Hockey

All good things... WBS-4 SYR-4 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Leads the Series 1-0 Cedrick Desjardins allowed 4 goals on 23 shots for the loss. First Period WBS Grant, (1) (Nesbitt, Smith), 1:55 SYR Mikkelson, (1) (Taormina, Brown), 16:41 WBS Smith, (5) (Gibbons, Kolarik), 17:12 (PP) Second Period SYR Johnson, (8) (Connolly, Barberio), 5:38 (PP) WBS Minella, (1) , 9:24 WBS Grant, (2) (Nesbitt, Holzapfel), 19:04 (PP) Third Period NO SCORING Brendan Mikkelson was the game's third star. Syracuse tastes adversity now for the first time in these playoffs by yielding home ice to the Pens. In the process, their top line was largely held off the board and Syracuse looked vulnerable in a close game where the other team's goaltending, on paper, is better. Now the real challenge begins. Game Two is tomorrow night and the Pens will be playing with house money in a game where the Crunch absolutely need to win. Box score from TheAHL.com. read more

By Jeremy Houghtaling Already down by two with less than nine minutes remaining, a pair of penalties 20 seconds apart seemed to stifle any potential Syracuse Crunch rally. But the Crunch's Mike Angelidis, Jean-Philipe Cote and Brendan Mikkelson shut down a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins power play that had already converted twice, giving Syracuse a glimmer of hope during the final stretch. "I thought our guys did an unbelievable job of getting into the shooting lanes and blocking shots, I thought it was awesome," said Syracuse coach Rob Zettler. "I was hoping for some momentum off that, it just never really came." The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton held on during a 6-on-4 in their own end during the closing minutes, topping Syracuse 4-2 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at the Onondaga County War Memorial Saturday. The loss snaps a streak of seven straight postseason wins for the Crunch, and 17 straight playoff wins for the Tampa Bay Lightning's American Hockey League affiliate. read more

The Vezina Trophy is voted upon by NHL general managers, and dates back to 1927. Jacques Plante is the all-time leader with 7 victories, while among active netminders, Martin Brodeur has the most with four. Review the three finalists below, along with speculative ballots prepared by the OTF writing crew, and sound off in the comments below. How would you name the league's top goalie this season? Sergei Bobrovsky #72 / Goalie / Columbus Blue Jackets Height: 6-2 Weight: 190 Born: Sep 20, 1988 GP MIN W L OTL GA GAA SA SV SV% SO 2012 - Sergei Bobrovsky 38 2219 21 11 6 74 2.00 1084 1010 .932 4 The Blue Jackets ranked 25th in goal scoring this season, but almost made the playoffs thanks to a standout effort by Bobrovsky, who won eight of his last nine decisions, giving up fewer than two goals in four of those games. It wasn't quite enough, however, as Columbus missed the post-season once again. Henrik Lundqvist #30 / Goalie / New York Rangers Height: 6-1 Weight: 188 Born: Mar 02, 1982 GP MIN W L OTL GA GAA SA SV SV% SO 2012 - Henrik Lundqvist 43 2575 24 16 3 88 2.05 1190 1102 .926 2 The 2012 Vezina Trophy winner had another fine season, and tied for the league lead with 43 starts. Does being this season's lone Eastern Conference finalist give him an edge in the voting? Antti Niemi #31 / Goalie / San Jose Sharks Height: 6-2 Weight: 210 Born: Aug 29, 1983 GP MIN W L OTL GA GAA SA SV SV% SO 2012 - Antti Niemi 43 2581 24 12 6 93 2.16 1220 1127 .924 4 In his third season as San Jose's starter, Niemi put up his finest performance yet. Like Lundqvist, he led the league with 43 starts, and helped carry the Sharks through a February in which their scoring dried up. OTF Staff Picks Voter 1st 2nd 3rd Comment Dirk Sergei Bobrovsky Craig Anderson Henrik Lundqvist Not only did Columbus swipe a productive goalie away from Philadelphia, but they punked them with Steve Mason in a separate trade. Sam Sergei Bobrovsky Tuuka Rask Henrik Lundqvist Caroline Sergei Bobrovsky Antti Niemi Henrik Lundqvist No goalie was as important to their team this year as Bob. No one. Jonathan Sergei Bobrovsky Antti Niemi Henrik Lundqvist If you don't want Bob to win this award - that's fine, I get that. But you're wrong and I hate you. Chris Sergei Bobrovsky EVERYONE ELSE EVERYONE ELSE If anyone other than Bobs wins the Vezina, it will truly be a theft. George Sergei Bobrovsky Antti Niemi Henrik Lundqvist I'm surprised there's such unanimity among OTFers! Lundqvist is there because he's Lundqvist, and Niemi stole some games for the Sharks. But Sergei Bobrovsky proved night in and night out why he was the league's best between the pipes. 38 GP, 21 W, 2.00 GAA, and .932 SV%. Wow. Jason Sergei Bobrovsky Antti Niemi Henrik Lundqvist Niemi had a great year, but Bob meant more to his team. No wrong answer among the top two though. Poll Who should win the 2013 Vezina Trophy? Sergei Bobrovsky Henrik Lundqvist Antti Niemi 2 votes | Results

Coming into this game we all had to read the idiotic narrative that Boston chokes all the time, especially when they hade a 3-0 series lead even though they put that narrative to bed the year after. But don't let facts get in the way of guys like Stan Fischler. They're too busy sodomizing themselves with a Rangers dildo to care. Boston came out flying in this game. They outplayed the Rangers for most of Game 4 and they outplayed the Rangers even more so in Game 5. Tonight was all Bruins. Only reason it wasn't an 8-1 game was because Henrik Lundqvist was standing on his head for his team. Too bad his team already had Memorial Day Weekend tee-time plans. Henrik's reign as the King of No Cups continues for yet another year. Having Seidenberg back was exactly what Dr. Recchi ordered for the Bruins on an elimination night. Needed to shut down what little offense the Rangers were producing and they did. Rask was also solid. Hope people don't choke on his balls when they try to talk about his inability to play in big games. Also not sure where Looch bought his jet engines for tonight's game but we hope he brings it against the Penguins. Holy hell did abuse the speed burst tonight. Krejci's line and the Merlot line were on fire all game. Torey Krug, too. Holy smokes. Onto the recap after the jump... lots of goodies in there - Darkseid(enberg) returning to the line-up for Boston. Huge upgrade from Dougie (no offense to DH). - Opening minute Bruins kept in the Rangers zone. Bergeron was a bit part of that. - Thornton vs. Dorsett was mostly a wrestling match, but what the hell. Not sure what Dorsett had in mind. Bruins had some solid pressure right after that fight. - Looch dumping Dorsett like a bag of trash near the end of the first. That was possibly the most devastating backcheck I've ever seen. #Looch — Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) May 25, 2013 Looch was a beast that first period. Had some great shots. Scratch that. He was unreal all night. - Bruins get their 10th (yes 10th) PP of the series and with it their 4th PPG of the series. Torey Krug now with as many playoff goals as Iginla, Malkin, and Hossa. — Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) May 25, 2013 Krug has set up camp in Lundqvist's brain and is just terrorizing him. - McQuaid on the PK after the Bartkowski trip call. Dude was a beast. Bartkowski follows that up with some speed and a shot on net. Boston puts on some serious pressure afterwards. - Fucking Fourth Line. Merlot all night and day. Best fourth line in the NHL. Puts Boston up 2-1. - Tuukka fucking Rask. Callahan gets a breakaway and Tuukka shuts the door with a nice blocker save. - Campbell gets his second of the game. Dagger meet heart. - Rangers go up 1-0 after a scoring a PPG thanks to a screen and a bogus penalty call. - The timely equipment issues by Lundqvist. Dude's pads must be held on with Scotch tape. - The refs were awful. Calling marginal infractions but letting blatant stuff go by. No idea what the deal is. - Dorsett. Holy smokes He was awful for New York. - Rick Nash. Did he even play this series? - Pyatt running Rask and no goalie interference call. No fucking clue. - Stan Fischler Never has a man been so wrong about everything. He also called Rask a backup. Saw earlier @patrickkearns heard @stanfischler say Rask was nothing more than a backup. Helluva stop on Callahan breakaway by the "backup". — David Strehle (@David_Strehle) May 25, 2013 That backup just made the Rangers his bitch this series. - Hack writers who brought up 2010 to get some easy hits and ad revenue - How awesome is the Merlot Line? - Can we finally (again) stop bringing up 2010?

Courtesy of the Boston Bruins: NEW YORK RANGERS FORWARD CARL HAGELIN On his team’s performance… This was definitely our best game. It was just tough that the push came too late. We should have been playing like this our first couple of games, which we didn’t. It’s tough to get out of a hole when you’re down 3-0, even though we showed a lot of character. It’s a great group of guys in here, and we almost came back. Again, I think we’re all disappointed we didn’t play this way to start out the series. On why the team played better later in the series and not the start… That’s a good question. I don’t think we were tired from the first series. I mean they played seven; we played seven. I think it’s just a matter of maybe we just didn’t have the aggressiveness we needed to play in their zone. Maybe we gave them a little too much respect. It hurt us. On what problems the Bruins caused for them… They did a good job of breaking out of their own end. I think that was key for them so their D [defense] could join, because we did not sustain enough pressure. We didn’t make their D [defense] work, and that’s why it was easy for them to join the rush. On his team turning over the puck a lot… Yeah. Maybe, maybe not. I don’t think that was our biggest issue. I think it was more our dumps, and we made it easy for them to break it out. On what the feeling is like when you work so hard and it comes to an end… It’s just disappointment and emptiness. You want to keep playing, there’s no doubt about it. But the push came too late. On the biggest difference in this series… Just the way we didn’t’ create enough offense. We got a lot of good scoring chances, just more the fact that we didn’t sustain. NEW YORK RANGERS FORWARD RICK NASH On his feelings after the series… It’s heartbreaking. We have a good team, good season, and we just couldn’t get the job done. On if he was dealing with an injury during the series… No. NEW YORK RANGERS FORWARD DERICK BRASSARD On the momentum of the game… Well, I think when they scored their second goal they got a lot of momentum, I think they really pushed hard after that. I think the more the game goes the level of energy is going to go a bit down because you always try to push and try to get a forecheck. I think after the second goal, you know, they play really tight and they make a big push and we couldn’t find a way. On whether it was more what the Bruins did or what the Rangers didn’t do… Yeah I think they have some good structure, and they have good defensemen. And what I noticed was that every time we tried to get a battle in front of their net, they’re pretty big and they compete hard. I think the Game 1 and Game 2 – we didn’t give those games to those guys, I think they did play well and play a little bit better. I think that’s where the series got going. But all credit to them. You know they found a way. The last playoff series that they played against Toronto they came back to go into the seventh game, and tonight they found a way to close the deal. On what he learned from this playoff experience… Yeah well you know, it was my first playoff experience. And we found a way to win the first playoff matches, and I think just learning how hard it is and all the little details. I’m just looking forward to this summer to work hard, and now I know what to expect. And going into next season I think I am confident I want to be part of this team, and I think we have a good group here and we can do something special. It’s been a lot of fun. NEW YORK RANGERS FORWARD BRIAN BOYLE  On wondering how things could have played out if the effort was there earlier in the series… You wonder a lot of things, you review the whole year. You wonder how many more you got

Sorry for the jackwagon sniffling in my microphone during the Tortorella presser. The post Game 5: Bruins 3, Rangers 1 … post-game interviews: Tortorella, Lundqvist, Girardi, McDonagh, Callahan appeared first on Rangers Report Blog.

WCSF Game 5, Blackhawks vs Red Wings : 3rd Period Game

I haven’t been watching a lot of hockey lately. Am I bad? I am, I guess. A lousy hockey fan. When the Canadiens are gone, the enthusiasm for spending two and a half hours in front of the boob tube takes a major hit. Other teams don’t interest me a great deal. I hated them all during the regular season, and I’m not all that fussy about liking any of them now. Don Cherry would probably say I’m a poor hockey fan. Don also says fans should cheer for the team nearest where they live. I lived in Toronto once. And he expects……? I did watch game five of the Bruins-Rangers series on Saturday night, when the Bruins eliminated New York four games to one. I would’ve liked to have seen Boston get walloped and the fans sent home sad, but now they’re happy in Beantown, and this makes me sad. And prior to the game, TSN showed Tuukka Rask’s goal miscue from game four about twenty times. It was quite a moment. Rask has been involved in a couple of priceless video moments, including a temper tantrum after a Habs loss (below). Wouldn’t it be funny if the overhead clock fell fifteen feet in front of Brad Marchand and it still clipped his nose? I don’t really care about these enemy teams. I just kept thinking, while watching the Bruins, that they remind me of throwing up after eating too many orange and black jelly beans. I also saw that Rangers’ coach John Tortorella has a decent tan, and I don’t know whether you caught it or not, but Boston’s Zdeno Chara is fairly tall. Did you notice that? It’ll now be Pittsburgh against the Bruins in the eastern final. Go Pittsburgh, I suppose. All I really want from here on in is to see a record-breaking overtime game. One that goes about seven or eight overtime periods. Then I’ll be interested. Here’s Rask/Habs moment, when he wiped out after losing 6-5 in a shootout on March 27. And here’s the goal TSN kept showing.

Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal against the Maple Leafs seemed to be a turning point for the Bruins. Since that game, the team has seemingly not let their foot off of the gas, taking Round 2 five games to one over the New York Rangers. Head coach Claude Julien attributed his team’s success to their hard work and increased consistency after the Round 1 series. Hear all that Julien had to say after Saturday’s Game 5 win in the video above, or check it out on NESN’s YouTube channel.

Courtesy of the NYR: RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS Game 5: TD Garden Bruins 3, Rangers 1. BOS wins 4-1 Team Notes: -      The Rangers were defeated by the Boston Bruins, 3-1, today at TD Garden, in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series. The Blueshirts are eliminated from the playoffs after losing the series, 4-1. -      New York has posted a record of 213-233-8 overall in postseason action, including a 93-144-6 mark on the road. -      The Rangers tallied one goal in two power play opportunities (2:54), and were 2-6 (33.3%) with the man advantage in the last two games. -      The Blueshirts won 29-57 faceoffs (51%) in the contest, led by Brian Boyle (11-18, 61%) and Derek Stepan (11-19, 58%). Player Notes: -      Dan Girardi notched a power play goal, was credited with two hits and logged 25:59 of ice time. He recorded a point in each of the last two road games (one goal, one assist over the span). Girardi finished the postseason ranked first among Rangers’ defensemen with two goals, and tied for first in scoring with four points. -      Mats Zuccarello tallied a power play assist and was credited with two blocked shots in 14:57 of ice time. He recorded three points (one goal, two assists) in the last four road games. Zuccarello finished the postseason ranked second on the team with six assists and seven points. -      Brian Boyle registered a power play assist, was credited with four hits, and won 11-18 faceoffs (61%) in 20:07 of ice time. He tallied a point in each of the last two games (one goal, one assist over the span), and finished the playoffs tied for fourth on the team in scoring with five points (three goals, two assists). -      Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 of 31 shots faced, and is now 30-37 in 67 career playoff contests. He finished the postseason with a 2.14 GAA, ranked fourth in the NHL with a .934 save percentage, and second in the league with two shutouts. -      Chris Kreider tied for the game-high with six hits and logged 16:52 of ice time. -      Ryan Callahan registered a game-high, six shots on goal, and was credited with four hits in 22:55 of ice time. -      Derick Brassard recorded three shots and two hits in 20:33 of ice time, and finished the playoffs leading the team with 10 assists and 12 points. He currently ranks fourth in the league in assists (10) and tied for fifth in points (12). -      Derek Stepan won 11-19 faceoffs (58%) in 17:54 of ice time, and finished the postseason ranked first on the team with four goals. The post Game 5: Bruins 3, Rangers 1 … post-game notes appeared first on Rangers Report Blog.