Quiet In Words

I caught the Sharks/Preds game last night. It may have been the first full game I saw this whole postseason. It was a great, entertaining game, but I thought both teams had a lot of trouble handling the puck. The Sharks' were especially bad on the powerplay, going 0-6, but in part I credit Nashville's kill for that. They had one of the most agressive 5-3 kills I've ever seen. The Sharks had no idea what to do with it. Other than that, though, San Jose dominated, and especially after the first period. They got 41 shots to Nashville's 20 and only had 7 faceoffs in their own end (compared to 29 in the Preds' end). Vokoun was solid, though he never had to make any unbelievable saves and maybe could have stopped Clowe's goal. Anyway, it was a hard fought and encouraging win, not ruined by Versus no matter how hard they tried (informing us at one point that Patrick Marleau was a leader despite being "quiet in words").

A lot has been said about the Colby Armstrong hit on Patrick Eaves, but I think the consensus among hockey people is that it wasn't a dirty hit, and it really wasn't. I like Patrick Eaves (I even went against all proper etiquette and cheered for BC when he was there) but he didn't get elbowed or charged or blindsided or anything. A few Ottawa people let it go because of the hit Neil delivered on Chris Drury, but I don't think they're comparable at all. From what I remember, Neil came across the ice at Drury and threw an elbow into his head. You can't compare Armstrong's hit to that.

Not surprisingly, the highest-scoring series so far have been the Sens/Pens series (22 goals) and the Sharks/Preds series (20 goals). After them, however, is the Devils/Lightning series (18 goals). It's a little unexpected, but it helps to make sense of why the Devils are losing this series. They're not a team that wins high-scoring games and Tampa Bay is. I haven't caught any of these games so I'm not sure whether Brodeur is to blame, but his numbers aren't very good. He's let in 3 goals in every game, while only facing 26, 20, and 24 shots for a .871 SV%. New Jersey wasn't going to win this series by outscoring the Lightning- they were going to shut them down and trap the hell out of them. If they don't change the dymanic of this series from a high-scoring one to a low-scoring one, they're going to lose and have to watch painfully as the Sabres sweep the Lightning in the next round.

One interesting (and kind of scary) thing is that the lowest-scoring series is the Ducks/Wild one, with only 11 goals in 3 games. The fact that the Ducks are up in this series 3-0 is a serious testament to what a complete team they are. Minnesota is a team that wants a low-scoring series. It's how they play and where they thrive, and if they were playing a team that relied only on offense, they'd be winning right now. But Anaheim, with the defense and goaltending they have, is in no way one-dimensional. They can play a high-scoring series and win with the forwards they have, but they can also play a low-scoring series and win (possibly even sweep) with the defense they have. They were Liz's Cup pick (because she thinks Giguere is cute...) and I'm beginning to think more and more that she made the right choice, as painful as that is. I haven't given up on the Sharks, and if someone in the West is going to beat Anaheim it'll be them, but it won't be easy.

Tonight the Thrashers go to New York, down 2-0, for the first time this series. The Sens/Pens again face off in Pittsburgh and the Canucks and Stars try to finish a game in less than 4 hours. The Ducks can be the first team to end their series with a win in Minnesota tonight. Calgary hopes that maybe they won't lose quite so badly at home. I've stopped caring who wins that series, because the winner most likely won't make it too far anyway. If Calgary wins (ha) they'll have to face Anaheim, and if Detroit wins they'll most likely have to face either the Sharks or the Preds (unless they get lucky somehow pull Dallas). All of the series are starting to take shape, with the Sens/Pens and Sharks/Preds being the best and most entertaining so far. I can't see either series going less than 7 games, unless one team implodes (which isn't out of the question).

Unrelated movie note: Knowing it'll be out of theaters soon, I dragged a few people to see a late showing of Pan's Labyrinth in Davis Square (love that theater). It was brutal, gruesome, creepy, depressing, and one of the darkest movies I've ever seen, but I loved it. See it in theaters.


Western Conference
-Buffalo 2, Islanders 1
Goals: 9-6
-New Jersey 1, Tampa Bay 2
Goals: 9-9
-Atlanta 0, Rangers 2
Goals: 4-6
-Ottawa 2, Pittsburgh 1
Goals: 13-9
Eastern Conference
-Detroit 2, Calgary 0
Goals: 7-2
-Anaheim 3, Minnesota 0
Goals: 7-4
-Vancouver 2, Dallas 1
Goals: 7-7
-Nashville 1, San Jose 2
Goals: 10-10