[Hockey] NHL Playoffs 2nd round wrap up - Conference Finals Preview

The second round came to an end, and the 4 Conference finalists are the Los Angeles Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes in the West and the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils in the East.

Eastern Conference (Semis):

New York Rangers (1st) - Washington Capitals (7th) 4-3
This was the series, that finished last, and was one of the most thrilling ones. Examples? 1) The Rangers won game 3 in the third period of overtime, the game almost lastet two regular games.
2) The Rangers were down 2-1 in game five, facing a loss (would make 3-2 in the series for Washington) but with 6.6 seconds left, they tied the game and won the game in overtime after 1.35 minutes. 
Actually, this was the only series, that went to 7 games. Game 7 at Madison Square Garden in New York was decided by the Rangers with a 2-1 victory then.

Philadelphia Flyers (5th) - New Jersey Devils (6th) 1-4
Well, after the Flyers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in an outstanding and convincing way, I really tought, they had a chance to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. I was wrong, and I am not sure, what I could learn after a series, the Devils won against the Flyers. Were, the Pens that bad or did the Flyers just underestimate the Devils or were the Devils really that much better? I don't know. But I like the way, the Devils played.
After winning the first game in overtime, the Flyers lost 4 straight games and fell to the Devils in five. Sure, they had to deal with Giroux's suspension in game 5 (he got suspended because of an illegal hit to the head in game four), but they weren't really that strong as they were in their first series. (The factors that mattered for the games against the Pens, e.g. Powerplay, Claude Giroux didn't work out)
Fun fact: The team that scored first lost the game then.

Western Conference (Semis):

St. Louis Blues (2nd) - Los Angeles Kings (8th) 0-4
Wow, that was quick (a very lame joke, because the LA's goalie name is Quick)! Well I am a bit surprised, because the Kings eliminated the 1st and 2nd in the West and advanced as the first team to the Conference finals. (And now, they will face the 3rd in the Conference)
To be honest, I just saw one game and that was the fourth of this series, it was said, that this was, maybe, the best game of the Blues. Well then, congrats to the Kings.

Phoenix Coyotes (3rd) - Nashville Predators (4th) 4-1
So, the Western Conference Finals got the second team. Whilst the East was still batteling for the two final spots, the West was completed Monday night (May, 7th).
(I can't really say that much about this series, didn't see one game, unfortunatelly,just read the articles about it then)

 

Conference Finals

East: (sarting monday May 14th)
New York Rangers (1st) - New Jersey Devils (6th)

West: (starting sunday May 13th)
Phoenix Coyotes (3rd) - Los Angeles Kings (8th)
(LA won the first game in Glendale, Arizona)

[Hockey] NHL - Playoffs first round wrap up

Today, I just wanna give you an update after the first round of the NHL playoffs, what happened during the last weeks and which teams advanced into the second round of the playoffs.

Eastern Conference:

New York Rangers (1st) - Ottawa Senators (8th) 4:3
The New York Rangers, the best team during the regular season in the East, were down 2:3 after 5 games, so it was a great effort to force game 7 and they used their home ice advantage at Madison Square Garden to win the last game.

Boston Bruins (2nd) - Washington Capitals (7th) 3:4
Games 1-7 were decided with a one goal difference. Game 7 went into OT and the Caps scored the game winning goal to eliminate last year's Stanley Cup Champion Boston.

Florida Panthers (3rd) - New Jersey Devils (6th) 3:4
The Devils forced a 7th game in Florida and won it in the second overtime to move into round 2.

Pittsburgh Penguins (4th) - Philadelphia Flyers (5th) 2:4
I've already said enough about this series. I love the Pens, and I believed, when they won the games 4 and 5. But these just disguised the problems, they've had in the defense and with the goaltending. Interesting to see, if there will be any moves during the off season.
On the other hand, I am looking forward to the next Flyers games, not sure, how they will play against the upcoming team(s).

Western Conference:

Vancouver Canucks (1st) - Los Angeles Kings (8th) 1:4
Wow, that was fast, the Vancouver Canucks entered the post season with winning the Presidents' Trophy (meaning, they got the most points during the regular season) and were last year's Stanley Cup finalist (they lost 3-4 against the Boston Bruins then), now they are out, just won one game during this series (4th game). Excited to see the Kings during the next round.

St. Louis Blues (2nd) - San Jose Sharks (7th) 4:1
The Sharks just won the first game, but had no chance against the 2nd in the Western Conference during the regular season.

Phoenix Coyotes (3rd) - Chicago Blackhawks (6th) 4:2
While the first five games all went into overtime, the Coyotes won the last game 4-0 in Chicago and advanced to the next round.

Nashville Predators (4th) - Detroit Red Wings (5th) 4:1
Just kind of surprising, what happened in the first round, never thought, the Penguins, Canucks and Red Wings, wouldn't pass the first round. The Predators had an amazing goalie during the regular season and an even better one now. Pekka Rinne is just outstanding. One of the reasons the Predators moved into the next round, now facing the Phoenix Coyotes.

Notes:
3 of  4 series in the East went to 7 games, while just one game in the West went to 6, the other three just took place in 5 games/series.
It's the third elimination in round 1 or 2 for the Pittsburgh Penguins after they won the Stanley Cup 2009.
No team in the Western Conference, moving into the 2nd round ever won the Stanley Cup. In the East, only the Washington Capitals haven't won the Cup, yet.
In the East 3 of 4 teams, advancing to the next round are from the Atlantic Division (Rangers, Devils, Flyers).
Goaltending was a big issue in the Western Conference, all 4 teams, that advanced, allowed 37 goals (in 21 games) combined, meaning 1,76 goals per game, while the Pittsburgh Penguins in the East allowed 30 goals in 6 games, 5 goals per game. (Their opponent wasn't just that better, the Philadelphia Flyers allowed 26 goals, 4,33 goals/game).
First round eliminations for the last four Stanley Cup Champions: Detroit, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Boston plus Presidents' Trophy winner and last year's finalist Vancouver Canucks.
All 8 teams in the 2nd round don't have the same seed number.
Last but not least, I want to mention the German players, that had a chance to play in the first round of the playoffs. San Jose Sharks' back-up goalie Thomas Greiss just missed the second round with his team, same as Dennis Seidenberg with the Bostson Bruins and Marco Sturm und Marcel Goc, who are with the Florida Panthers.

And with that, we have the following matchups for Round 2: (starting this friday)

Eastern Conference (Semis):

New York Rangers (1st) - Washington Capitals (7th)
Philadelphia Flyers (5th) - New Jersey Devils (6th)

Western Conference (Semis):

St. Louis Blues (2nd) - LA Kings (8th)
Phoenix Coyotes (3rd) - Nashville Predators (4th)

[Hockey] They all fell down - Pittsburgh Penguins lose first round series vs. Philadelphia Flyers

During Pittsburgh's 11 game winning streak in the regular season, a lot of people, me including, tought, they saw the new Stanley Cup Champion and wanted to bring the Cup to Pittsburgh without playing one game in the playoffs.
But then, the Philadelphia Flyers ended that streak, winning a game in March 3-2 in Overtime with just a second left to play (after the Pens had a 2-0 lead) and the Penguins from Pittsburgh lost their ability to play defense. Tough losses against the Ottawa Senators, who are having, by the way, a 3-2 lead in their series against the New York Rangers, and the New York Islanders (twice) showed some huge problems, 1) the Pens had to fix till the playoffs and 2) costed them the first spot in the Eastern Conference.

So the worst case scenario for the first playoff round came up, the Pens had to face their cross-state rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers. Not only, that the Flyers won 4 games out of 6 during the regular season against them, no they just won 5/6 games in the Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh's home, since the arena opened it's gates in 2010 (and the only victory for the Pens was the last regular season game, not an important win, but actually they just showed that they could win on home ice against the Flyers). Definitely not the best conditions to start a best of 7 series with having the first two games at home, and 4 in total, if the series would see 7 games.

It was probably just the first game of that series, that took it away from the Penguins. After being up 3-0 after 20 Minutes, Pittsburgh lost 3-4 in overtime. They lost, once more, their defense skills and what might be more concerning, the Flyers got their first powerplay and scored, while the Pens had 3 without scoring.
It should be one of the stories in the series, that the Flyers used their powerplays (and also scored 3 shorthanded) and the lack of discipline and killing a penalty on the Penguins' side, that decided the series.
After being down 3-0 after the first three games, with an embarassing third game for the Pens in Philadelphia, not only being outscored 20-12 after 3 games, they have lost 3 men for game 4 due to suspensions.
And so the Pittsburgh Penguins were just facing the possiblity to get swept in the first round of the playoffs. The fourth game was crucial and the Pens came back. And that's not just a phrase, they did it in a convincing way, they outscored the Flyers for the first time 10-3 and forced a fifth game. But would it also be possible to force a sixth or even a seventh game?
It seemed, that they gained some momentum; made some moves within the team, by dressing 7 defensemen and 11 forwards and won game five at home 3-2. They showed some "old-school" Penguins' defense play and goaltending - like they did earlier that season and it seemed just months away, but it was quite recently, not one month ago, when the defense faltered and the problems started - in the third period.
If it was potential to win game 6, the Penguins might have had a chance to advance to round 2, but it wasn't like that. Actually, it was never close.
The Pens just missed the start, the first shift scored 32 seconds in the game for Philadelphia. Well nothing to worry about that, the team who scored first in games 1-5 hasn't won the game then, but game six was different from that point, however not from the Pens' defense play. Pittsburgh was close to be eliminated, being down 3-0 after half of the game. Trying to gain back some momentum after the 1-3, but 36 seconds later, Philadelphia scored their fourth goal and seemed like the winning team.
Not only they wanted that victory more than the Pittsburgh Penguins, you just knew it, the moment you saw the Pens' faces and their body language after the 1-4 at the bench. It was over. They fell 5-1 to the Flyers, after an empty net goal, in their last playoff appearance this season.

Maybe, it wasn't meant to be, but after the second round loss 2010 against the Montreal Canadiens, the first round loss 2011 against Tampa Bay Lightning, didn't expect much last year, with having neither captain Sidney Crosby nor Evgeni Malkin in the lineup, this year with a full lineup and all the "stars", just showed, that it might be not enough, to have the names only on paper, if they cannot produce anything. Just 3rd line center Jordan Staal, who was one of the better ones in that series (in my opinion), scored 6 goals, while Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (who had 50 goals during the regular season, but was shut down by the Flyers' rookies) had 6 goals combined.

By any chance, there will be some changes this offseason, looking for some new defensemen , or getting rid of some old ones, getting Crosby and Staal to long term contracts, but that bitter taste in my mouth after that blow out against the Flyers will remain for a longer time.

That said, the hockey season isn't over yet, not even the first round, and there is still a lot of great hockey to be played till one team will rise Lord Stanley's Cup, although, a lot of favorites faced their elimination. (New post is coming about the end of the first round and the 2nd round matchups.)

[Hockey]NHL- the regular season is over - it´s time for the playoffs

So, last saturday was the last game day of the regular season in the NHL, and that means we are now heading to the playoffs, starting on wednesday April 11th, and that is just tomorrow!

I just wanted to give you a quick update, what matchups (best of seven mode) we are going to expect in the first round:

Eastern Conference:
New York Rangers (1st) - Ottawa Senators (8th)
Boston Bruins (2nd) - Washington Capitals (7th)
Florida Panthers (3rd) - New Jersey Devils (6th)
Pittsburgh Penguins (4th) - Philadelphia Flyers (5th)

Western Conference:
Vancouver Canucks (1st) - Los Angeles Kings (8th)
St. Louis Blues (2nd) - San Jose Sharks (7th)
Phoenix Coyotes (3rd) - Chicago Blackhawks (6th)
Nashville Predators (4th) - Detroit Red Wings (5th)

I am really excited about most of the Eastern Conference playoff games, especially the battle of Pennsylvania is going to be awesome, hopefully the Penguins could make it.
And I am also looking forward to the Blackhawks/Coyotes and Predators/Red Wings games.
It´s going to be a great April, May and June till the Stanley Cup finals.

Talking about the German players, that I mentioned in the post some days ago, we have now 4 out of 7 who will start in the playoffs (D. Seidenberg/Bruins, M. Goc + M. Sturm/Panthers, T. Greiss/Sharks). It is sad, for me, to see, that the Buffalo Sabres didn´t make it to the playoffs, it was very close, but the Capitals just managed it in game 81 to climb the final 8.

[Hockey] Imagine you win the Stanley Cup an no one knows about it - German players in the NHL

When the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup in game 7 in Vancouver on June 15th 2011, I guess not many people here in Germany realized, that a German, Dennis Seidenberg was a part of that team, and was just the second German player who won the cup. (First was Uwe Krupp with the Detroit Red Wings in 1996). Although there were two German players in the Stanley Cup finals, with Christian Ehrhoff for the Vancouver Canucks, this season with the Buffalo Sabres, and Seidenberg, this players didn´t get a lot of credit, but everyone here was talking about Dirk Nowitzki and the NBA title the Dallas Mavericks just won on June 12th. Sure he was the first German to do so, but I am not sure that basketball is more important than hockey these days in Germany, a country that is obviously more focused on soccer than any other sports.
Well let´s go back to Dennis Seidenberg, not that he was just part of that team, he got one assist in game 6 the Bruins had to win to force a 7th game and he also got two assists in the final game, the Bruins won 4:0. And this year, the defending Stanley Cup winner is on the road again, just qualified for the playoffs last weekend. They are playing great hockey at the moment and I am excited to see that team in the following games and the playoffs (First round could be aganist their Division rivals the Ottawa Senators).

So let´s talk about the Germans in the NHL in general, this season we have 7 players in 4 different teams (out of 30 NHL Teams):
Boston Bruins: Dennis Seidenberg
Buffalo Sabres: Christian Erhoff, Jochen Hecht, Alexander Sulzer
Florida Panthers: Marcel Goc, Marco Sturm
San Jose Sharks: Thomas Greiss

Christian Ehrhoff is just leading the statistics (under the Germans) with 32 points in 66 games (and you have to add that he is a defenseman), unfortunately he hasn´t played since March 27th, with a knee injury and there aren´t any news when he´ll be back. Without him, it´ll be more difficult to reach the 8th place and the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.
Second in this statistics is Marcel Goc from the Panthers with 23 points in 55 games, followed by Dennis Seidenberg who got 23 points in 77 games (latest news on him are that he scored the equalizer, April 1st against the New York Rangers, after missing 2 games due to an infection in a cut on his left leg, and the Bruins won that game 2:1).
Jochen Hecht is fourth with 8 points in 22 games, but made his last game January 22th and is out with an injury. Alexander Sulzer takes place 5 (6 points in 26 games) and Marco Sturm 6th (3 points in 45 games).
As Thomas Greiss is a goaltender there is no such statistics for him, but he has played 18 games this season and has a 91.4 % saving percentage.

I already mentioned, that the Bruins reached the playoffs, the other three teams have still the opportunity to reach them, especially the Panthers have a great chance to make it, leading the southeast divison. Buffalo´s chances will depend on the performance of the Washinton Capitals as both teams root for the final place (Although Washington is two points ahead, the Sabres have a game in hand, but they need to win and need to be, at least, one point in front of the Capitals after 82 games because the Caps have more wins in total and that would put them in 8th place after the regular season). While all the teams above in this paragraph are placed in the Eastern Conference, the San José Sharks are in the 8th place in Western Conference, beeing just one point ahead of place 9.

So you see, there is still a lot of hockey to play this last week of the regular season, with 7 German players, batteling with their teams for a playoff seat. And probably we will have another one int he Stanley Cup finals.