Hockey

The San Jose Sharks climbed back into their second round series via a 2-1 OT win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night... But the Associated Press's recap reports that the Kings were particularly upset with the ways in which the San Jose Sharks were awarded a 5-on-3 in overtime...Continue reading "Sharks’ OT win avoids 3-0 deficit, aggravates Kings, Jonathan Quick"

I borrowed (slightly altered) the title from Terry Pratchett. If you got the reference, kudos to you. But I figured it was a good time to break down the current state of the lower leagues as they battle through their post-seasons. As you may well be aware, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are currently enmeshed in an uphill battle in Round 2 of the AHL playoffs. In Round 1, we manged to beat the Binghamton Senators in a 3-game sweep. The rest of the Eastern Conference was a hard fought battle, and we didn't find out who our 2nd Round opponent would be until 2 days before the next series began, though it gave our guys a week long break. The 2nd Round against the Providence Bruins started out really bad with 2 away games, losing Game 1 8-5 and losing Game 2 4-2, with Jeff Zatkoff giving up 12 goals in just 4 periods of hockey. Remember, this is the same Zatkoff that finished the season with the league's best GAA and won the Best Goaltending Duo award. Brad Thiessen took over in the 2nd period of Game 2 and held them scoreless for the remainder, but the team was unable to bounce back and Zatkoff notched another L. Game 3 rolled around, back home in WBS, and they chose to go with Thiessen. He played well enough, but the game went back and forth all night, with the score tied 1-1 after 60. Unfortunately, a tricky goal mere seconds into OT and the Pens lost 2-1, trailing the series 3 games to none. At this point, winning the round became nearly impossible, but they were not willing to call it quits yet. But the final two home games, the Pens bounced back, and they bounced back hard. Game 4 last night the Pens walked away winning 3-1, and then kicked it up a notch and won Game 5 tonight 4-0. They head back to Providence to finish the series with Game 6 on Monday and hopefully Game 7 on Wednesday. The odds are certainly against them, very few teams have ever accomplished a comeback when trailing the series 3 games to none: 1942 Maple Leafs over Red Wings, 1975 Islanders over Penguins, and 2010 Flyers over Bruins in the NHL and 2004 Red Sox over Yankees in the MLB. So far Thiessen is the star of the series, only allowing 3 Goals in 11 periods of play and stopping 97 of 100 Shots, giving him a 0.82 GAA and a .970 Save % so far, with 2 Wins (1 Shutout) and 1 Over Time Loss. Add in his Game 3 victory in the 1st round of the playoffs, and Thiessen currently leads all AHL playoff goalies with a 1.08 GAA and a .959 Save %. If anybody can manage a miraculous comeback to take the series, it is him. Unfortunately, he can be a bit streaky. When he is on his game, he is one of the best goalies in the AHL (as shown 2 seasons ago when he made the All-Star team and walked away with awards as both the AHL's Top Goaltender and the AHL's Best Goaltending Duo). But when he is off his game, he struggles, as he did last year. Even during the regular season, he was on fire in January, winning Goaltender of the Month, but at other points in the season struggled and finished with fairly average stats. Even last year in the NHL he was up and down, with two great performances followed by a sub-par performance and then an awful one (3 W, 1 L), finishing strong by allowing no goals in his final showing relieving Fleury to finish a 3rd period. So lets hope his hot streak can hold out for the next 2 games, and the Pens can do what few teams have ever been able to accomplish and move on to the 3rd Round. Of the skaters, currently Chad Kolarik leads the team with 4 Goals, while Brian Gibbons, Riley Holzapfel, Paul Thompson, and Warren Peters (Alternate Captain) have 3 Goals each. Next is Chris Collins with 2 Goals in 7 Games and then Trevor Smith (Alternate Captain) with 2 Goals in 8 Games. Finally is Brian Dumoulin (the lone D goal scorer), Jayson Megna, Zach Sill, and Adam Payerl. Kolarik, Gibbons, Holzapfel, and Smith lead the team with 7 Points, followed by Thompson and Joey Mormina (#1 D and team Captain) with 6 Points. Dumoulin comes next wi

Round Two of the Stanley Cup PlayoffsThe Schedule for Sunday, May 19th in the Quest for StanleyNew York and BostonNew York at BostonBoston Leads the Series 1 game to 03 PM ET, Noon PT TSN, RDS and NBCSNOttawa and PittsburghOttawa at PittsburghPittsburgh leads the series 2 games to none7:30 PM ET/4:30 PTCBC, RDS, NBCSN

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Logan Couture scored a power-play goal 1:29 into overtime to help the San Jose Sharks bounce back from two losses in Los Angeles to beat the Kings 2-1 in Game 3 of their second-round series on Saturday night.

Sharks top Kings 2-1 in OT of Game 3 Logan Couture's power-play goal at 1:29 of overtime gave the Sharks a 2-1 win over Los Angeles in Game 3 on Saturday night at HP Pavilion. The victory cut the Kings' lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series to 2-1. The teams played a high-energy third period that was scoreless, but the Kings committed two penalties late in regulation that set up a 5-on-3 power play for the Sharks. First Los Angeles defenseman Robyn Regehr hooked Tommy Wingels at 19:18 as the San Jose forward was cutting in front of the net with the puck. Defenseman Scott Hannan spun and hit his head on the end boards after diving in anticipation of a shot during the late stages of a Kings power play that carried over from the first period. Martin Havlat, appearing for the first time since getting injured in Game 1 of San Jose's sweep of Vancouver, didn't return for the second period after skating six shifts and 4:52 of the opening period. The Sharks converted an early power play, but went into the first intermission knotted 1-1 after a giveaway at mid-period led to the tying goal.

Logan Couture scored a power-play goal 1:29 into overtime to help the San Jose Sharks bounce back from two losses in Los Angeles to beat the Kings 2-1 in Game 3 of their second-round series on Saturday night.

READING, Pa. – Nikita Kashirsky’s two goals, including a game winner with 10:18 left in overtime, helped the Reading Royals send the Stockton Thunder to a 6-5 OT loss in game one of the 2013 Kelly Cup Finals before 5,493 fans at Sovereign Center ...

The Rangers come into Sunday's game having had two days off to watch video, listen to the coaches and stew over their 3-2 overtime loss. If the combination of the three aforementioned factors isn't enough to have them come out breathing fire, the specter of having to come back from another 2-0 deficit should be. Coach John Tortorella in Saturday's press conference hinted at changes, but indicat...

May 19th, 1974. It has been six years since the National Hockey League doubled in size from six to twelve teams. No expansion team had ever won the Stanley Cup. Until now. The Philadelphia Flyers were the talk of hockey, with their aggressive and downright dirty tactics earning the label "Broad Street Bullies." But in the spring of 1974 they would fend off the favored Boston Bruins and earn

1974 - Philadelphia became the first modern expansion team to win the Stanley Cup, beating Boston 1-0 in Game 6. Rick MacLeish scored the game's only goal, while goalie Bernie Parent won the Conn Smythe Trophy with his second career playoff shutout. 1984 - Wayne Gretzky scored two goals and an assist as the Edmonton Oilers beat the NY Islanders 5-2 in Game 5 of the Finals, to become the 1984