NHL Playoffs

[cinch]

WHOOO Baby, what a series!

Bring on the Flames (or Sharks?)!

[cinch]

Kudos to the Wings on a good series. It was amazing to see Stevie Y come out and give his all. He should have been on the ice for the last faceoff there, but I guess Babcock probably knows more than I do.

And kudos to Zetterberg for at least getting 6 goals before dropping out, so that my pool is not *entirely* screwed.

Here's hoping Legace is able to move past this and salvage a successful career.

[joncha]

Flames lose and Oilers win. What a beautiful night.

[techumseh]

Originally posted by joncha
Flames lose and Oilers win. What a beautiful night.

You got it! BTW, where's Asher tonight?

[joncha]

Still banned, methinks.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by cinch
Here's hoping Legace is able to move past this and salvage a successful career.

I sure hope he isn't hung out to dry after the Wings defence let Hemsky loose to glide by the side of the net point blank with minutes to go and golf on the line...

Or, maybe the Wings figured Ales would never shoot even if he did get the puck.

[notyoueither]

Guy, I give you a choice.

This

[notyoueither]

or this

[Asher]

I was banned until just now. So some things to address:

Imran:

'cept Asher

Actually, it was joncha that predicted Anaheim in 5. I knew it would be a very long and hard series, and I've predicted that whoever wins the series will go on to the final. Anaheim is a very young, talented, fast defensive team -- that's hard to compete against. I would've preferred the slower, older Detroit to be honest.

joncha:
My prediction about Gionta/Elias was that Gionta's individual goalscoring would diminish with Elias' return...and it has.

Re: the games.
Game 4 had a brutal call with 30 seconds left when Calgary got called for "highsticking" while trying to clear the zone. The followthrough grazed a Duck and, in a tie game with 30s left, the refs called a penalty. Brutal. The Ducks scored quickly in OT as a result, winning the game. Considering he barely touched the guy, and considering this is a tied playoff game with 30s left, and considering this isn't even a penalty according to Rule 61:

A "high stick" is one which is carried above the height of the opponent's shoulders. A player is permitted accidental contact on an opponent if the act is committed as a normal windup or follow through of a shooting motion.

that should NOT have been called.

Last game was also just brutal officiating. The refs totally robbed the Ducks in the first period, and I guess they realized that inbetween periods because the rest of the night was them calling controversial, iffy penalties giving the Ducks 5-3s and powerplays. Fortunately our PK was good, but after so many repeated 5-3s/powerplays it drains you and sets you into a defensive mode only and no real chances were developed in the third. Still, I feel the Ducks played better than the Flames last night and deserved the win.

Game 7 tomorrow will be a Flames win at home.

Then it'll be Calgary in 6 vs Edmonton.

Also, Edmonton got gifted the game last night. I don't ever want to hear an Oiler fan complaining about the reffing. Take this blatant charging/interference (take your pick) penalty vs Pronger that wasn't called: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58aTw...gspot%2Ecom%2F

The final goal was also clearly knocked down by a high stick. I DVRed it myself and watched it many times, pausing it, and I've no idea what the CBC announcers were talking about. The stick has to be below the shoulders -- not at or above -- and it was slightly above. The play should've been blown dead at that point. I'm not sure if the puck was kicked in or not.

[joncha]

Welcome back.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher

The final goal was also clearly knocked down by a high stick. I DVRed it myself and watched it many times, pausing it, and I've no idea what the CBC announcers were talking about. The stick has to be below the shoulders -- not at or above -- and it was slightly above. The play should've been blown dead at that point. I'm not sure if the puck was kicked in or not.

I think you mean the tying goal since the final goal (ie the winning one) had no controversy at all and was a nice play


I also had recoreded the gameand watched the tying goal many times and my assessment was when the stick CONTACTED the puck, it was below the shoulder. It had been above but was NOT in my estimation when the contact was made

[Lord Avalon]

As much as I would have liked that goal to have been ruled kicked in and disallowed, the puck bounced up around his waist, and also he was pushed towards the net by Lidstrom.

[Guynemer]

Sigh.

I worked a 30-hour shift in the NICU yesterday. Came home, got some sleep, and watched the game on DVR after studiously avoiding any possible mention of the outcome this morning.

In the annals of Red Wings playoff suckitude and chokage, that will undoubtedly go down as the epitome. They blow not only one, but two separate third-period leads? Jesus tap-dancing Christ. It was readily apparent that the old cliche is true, the Oilers just wanted it more. They outskated and outhustled the Wings, simple as that. They earned this series, and it looked like (most of) the Wings thought that they were entitled to win this series. Legace didn't have much of a chance on any of the four goals the Oilers scored, not that that will be much consolation. The fans in Detroit will likely run him out of town.

Yzerman was far and away the best Detroit player on the ice last night; I don't know whether to find that inspiring or infuriating.

I will accept the loss of our bet with pride, NYE. I now fall back on my standard Wings-out-of-the-playoffs mode, root for any Canadian team left standing.

[Guynemer]

Montreal is out.

[Asher]

****.

If Calgary gets knocked out tomorrow, then I have to cheer for Edmonton? Christ.