NHL playoff update #3

In case nobody told you, the Los Angeles Kings, after losing the first two games of their playoff series against the St. Louis Blues, came back to win the next four (and the series).

NHL Playoff update: Flyers 4 - Bruins 3

The Bruins were leading both the series and then Game 7 3-0, but ended up losing both. Philadelphia will now face the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference finals. In the west, it will be the Chicago Blackhawks versus the San Jose Sharks.

It wasn't all bad (4-29-08)

Ok, so Manchester United beat Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final second leg and the Red Wings beat the Avalanche in the NHL playoffs to go up 3-0 in the series, but there were, at least, a few positive developments:

• Manchester United keeper Edwin Van Der Sar was kneed in the head not once, but twice, by his own defender, the much-maligned Wes Brown. After the second blow to the head, Van Der Sar was so dizzy he was standing in goal looking all wobbly and raising his hand for help like a school kid who needs to go to the bathroom. The referee finally had to stop the match and the medics came out to check him for a concussion, etc. "Have some water...How many fingers am I holding up?" Van Der Sar did get to stay in, though. (In the picture: the one in red is Wes Brown - if you don't recognize a United jersey, it's pretty hopeless. The player kneeling is Gianluca Zambrotta - that's a great name! And the one in green, with his head almost touching the ground, is Van Der Sar.)

• The Red Wings got two too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties within three minutes in the third period. (The Av's got one earlier in the game.) How does this happen to trained professionals? I have no idea.

The Flyers are winning

Like I've predicted previously, the Philadelphia Flyers are beating the Montreal Canadiens. (Up in the series 2-1). More importantly, here is a happy photo of East German hockey players resting on the bench. It appears to come from the mid-1980s. East German hockey players get to play their hockey outside.

NHL Playoffs - Hopes and Dreams

In response to a reader's request, I have listed the teams left in the NHL playoffs according to how much I am rooting for them. In parenthesis, you will find my reasons...

1. Flyers (Best logo in the NHL, perhaps all of sports)
2. Canadiens (Only Canadian team left)
3. Sharks (Cheechoo, Setuguchi, Grier, Nabokov)
4. Avalanche (Nothing horribly offensive about them)
5. Stars (I liked that commercial Turco made a few years ago)
6. Penguins (They're not the Red Wings or Rangers)
7. Red Wings (They're not the Rangers)
8. Rangers (They are the Rangers)

There is a poll at the bottom of this page for you to vote for your favorite, as well. (And feel free to send us more reader's requests!)

What I saw tonight (4-24-08)

Everybody wins 4-3; Habs over Flyers in OT and Wings over Avalanche in regulation. I watched the last 8 second of the Red Wings game on Versus and that made me miss the Montreal goal on CBC. Oh well.

What I saw last night (4-22-08)

Champions League: For those of you who missed it, it was actually a rather boring game. Liverpool were leading 1-0 in the dying minutes of injury time when their midfielder John Arne Riise scored on a beautiful diving header that he nailed past the goalie and into the top of the net. Unfortunately, it was his into his own goal.

Liverpool 1 - Chelsea 1

Flyers 3 - Caps 2 (OT): I hate having to work - makes me miss all the best hockey games.

Sharks 5 - Flames 3: San Jose scored four goals in a little over eight minutes in the 2nd period, and that was pretty much it. On to the next round!

What I'd like to see tonight (4-22-08)

Liverpool over Chelsea

Flyers over Caps

Flames vs. Sharks (hmmm - this is a hard one.) All logic and political sense says go for Calgary - small Canadian city in the middle of god-forsaken nowhere against San Jose (?!?!) But San Jose has some players I really like - Mike Grier, Jonathan Cheechoo (the pride of Moose Factory, Ontario and a religious fanatic to boot), and Devin Setoguchi (pictured above). Plus, the Sharks arena reminds me of some sort of community college field house I probably visited in an alternate universe, and I really like the color blue lately. So I think I'm rooting for San Jose. Maybe.

What else is going on (4-22-08)

For all of you who are interested in the Detroit Red Wings, zamboni drivers, or the many uses of the octopus, investigate the link below. Notice that your friendly editor (arrussell) is right in the middle of a minor controversy in the comments section. Ed even refers to me as a "genius".

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/the-morning-skate-no-octopus-for-you/

What I saw tonight (4-21-08)

Habs 5 - Bruins 0 (happy)

Caps 4 - Flyers 2 (not happy, but I didn't see it either. Both CBC and Versus were showing the Canadiens-Bruins game.)

Tomorrow we get two game sevens (Calgary-San Jose and Flyers-Caps). How am I supposed to watch all that and a UEFA Champions League match between Chelsea and Liverpool and also go to an evening event at work? I'll have to stay up all night perfecting the cloning technology.

What I'd like to see tonight (NHL - 4-21-08)

Canadiens beat Bruins

Flyers beat Caps

Tune in tomorrow to see how happy (or not) I am.