teams bring a completely different style of play. Philadelphia, in the Broad Street Bully tradition, bring truculence and testosterone with a boisterous dump and chase forecheck to the table. They also have two great leaders in captain Mike Richards and super defenceman Chris Pronger who will do anything they have to do in order to win. The Flyers dump , chase, and obliterate the defenceman style is much different than the Capitals and Penguins puck possession system of play. I look for the Mike Richards line to be very physical on the Mike Cammalleri line. If the Richards line can limit Gionta and Cammalleris  goal scoring opportunities their chances of success go way up. It is also key to make sure that Habs goalie Jaroslav Halak cannot see the puck. I believe that Scott Hartnell and Daniel Carcillo can do that but they both have a propensity towards taking stupid penalties in the process. This cannot happen.

      The Canadiens must continue to receive great goaltending from Halak in order to win. He has given fans a reason to believe that the Habs can win , ala Patrick Roy in 1986 and 1993, when even though the team does not look great on paper they still find a way to sip champagne from the Stanley Cup.

        Can the Canadiens get more balanced scoring from their forwards? Can Andrei Markov play significant minutes with a torn up knee? Can PK Subban continue to play like an all star ?  Can  Habs fans start planning a parade? I say no- Flyers in 6.

Flyers Shock Bruins With a Never Say Die Attitude

  The Philadelphia Flyers shocked the Boston Bruins last night in Boston by edging the Bruins 4-3. The victory completed an unlikely comeback by the Flyers as they became the fourth major league sports team ever to overcome a 3 games to zero series deficit to win. Even more unbelievable was that midway through the first period of last nights game the Bruins were up 3-0 and really carrying the play to the Flyers. Milan Lucic had a couple of goals and the Bruins were battering the Flyers defence who were heavily leaning on the foursome of Pronger, Carle, Coburn, and Timonen. The Flyers D – Men looked exhausted but after coach Peter Laviolette called a timeout the Flyers started to skate, hit , and shoot and Michael Leighton made some timely saves. You could actually see  the Bruins start to tense up and suddenly the game was tied at the end of two periods. Late in the third , the Bruins took a too many men on the ice penalty and you just had a feeling that the ghosts of Don Cherry were going to rear their ugly heads again. History will show that Don Cherry was the coach of the Bruins in the late 70′s playing against the vaunted les Habitants. The Bruins were ahead with a few minutes left in the game when they were whistled for a too many men on the ice penalty. Guy LaFleur scored on the power play beating Gilles Gilbert with a slapshot. Yvon Lambert than won the series in overtime. Don Cherry was fired and hired by the Colorado Rockies so he had effectively gone from the penthouse to the outhouse. Sure enough last night Simon Gagne scored on the power play and the rest is history. Bruins fans are drowning their sorrows today as they fell victim to a team that never gave up, even when down 3-0 halfway through the first period,  last evening.

Favourites Go Down Again in this Year’s NHL and NBA Playoffs

What do Lebron James, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Alexander Ovechkin have in common? They’re all in a state of shock right now as they and their respective teams were unceremoniously derailed from their championship drives, by teams supposedly inferior to them. As these great ones lick their wounds and soothe their egos, they will look back at either their NBA or NHL playoffs this year as catastrophic. Hopefully they will all, as well as their teammates learn the old addage, “Never underestimate the opposition”.

Who would have picked the Canadiens over Washington and Pittsburgh, and the Celtics over Miami and Cleveland? Was coaching the difference, or was it character?

Now the underdogs may be striking fear into the minds of their new rivals. How long does an underdog stay an underdog before they become a favourite. This is certainly the year of the underdog.  There’s hope for all of us.

Paul Pierce Sinks One over Lebron James

Montreal Canadiens Rekindle their Past Glories

Montreal Canadiens Fans Enjoy Game Seven at the Bell Centre

Na na na na, na na na na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye! I guess that means goodbye Pittsburgh Penguins for this year. They’re whooping it up, chantin’ that song on Rue Ste. Catherine as the Habs tricked the Penguins into a stunning 5-2 defeat to win game 7 of the second round of the Eastern Conference of the NHL Playoffs. 

Jaroslav Halak played like he  is a throwback to the great Jacques Plante as he set aside 37 of 39 shots, many of them having “goal” written right on them. Michael Cammalleri  is a throwback to the great Maurice” the Rocket Richard”  the way he’s found his game notching his twelfth goal in only 14 payoff games so far this year.  And P.K. Sabban  recently arrived rookie,with his spinneramas reminds some of the great Montreal Canadiens defenceman, Serge Savard.

Sidney Crosby, opened the floodgates in the first minute of play by taking a questionable penalty that resulted in the Canadiens first goal. And that was pretty well it for the Penguins who played like they were the underdogs. Talk about role reversal,  this was it.

In the end Halak stymied the Penguins and the referees throughout the series. And when he wasn’t blocking shots., his teammates were. Crosby played like Crosby, Stills and Nash in this series, only they’re singers,though he seemed off key and off his game for most of the series.

When does a team of underdogs become the favourite? And if so, will success spoil a team looking for its twenty- fifth Stanley Cup.  Only time will tell.