EASTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF PREVIEW

The regular season is beginning to wind down, and that means the playoff talks will start. With around 25 games left in the regular season, and every game being so important, there have been some major headlines circling around the eastern conference. Teams trying to make the playoffs, and teams trying to hold onto their current positions have made some moves.


The New Jersey devils might not make any drastic move before the trade deadline on March 4th. However with the expected return of Martin Brodeur in about 10 days, its like signing the best free agent on the list. The Devils goalie tore a bicep on November 1st just 10 games into the season keeping him out for most of the season. Brodeur’s injury forced a young goalie Scott Clemmensen to step up and be the only other number one goalie for the New Jersey Devils since Brodeur stepped in as the definitive number one in 1995. Clemmensen came in and was up for the task the devils never missed a beat they have risen to second in the eastern conference, and first in the Atlantic division. Look for the devils to win the Atlantic and end in the top three in the eastern conference. The only threat for the devils will be the Philadelphia Flyers who also are getting back a key player in Danny Briere coming off of an abdomen injury. The flyers are to streaky and will not be able to put enough wins together to catch the devils.


The Ottawa senators recently fired their coach and have been surging. Craig Hartsburg, first year coach, was fired on February 1st, after a very disappointing season record of 17-24-7. Cory Clouston the head coach of the Senator’s American hockey league affiliate in Binghamton was called in as the new head coach. With the change in personnel the Senator’s have begun to surge. They have gone on a 5 game win streak, and their most prolific scorers have been finally playing to their potential. In the last 15 days since the change Daniel Alfredsson, and Dany Heatly have responded positively. They have combined for 7 goals and 7 assists for 14 points. The Senators have been slowly climbing out of the basement of the Eastern Conference, and are now in 11th place 12 points out of the playoffs behind the Buffalo Sabres. The change may have come a little to late for the Senators however look for them to spoil other teams playoff hopes in the upcoming weeks.



The struggling Pittsburgh Penguins have been on the outside looking in for almost half of the season now. The Penguins lost to the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup finals and are now in danger of not making the playoffs. The penguins started off the season atop of the Atlantic Division, and in the top three of the conference. As of December 1st the penguins were 5th overall in the NHL. Since then they have hit a rut and are now in 10th place 4 points behind Buffalo for the final playoff spot. Like the devils the penguins have just gotten back a huge player from an injury. Penguins top defensemen Sergei Gonchar went out in a pre season game with a separated shoulder that would need surgery. Gonchar made his first start Monday against the Islanders 58 games into the season. It will take a little time for Gonchar to get back into game condition being out all season. Gonchar should improve the Penguins breakout. The Penguins have been missing a good breakout in this skid they have gone on in the last two and a half months. The Penguins also fired their head coach Michel Therrien, and hired the AHL affiliate head coach Dan Bylsma. This may be what saves the Penguins season. Look for them to make a surge at the end of the season to just sneak into the playoffs. When the players get used to Bylsma and his systems, and Gonchar gets back into the swing of things the Penguins will begin playing hockey the way everyone expects them too. Look for Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin to put the team on their back and finish very strong in the last 25 games.



Now this leaves the other three teams in the hunt. The Florida Panthers holding 7th place with 64 points, the Buffalo Sabres holding the 8th and final playoff spot also with 64 points, and the Carolina Hurricanes in 9th place with 61 points.



The Carolina Hurricanes will not make the playoffs. They do not have what it takes, their team is old and will begin to tire at the end of the season falling out of the playoff race. The loss of Justin Williams also does not help their chances much either.



The Florida Panthers will fall out of the 7th place spot and not make the playoffs. The toughest part of their schedule is coming up. The Panthers are just a combined 3-11 against the teams they play in the next couple weeks. The trade deadline is coming up and the Panthers have all ready said they do not have the money to re-sign all star defensemen Jay Bouwmeester. Loosing Bouwmeester will be the difference for Florida they are a defensive team, and this will be a blow they will not be able to recover from.



Look for the Sabres to maintain their playoff position Head coach Lindy Ruff runs a tight ship, and will not allow his team to fall out of the playoffs two years in a row. The Sabres have been getting solid goaltending with Ryan Miller all season, and will keep them in the playoffs.



If your not a hockey fan now is the time to start watching. Every game matters and every point is so precious in the standings. Like always the playoff race should come down to the last games of the season. So get excited and enjoy watching the remainder of the season.

My playoff predictions:
1st-Boston Bruins
2nd- Washington Capitals
3rd -New Jersey Devils
4th-Philadelphia Flyers
5th-Montreal Canadiens
6th-Buffalo Sabres
7th-New York Rangers
8th-Pittsburgh Penguins

San Jose Sharks 5 Boston Bruins 2

The score does not tell the full story. A game well worth watching fan or not. There were big hits, fast skating, quick puck movement, good saves, and 7 goals.

The two best teams in the NHL faced off last night at the garden in Boston. Boston and San Jose have been holding onto first place in their respective divisions for almost the entire season. Boston has a healthy lead on the second place Washington Capitals in the Eastern confrence however in the west it is a different story. For the San Jose Sharks it was a must win situation if they win they hold on to their first place crown. If they loose they will loose first place to the Detroit Red Wings who were facing off against the Nashville Predators.

The game started off with Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins netting his 12th goal of the season 3 minutes and 58 seconds into the first making the San Jose faithful a little nervous. Rob Blake defensemen of San Jose scored his 8th goal of the season on the power play not even 5 minutes later to tie the score at 1-1. With under 6 minutes left in the first Milan Lucic scored his second goal of the game to put Boston ahead 2-1 going into the second period.

The second period did not see any scoring, but not for lack of trying. There were 23 shots in the second period meaning Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins and Evgeni Nabokov of the San Jose sharks were on their game turning away every shot that came their way.

The third period the San Jose Sharks showed why they are the best team in the western confrence, sometimes argued as the tougher conference of the two. San Jose had a 4 goal explosion in the 3rd period. Patrick Marleau of the Sharks opened the scoring for San Jose at 16:28 of the third period to tie the game at 2-2. The bruins were unable to capitalize on 2 power plays in the third, and San Jose made them pay. A litte over a minute after the Sharks killed off their first penalty Milan Michalek scored to give San Jose the lead 3-2. Less than 2 minutes later former Boston Bruin, and captain of the San Jose Sharks Joe Thorton scored the insurance goal to take the lead at 4-2 with just a little over 11 minutes left. With 29 seconds left in the game Mike Grier added insult to injury by adding the empty net goal to give us the final score San Jose 5 Boston Bruins 2.

This is the type of game the NHL needs. Marquee matchups against the top teams in the league on the NHL network. I watched the whole game and was completely entertained. There were 61 shots on net in the game and 54 saves between the two respective teams. Both of these teams have some of the best players in the league, and it's no wonder they are the two top teams in the NHL. Between the two teams there are five players among the top 15 players in goals, assists and points in the NHL. When you play the best players it helps to have some of the best goalies, between Nabokov (Sharks) and Thomas (Bruins) they have 52 wins. Each goalie has a goals against average of under 2.50 per game for a combined 1988 saves on the year. When you add these formulas together best players, best goalies, and best teams your going to get the best games. My only objection is I wish it was on Saturday afternoon on national television to boost ratings for the league.

SOME VIDEOS, WHY NOT

I'm posting some videos to hopefully spark some interests in non fans.


This video just shows how much skill and athleticism these guys really have.





For those of you who like the rough stuff this is for you, and who doesn't like the mighty ducks.

NHL ratings

It seems that every year consistently the NHL has the lowest ratings among the four major sports in the United States. I am a hockey player and a huge fan of hockey. I have a bias towards hockey I watch every chance I get and it blows my mind that people do not enjoy watching the game. However many people I talk to say they have no interest in watching hockey. One problem that many people have is the game is to fast and hard to follow on TV. Well the problem with that is, is the incredibly low amount of exposure the sport has in the U.S. I believe if hockey were covered more in the news it could spark more interest throughout the public.

If you watch espn you might get a quick recap of maybe 1 minute of last night's games, and the occasional goal or save on the highlight reel. The NHL plays on the versus network, Versus is the cable network that broadcasts hockey games throughout the country. The problem I have with this is that versus is "The NHL Network" however "The NHL Network" plays hockey two nights a week. I understand that it is due to the fact that hockey continuously has low ratings, but in that case do not call yourself "The NHL Network". The NHL has channels you can subscribe to for a price on cable such as NHL centre ice, and NHLTV in which you can watch games and news all day. With the low exposure of the NHL in the U.S. it is hard to spark any interest for people to go out and subscribe to those channels. By this it will continue as a cycle, no interest no ratings.

I am a flyers fan, and when I talk to fellow philadelphians about the Flyers I seem to get the same responses every year. I'll watch when the playoffs start, or I'll start watching when football is over. This is something that I will be interested in looking at now that football is over. I will want to compare the first half ratings to the second half ratings. I was looking at the ratings for the NHL on versus and they have slightly increased each year unfortunatly are not where they should be.