Jerry Lai- USA Today Sports
The Minnesota Wild dressed seven goalies this season and at least five of those goalies have played one game.
It is a similar situation to what happened to the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2009-10 season. The Flyers went to the Stanley Cup Finals that year and lost in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Wild are playing the Blackhawks in the second round of the playoffs this season.
Niklas Backstrom was the starter for the Wild in the beginning of the season, but then had surgery for an abdominal injury he suffered. He played in 19 games, had a 3.02 GAA, .889 save percentage, and was 5-11-2 before the season ending surgery. Ray Emery was slated to be the Flyers starter in 2010, but battled a hip injury and eventually had his own season ending surgery. Emery played in 29 games and had a 16-11-1 record. He had three shutouts, a .905 save percentage, and a 2.64 GAA.
When Backstrom went down, the Wild called on backup Josh Harding to take over in the net. Harding played in 29 games and was 18-7-3. He had a 1.65 GAA, a 9.33 save percentage and three shutouts. Harding then missed the final 44 games of the season due to an illness.
The Flyers had to go out and claim Michael Leighton off of waivers to backup Brian Boucher, but Leighton eventually won the starting job. Leighton was 16-5-2 with one shutout in 27 games. He had a .918 save percentage and a 2.48 GAA.
Darcy Kuemper and Ilya Bryzgalov split time down the stretch. At the trading deadline, the Wild acquired Ilya Bryzgalov from the Edmonton Oilers. Kuemper and Bryzgalov led the Wild to the playoffs. Kuemper played in 26 games and had two shutouts. He had a record of 12-8-4 with a .915 save percentage and a 2.43GAA down the stretch. Bryzgalov played in 12 games and was 7-1-3 with three shutouts and a .911 save percentage.
Brian Boucher took over after Leighton was injured and out for the rest of the regular season. He played in 33 games and was 9-18-3 with one shutout. He finished with a .899 save percentage and a 2.76 GAA. Boucher led the Flyers to a shootout win in the final game of the season against the New York Rangers to get into the playoffs in 2010.
John Curry also played in two games for the Wild this season. He was 1-0-0 with a .930 save percentage and a 3.00 GAA. He started one game and came in as a backup in another. The Flyers used Johan Backlund in one game and Jeremy Duchesne came in as the backup late in the season. Backlund was 0-1-0 with a .917 save percentage and a 3.00 GAA, while Duchesne wasn’t the goaltender of record and allowed one goal on four shots.
Kuemper was named the starting goalie for the first round of the playoffs against the Colorado Avalanche, but was injured in game seven. Bryzgalov came in relief, made one save, and got the win in overtime. Bryzgalov has started all three games in the second round against the Blackhawks.
Boucher started the 2010 playoffs in net and helped lead the Flyers past the New Jersey Devils in five games. Boucher and the Flyers then went down 0-3 in their series with the Boston Bruins. In game five of that series, Boucher left the game with an injured knee and Leighton came in to replace him.
The Flyers wound up riding Leighton to a 4-3 series comeback over Boston and advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they eventually lost to the Blackhawks in six games. The Flyers lost the first two games of that series but then came back to win the next two at home.
The Wild lost the first two games to the Blackhawks in the second round of this year’s playoffs but have come back to win game three.
Will the Wild suffer a different fate than the Flyers? Only time will tell.
(photo: Gerry Broome/Associated Press)
The Carolina Hurricanes have undergone an extensive facelift in the past week – not only changing up their front office, but behind the bench as well. Last week it was announced that long-time General Manager Jim Rutherford was being replaced with Hurricanes alum Ron Francis, and this week three coaches saw the boot, including head coach Kirk Muller.
Ron Francis has been serving in the team’s front office since 2006 in several capacities, but now he has the prestigious title of Executive Vice President and General Manager. The fifty-one year old will be the franchise’s eighth General Manager, but just the second since 1997.
“I’m certainly extremely excited to be chosen to be leading the Carolina Hurricanes,” Francis said at a Monday news conference. “I do have a real good understanding of what we have and what I think we need.”
The ex-General Manager, Jim Rutherford, has stepped down from the position he served for 20 seasons that saw his team reaching the Stanley Cup finals twice, and bringing home the cup to Raleigh once. He will remain with the organization as its president in an advisory role.
“I’m really pleased with the direction we’re going. Ronnie has paid his dues,” Rutherford said. “Twenty years is a long time for me, and I’ve thought about this for a few years. Certainly, the time is right now.”
Francis, who spent twenty-three seasons in the NHL, will approach his new role with a hands-on attitude and a blue-collar work ethic. The Hall of Famer posted 549 goals and 1,249 assists, giving him 1,798 points over that time. He ranks fourth overall on the league’s all-time scoring list behind Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, and Gordie Howe. He played most of his career within the Hurricanes/Whalers franchise, playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins in between where he won two Stanley Cups.
In addition to a new General Manager, the Hurricanes made two additional front office moves. Mike Vellucci, the former head coach and General Manager of the Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth Whalers, has joined the team as their Assistant General Manager and Director of Hockey Operations.
The forty-seven year old will oversee scouting and player development after spending fourteen years in Plymouth.
“I’ve been in Plymouth for a long time, and I felt in the last couple of years, something I wanted to pursue was going to the National Hockey League. Everybody wants to be involved in the No. 1 league in the world, so I thought about it for the last couple of years, and it just came about in the last couple of days. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to work along with Ronnie,” Vellucci said. “He’s just a great guy, and we should have a good relationship and have a lot of fun working together.”
The former Vice President of Team Services, Brian Tatum, will now also be an Assistant General Manager. The forty-year-old has spent 16 seasons with the Hurricanes in a number of roles. In his new role, he will have responsibilities that include staff contract negotiations, scheduling, all day-to-day hockey operations, administrative duties and more.
“He’s a top-quality individual who succeeds at everything he does,” Francis said. “I know Brian is excited about [the] opportunity here, as I am to work with him going forward as well.”
Ron Francis’ first move as General Manager was to give the coaching bench an overhaul. Head coach Kirk Muller, and assistant coaches Dave Lewis and John MacLean were all relieved of their coaching duties. Greg Stefan, who served as the goaltending coach, was reassigned to the pro scouting department. The only member of the staff to remain was Rod Brind’Amour.
“I just felt at this point going forward we needed a fresh start,” Francis said.
Ron Francis and the Hurricanes will now start the search for the franchise’s thirteenth head coach, and the fourth since 1997.
“It would be an open search at this point,” Francis said. “We’ll start with a few names on a list. I’ve already had some calls and emails today from people wanting to throw their name in the hat, so I think [the position is] very attractive.”
That being said the Hurricanes are hoping to have their new bench boss by the Entry Draft on June 27th, which will take place in Philadelphia this year.
“The biggest thing I’m looking for is a guy that’s a teacher,” he said. “You have to be accountable as a player, and having someone in that position that holds them accountable wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
Though Brind’Amour was kept in the fold, Francis said the new head coach would have some flexibility in filling out his staff. Francis felt like the former Canes captain did not have a prominent role on the staff, and had more to offer. That was why he was kept on board.
Over the coming weeks the new GM will continue to look at ever aspect of the organization from the top down. This includes the future of the coaching staff with their minor league team in Charlotte, and the development process of the players in the system.
“We are looking at everything,” Francis said. “We do have more meetings starting tomorrow morning going forward to look at all different facets of the organization from how we draft to what type of players we draft to our make-up and how we develop and so on.”
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
The LA Kings reigned supreme in Anaheim last night in a 3-1 victory over the Ducks in Game 2 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Kings drew first blood, with Marian Gaborik scoring just 34 seconds into the first period. Anaheim’s Patrick Maroon answered little over nine minutes later with a wrist shot, beating Quick and tying the game. Kings’ defenseman Alec Martinez delivered a slapshot to see the Kings regain the lead. The Kings maintained their 2-1 position as the first period drew to a close.
The second period was scoreless but held plenty of action for the officials, with three 2-minute penalties for the Ducks and two for the Kings. Both teams failed to deliver on the power play and the period closed off 2-1 in favour of the Kings.
A one goal game going into the third, the period remained mostly scoreless with the Ducks failing to capitalise on a power play after Slava Voynov was called for holding against Ducks’ forward Jakob Silfverberg. The Kings closed out the game in the final minute of the third with a wrist shot from winger Dwight King.
Despite conceding one goal in the first, Kings netminder Jonathan Quick was rock-solid and maintained a .973 save percentage. His efforts won the first star of the game and his stellar performance didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates.
“It’s great to see Quickie on top of his game, it’s a confidence boost for all of us,” said Dustin Brown in a post-game interview. “We’re lucky to have Jonathan Quick in our goal. He makes big saves for us at key times and allows us to kind of squeak one out at the end of the day.”
Quick remained humble after the win.
“We’re trying to get ready to win a game in a couple days here. That’s what we’re focused on. They’ve got a great team. We have a lot to prepare for to get ready. What you would do after this game whether you lost or won isn’t going to be any different. You just are doing everything you can to get ready for the next game and try to win that one.”
The Ducks, however, have some thinking to do after the game leaves them in a 2-0 hole.
“That’s not the start that we expect of our group, especially us up front,” said Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf of the Kings’ early goal. “That’s not the way we can start a hockey game. That’s on us. We tried to work and get back at it after that. You can’t sulk on those things. We were able to respond pretty quickly after that.”
Getzlaf spoke of his frustration at the reality the Ducks find themselves in, “I’m ticked off right now. We’re in playoff time right now. There are no excuses for anything. We have to be better, I have to be better, and I expect our group to respond.”
“It’s a tough building to play in, but we’ve won there before,” said Ducks forward Corey Perry after the game, referring to the prospect of heading to the Staples Center down 2-0 in the series. “Hopefully we can go in and play that road game that we want to play. We’ve had success on the road this year and hopefully we can do that.”
The puck drops on Game 3 on Thursday May 8. The Kings, with the 2-0 series lead, will have home ice advantage.
The NHL has announced the Jack Adams Award finalists for the 2013-14 season. This award is presented to the head coach who has, “contributed the most to his team’s success,” the NHL states.
This year’s finalists are Mike Babcock of the Detroit Red Wings, Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Patrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche. The NHL Broadcasters’ Association is the group that submitted ballots at the end of the season, and the top three coaches with the most votes became these three finalists.
Mike Babcock led the Red Wings to their 23rd consecutive Stanley Cup Playoffs, finishing the regular season with 93 points and a record of 39-28-15. The Red Wings currently hold the longest active streak of playoff appearances in North American professional sports history. The Red Wings overcame losing two of their star players, and two of their leaders, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, for a large part of the season. The Red Wings had to play without their dynamic duo for 37 games and Babcock figured out how to win without them. They used 38 players in the regular season, and nine of those players made their NHL debut this season with the Wings. Babcock made this mix work and lead his team to another playoff apperence. This is the second time Babcock has been a finalist for the Jack Adams Award, he finished in third in the 2007-08 season.
This is coach John Cooper’s first full season behind the Tampa Bay Lightning bench. He led the Lightning to second place in the Atlantic Division, with a record of 46-27-9 and 101 points after finishing 28th overall the previous season. He was previously the head coach of Tampa’s AHL affiliate team in Norfolk, and lead them to the Calder Cup in 2012. Cooper managed to incorporated eight rookies into the line up for 40 of the Lightning’s games this season, which was a league high and five more games played with that number of rookies beyond any other team in the NHL. He led the Lightning to 21 road wins which is just one win shy of the franchise record.
Patrick Roy turned the Colorado Avalanche around in his first season as an NHL head coach. He led the Avalanche to a third overall league finish, with a 42-22-8 record and 112 points. The Avalanche finished 29th overall in the 2012-2013 season. The Avalanche became the first team since the NHL expanded to 21 teams in 1979 to go from the bottom three to the top three in one season. They have matched a franchise record for wins, recorded the NHL’s best road record, ranked fourth in the league in goals (250), and they did not suffer a regulation loss after leading through two periods.
The Jack Adams Award winner will be announced during the NHL Awards on Tuesday, June, 24th.
Riley Dunda, a ’95 of Grimsby, Ontario and a forward for the Hamilton Red Wings (OJHL) suffered a stroke on Saturday morning.
Dunda’s father Richard said the stroke was caused by a clot in the carotid artery in his neck, which restricted blood flow to the brain.
“He has some brain damage and some new limitations. It’s still early so the extent of the impact on him is not yet fully known,” said Dunda in a statement released via his team’s social media. “Riley’s body is strong though and he is young and very healthy so we’re hopeful for what the future holds for him. Riley has a tremendous work ethic and is a determined young man.”
Dunda is currently in the ICU at Hamilton General Hospital. While doctors are still unsure of the the extent of damage caused from the stroke, his father said he does have brain damage and will have to face “new limitations.”
Dunda started the season in the OJHL with the Burlington Cougars, where he notched nine goals and eight assists in 35 games. He was traded to Hamilton, where registered three goals and two assists in 11 games. He had been training hard, looking to attain a Division I or CIS scholarship.
“He was dedicated to that goal. He wanted to be the best he could possibly be. Knowing our son and brother, he’ll continue striving for that goal, or one of equal challenge. He’s a fighter,” wrote Richard Dunda. “He’ll continue to need to love and support of his network of friends and family as he begins his road to recovery and overcoming his new set of challenges.”
Dunda’s father tweeted today that Riley was able to sit up and get out of bed for a while. His son has limited movement on his right side, Dunda said, though he does have feeling.
Hockey players have rallied on social media, using #fightrileyfight to express their love and support for Dunda.
(source AP)
The first period of Sunday night’s Penguins/Rangers game, left fans on both side on the edge of their seats as the Pens took three quick penalties in the first seven minutes. Luckily, for fans at Consol Energy Center, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was able to stop all the shots he faced.
“You feel like you’re behind the 8-ball when you have six minutes of killing in the first 12 minutes of the game,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. “I thought our killers did a great job, answered the bell, did an extremely god job. They had [two] shots on three of those penalty kills. They did an outstanding job and we gained momentum from there.”
Fleury’s 22 out of 22 blocked shots, gave Fleury his first shutout of the 2014 playoffs, and the seventh in his postseason career. He owns the most shutout wins in team history. The win also gave him his 50th playoff win, making him only one of 17 goalies in history to win 50 or more Stanley Cup playoff games.
On the other side, Henrik Lundqvist stopped 32 shots for the Rangers. His fellow teammates were not able to take the power play into their own favour, going 0 for 4 in the second straight game. The Rangers went the final 11:38 of the game without even a shot on goal. This was the first time the Blue Shirts have been shut out in the playoffs in exactly one year. The last time being a 1-0 loss in overtime to the Washington Capitals in another game too, subsequently on May 4, 2013.
In the first 7 minutes of the game, they had three opportunities to take the lead on power plays, but instead added to their 29 consecutive unsuccessful power plays, going back to game 2 of the first round against the Philadelphia Flyers.
They did manage to get one shot on goal when Chris Kunitz went to the penalty box for goalie interference, as well as one shot when Matt Niskanen was off for roughing, but alas no shots when Malkin was in the sin bin for boarding.
For Pens fans, it was a relief when the Pens survived the early test from the Rangers, but unfortunately for the Blue Shirt Army, the Rangers never fully recovered.
“We’re kind of one-and-done in the offensive zone, not really sustaining our forecheck” Girardi said. “And we don’t do that, they have pretty talented guys that are going to come the other way on you. We have to find a way to take the puck out of their skilled hands and have some O-zone time next game.”
Kris Letang finally broke the scoreless game with a goal at 10:26 on the second period. It was with the help of Malkin who carried the puck into the Rangers end and passed it across to Letang. He was tried to make a centre pass to Kunitz, but the puck ended up off the stick of Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi and past Lundqvist. It was Lentang’s 15th goal of the playoffs, tying him with Hall of Famer Larry Murphy, for most postseason goals by a defensemen in team history.
The Pens goalie made 10 of his 22 saves in the second, three of which came when the Rangers had their only power play of the period. One such save was from a point-black stop on a close off faceoff by Brad Richards.
All the way at the other end of the ice, King Henk was looking just as good. He stopped Kunitz on a breakaway after he leapt out of the penalty box. He got his right pad on a chance by Sidney Crosby, after a long diagonal pass through the zone by Brian Gibbons.
However, he couldn’t stop Jussi Jokinen’s power play goal with 3:30 remaining, it was off a rebound by James Neal. It extended the Fin’s scoring streak to six games; which adds up to three goals and three assists in the span.
It was Malkin who closed out game two with an empty-net goal with 53.5 seconds remaining on the clock.
The team doesn’t have much time to celebrate with game three being in New York on Monday night. Both teams flew up to the Alphabet City directly following the game. This is the Rangers second set of back-to-backs this postseason within a nine night period. They played Game 6 and 7 of the first round on consecutive nights.
Game 3 will be Monday night in New York at 7:30 PM ET and will be on NBCSN, CBC, RDS.
Following their respective teams’ exit from the playoffs, Avs forward Nathan MacKinnon and Flyers forward Brayden Schenn will don the red and white and represent Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship. Matt Read, also a forward with the Philadelphia Flyers, will join the team. The tournament will be held May 9-25, 2014 in Minsk, Belarus.
The announcement was made today by Rob Blake, general manager of Canada’s national men’s team. Blake made the roster decision in collaboration with a management group comprising Brad Treliving (GM, Calgary Flames), Ron Hextall (rumoured soon-to-be-GM, Philadelphia Flyers) and Hockey Canada’s vice president of hockey operations Brad Pascall.
Further to the roster additions, it was announced today that Edmonton Oilers forward David Perron is suffering from an injury, thought to be hip-related, and will not compete at Worlds.
Team Canada’s roster now stands at 23, comprising three goaltenders, seven d-men and 13 forwards. The tournament will see five players taking to the international stage for the first time – Kevin Bieksa (Vancouver Canucks), Troy Brouwer (Washington Capitals), Jason Garrison (Vancouver Canucks), Ben Scrivens (Edmonton Oilers) and Joel Ward (Washington Capitals).
According to IIHF rules, Team Canada can register a maximum of 25 players for Worlds, leaving two roster spots open. Players can be registered during the tournament, with Team Canada’s management team surely keeping a close eye on contenders currently in the playoffs who may become available to represent Canada after the second round concludes.
The tournament opens for Canada on May 9 as the team takes on France in the preliminary round.
(Photo: RDS.ca)
Winger Brandon Saad tallied two goals for the Blackhawks 4-1 win over the Wild in Sunday’s Game 2 at the United Center.
Saad and fellow winger Bryan Bickell, who had one goal and two assists himself today, joined Captain Jonathan Toews as scorers in the Hawks’ victory.
Their collaborative efforts, combined with a strong defense, yielded Coach Joel Quenneville his 800th career win.
Nearly halfway through the first period, Toews netted the first goal of the game rebounding a blocked breakaway attempt by Marian Hossa. Bickell fed Hossa for the breakaway. This gives Toews four goals and five assists for the postseason, Hossa two goals and six assists, and Bickell five goals and three assists.
Bickell now tops the league for 2013-14 playoff goals, making his four-year $16 million contract upgrade last summer seem even more worthwhile.
With less than a minute to go in a mostly uneventful second period, Saad doubled the lead with a wrister (assists: Bickell, Brent Seabrook) just after Justin Fontaine finished serving a hooking penalty.
Then, just like Game 1, an intermission pep talk empowered the Wild.
Two minutes into the third, Cody McCormick lifted a wrister (assists: Clayton Stoner, Erik Haula) past Corey Crawford to halve the Hawks’ lead. From there, Minnesota pressed hard for the comeback.
“They got that goal early in the third and all of the sudden they were coming at us,” Toews said.
Thanks to Crawford and a smart defense, the score held tight while the Hawks composed themselves.
As the final period came to a close, Bickell fired a shot to the maddening “ting” of the crossbar, believing he’d hit net.
“I raised my hand and I was yelling at the referee,” Bickell said of the no-goal. “And then he said, ‘No.’ Then Pierre (McGuire) said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘Oh, shoot.’”
So, shoot, he did, less than a minute later. And that wristshot, without a doubt, went past goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov at 17:15 into the third (assists Hossa, Niklas Hjalmarsson).
When the Wild pulled the goalie for an extra attacker with 1:23 to go, Saad sealed the victory with an empty-netter (assists: Hossa, Hjalmarsson) making it a 4-1 win for Chicago.
“I’m disappointed that we’re here down 2-0. Frustrated,” Zach Parise told media after the game. “But tonight we understand that we didn’t play nearly well enough to win. I think that’s what we’re upset about, not so much being down 2-0. That’s not fun either, but the way we played tonight wasn’t good enough, and definitely not good enough to beat the Blackhawks.”
The 4-1 final score doesn’t reflect the strength of the Blackhawks’ competition, however.
The Wild were just shy of the Hawks in shots on goal at 19-22, but led 13-7 in the second period. Their faceoff wins were 27-26; and, again, they led in hits at 32-23. Crawford made 19 saves. Bryzgalov made 21.
As the Blackhawks can attest after coming back against the Blues, 2-0 series leads (much like 2-0 game leads) don’t mean much in the playoffs this year.
“We’re still taking it one game at a time,” Toews said. “You go into every game planning to win; sometimes that goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter. We’ll just continue the way we have. We’ll have a real challenge coming up on the road. It’s going to have to be our best game of the series, for sure.”
To stay on top while Minnesota has a home crowd empowering them, the Hawks will need to:
- Ready, aim, fire: Shoot the puck. Worry more about getting the puck on net than dizzying the opponent with passes.
- Stick around for the rebound: As displayed tonight, this makes for quality goal-scoring chances. Breakaways needn’t always signal a line change.
- Keep on blocking: The Blackhawks’ defense shot blocking, including one today by Hjalmarsson’s throat, has been phenomenal this postseason. While Crawford is doing a fine job holding his own so far in the series, taking pressure of the netminder can only benefit the entire team.
- Don’t let up. Start hot and heavy and stay that way through the final buzzer.
The Hawks take on the Wild again at 8 p.m. CT Tuesday in at the XCel Energy Center.
The match-ups in the East have been set and it’s fair to say there was more than one surprise to the teams moving on to the second round. In fact, the first three seeds in the East all fell to their lower seeded opponents, making the St. John’s IceCaps the highest seeded team left standing in the second round.
The second round match-ups are as follows:
St. John’s IceCaps vs. Norfolk Admirals
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins vs. Providence Bruins
IceCaps vs. Admirals
The IceCaps are coming off an impressive series and seem to be doing all of the right things. Goaltender Michael Hutchinson has returned from his time in the NHL with amazing confidence. He got his first taste of NHL action and really impressed. In the 4 games against the Albany Devils, Hutchinson posted a 1.51 GAA (third in the postseason) and a .952 save percentage (second behind Marlies’ Drew MacIntyre who has a .955). They have also had some great veteran leadership from players like Andrew Gordon, who had a hat trick in Game 4 to lift the IceCaps past the Devils and into the Second Round.
The 8th seeded Admirals pulled off an impressive upset over the top seeded Manchester Monarchs to advance to the next round. Like St. John’s, Norfolk had outstanding goaltending. A rookie, John Gibson has numbers close to that of Hutchinson and completely stumped the Monarchs at times during the opening round. Norfolk has also had a lot of help from forward Max Sauve. Sauve, a former Bruins draft pick, only dressed 47 games during the regular season and did not put up impressive numbers. He missed the first game of the series against the Monarchs but was definitely visible in games 3 and 4. He had the only goal in the third game, winning it for the Admirals in OT, and then had the game winner in the fourth game in the third period to send his team to the next round.
Like the first series for the Admirals, this has the potential to be a series highlighted by incredible goaltending. Both goalies have similar statistics and it will be interesting to see how the opposite team responds. Additionally, both of these teams have a good core of veteran players with a wealth of playoff experience. This will be the first time the two teams meet this season. However, Sauve and Norfolk’s captain, Garnet Exelby, played with Hutchinson last season on the Providence Bruins.
The full schedule for this series has not yet been released.
Penguins vs. Bruins
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins topped their division rivals, the Binghamton Senators, in the first round to move on. The two teams matched up in the first round last season as well, with Binghamton being the higher seeded team in that case as well. This year, Binghamton managed to take one game, but that would not be enough. The first three games were close and in the last game, the Penguins came out swinging. The Penguins scoring is being led by veterans Chuck Kobasew and Andrew Ebbett. Between the pair of them, they have skated in 801 regular season games and 63 playoff games in the NHL. They certainly knew when to come up big for the Penguins so far and neither seems to be letting playing in the AHL slow them down.
The Providence Bruins upset the second seeded Springfield Falcons in the only series in the East to go a full five games. The series featured two overtimes games to start it off before the Bruins outscored the Falcons 12-6 in the final two games. The Bruins have definitely shown one thing: they can score. Their 18 goals so far are the most by any of the teams that made the postseason. Those 18 goals have come from 8 different skaters. Matt Fraser, a new addition to the black and gold this season, leads the way with 3 goals. From the end of the season through the first series, Fraser has come up big when he’s needed to.
This is the second straight year that these two teams will meet in the second round. Last season, the Bruins came into it with the best record in the league while the Penguins were the fifth seed. This season, the Penguins actually have home-ice advantage even though they came in as the sixth seed because the Bruins came in at seventh. The two teams are likely to remember what happened last season. For Providence, they aren’t fond memories. The Bruins jumped out to a 3-0 series lead before the Penguins came back to win the next four and take the series. The two teams met four times during the regular season this year and Providence came out on top 3 of those times.
The schedule for this series can be found here.
Photo credit: AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Read the Jewels from the Crown recap here and the Kings‘ official recap here.
When it comes to the playoffs, all players are expected to raise their games. Top guys are supposed to play well all season and be even better in the postseason. But then there are guys who just go to another level and are often leading candidates for the Conn Smythe trophy. Occasionally fans claim that these players are in “beast mode.” Or if this was a video game, they turned on cheat mode. For the LA Kings, there are two guys that fit that mold: Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar.
As a two time Olympic gold medalist and a Stanley Cup winner, Drew Doughty is no stranger to important games or elevating his game when he needs to. But sometimes he’s underrated as a leader on the team. Capable of playing as many minutes as the coach will allow, his competitive spirit fuels a desire to never leave the ice. Fast and smart, much of LA’s success runs through him. Whether he’s making a simple outlet pass or closing the gap with a sick hip check, the star defenseman does it all and thrives under pressure. On Saturday night, the Kings were short a defenseman when Robyn Regehr was injured in the first period. In 33:06 of ice time (including overtime), Doughty put up a +2 rating, had an assist on the game winning goal and played on the left when necessary (he’s a right handed d-man). Big players have to step up at big times in big games and Doughty is certainly doing that in the playoffs.
Speaking of stepping up, Anze Kopitar is on another planet right now. The Slovenian native had 20 points in 20 playoff games in 2012 and was a favorite for the Conn Smythe. This year, he’s on pace to blow that away.
Similar to his defensive counterpart, LA’s success relies heavily upon their star center. A little background on Kopitar: He was drafted in 2005 but didn’t play in the NHL until 2006. He is a high reward-low maintenance player as he has had very few injuries in his career and has led the team in scoring every year except his rookie year. Most importantly to fans, he’s become an elite two-way center who has shown a willingness to give up his offense for the good of team defense. As a leader, he has a well-appreciated ability (again, similar to Doughty) to load the team on his back and push through when the Kings are down a goal or two. Right now, that’s paying dividends because he is red hot.
Sometimes, though, depth players surprise everyone when they step up. They’re not necessarily in “beast mode” or “cheat mode” but they provide critical minutes nonetheless. One such player for LA is Alec Martinez. A third pairing defenseman, Martinez is often underrated as a good puck mover. He wasn’t blessed with the talent and insane hockey IQ that Doughty has, but he is still a very good two-way player. On Saturday night, with Regehr’s injury causing the blue line to be in a constant shuffle, Martinez logged a career high 28:13 of time on ice, including nearly 5 minutes in overtime. He was entrusted with special teams time and rewarded head coach Darryl Sutter by opening the scoring with a power play goal. He also logged decent possession numbers (48% CF, which isn’t GREAT but that’s not bad) and made a key block/kick save in overtime on Anaheim‘s Corey Perry.
The postseason brings out the best in everyone as they all drive towards the same goal of ultimate glory. Depth players step up and prove their merit while star players either crumble or prosper under the glare of the spotlight where every little mistake is magnified. Sometimes surprising leaders emerge and sometimes a team’s best players find ways to up their games more than thought possible.
Drew Doughty logged a season high 33 minutes of ice time; it was 4th highest in his career and he probably would’ve been happy with even more time, especially after advocating for it. The team owned 64% of all shot attempts at even strength and attempted almost 20 shots towards the net every time he was on the ice. He was one of the best skaters during the game and every day he finds ways to get better.
Anze Kopitar has figured out a way to blend his offensive skills with his defensive skills. While it certainly helps to have high skill guys like Marian Gaborik on his wing, his game is another level right now. He has struggled in the past with putting the puck in the net, though he always managed to rack up points in assists. This year, however, he’s found a way to not only set up plays, but score as well. His speed, strength and hockey IQ make it seem like he’s found a cheat mode after all.
For a team to be successful in the postseason, it takes not only guys like Kopitar and Doughty, but guys like Alec Martinez as well. His key blocks/saves and timely goals helped his team earn a victory (maybe undeserved) over their division opponents. If he remains a good possession player, he’ll be an incredible asset for the Kings as they look to raise Lord Stanley’s Cup once more.
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