Playoffs Day 1

Day one in the playoffs was a good one and didn't have too many surprises. The first game was the Lightning and Red Wings and it was a close physical game, but the Lightning prevailed 3-2. The Lightning's goal scorers were Nikita Kucherov with the first two and Alex Killorn scoring the game winner. The Red Wings had Mike Green and Justin Abdelkader scoring.  The Rangers and Penguins played with the Penguins wearing their gold alternate, but had Hornqvist score a hat trick, Sidney Crosby scoring a breakaway goal, Kuhnakel putting one in in a 5-2 victory and for the Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist getting injured by teammate Eric Staal so backup Annti Raanta played the rest of the game. The scorers were just Stepan with two. The Blues and Blackhawks played a close game which was scoreless all game until David Backes had a lucky break and snuck one past Corey Crawford. The Blues got out shot throughout the game. For the Blackhawks, they get Duncan Keith back and they can kind of hold off without him. Will the Lightning continue to play well without Stamkos? Is Lundqvist's injury going to be bad? Are the Blues now in trouble with Duncan Keith coming back? stay tuned.... P.S I will be posting almost everyday for the playoffs!

Playoffs Preview

The regular season is over and the playoffs are starting and once again it should be an amazing one again. First off we have the Stars and the Wild playing each other. The Stars seem very likely to win, but the Wild have more experience in the playoffs so the Wild could put up a fight. The Blues and Blackhawks are playing each other once again and in 2014 they played each other with the Blackhawks winning it in 6 games. This year they are basically even so this could easily go in 7 games. The Ducks and Predators are defensive teams so it should be a close one. The Ducks have also allowed the least amount of goals this season as well, but that means the Predators have to step up their offense big time. The Kings and Sharks are once again playing each other and it's always close,but the Kings always seem to win it. The Sharks have had a good season finishing just 4 points behind the Kings so the Sharks really have a shot at it this year. The Capitals and Flyers playing and it should be a good physical series, but the Capitals can score more so the Capitals seem to have an advantage in scoring, but you never know. The Penguins and Rangers are once again playing and last year with the Rangers dominating the series and winning it in 5 games. The Penguins have improved a lot this season and it should really be a close one. The Panthers and Islanders are going to play and the Panthers have had an amazing breakout season and the Islanders have way too many injuries so the Panthers seem to be the favorites. The Lightning and Red Wings are having a rematch and the Lightning won last year in 7 games. The Red Wings barely made the playoffs and the Lightning got 2nd in the Atlantic Division, but the Red Wings have lots of experience in the playoffs so you never know. Will there be any upsets? Who's winning it all this year? Will there be any major injuries? stay tuned....

Red Wings and Flyers In

Yesterday was a crazy day in the NHL with all 30 teams playing, but it also had the Red Wings and Flyers knocking out the Bruins of the playoffs. That means every spot in the playoffs is now taken. First the Red Wings lost to the New York Rangers 3-2, but the Bruins lost 6-1 to the Ottawa Senators who are a non playoff team. This ensured the Red Wings extend their playoff streak to 25 consecutive years. The Bruins had to pray that the Flyers lost to the Penguins in regulation and they didn't. The Flyers beat the Penguins 3-1 and that ended their 1 year playoff absence. The Red Wings will have a rematch against the Tampa Bay Lightning for round one which last year went to 7 games with the Lightning winning it. The Flyers will be playing the best team in the NHL this year, the Capitals in round one which will be a tough one for the Flyers. The Los Angles Kings proved it in 2012 that you can win it as long as you're in it so the Flyers have as much of a chance as everyone else. The Bruins need to undergo some changes this offseason, they have barely missed the playoffs last year and history repeated itself for the Bruins who could not even beat a non playoff team to make it so that's disappointing. Free agent Loui Eriksson could be gone next season and long time head coach Claude Julien could be fired this offseason. Will the Red Wings make the playoffs next year? Can the Flyers pull off an upset on the Capitals? What changes will be made for the Bruins? stay tuned....

Islanders Injury Bug

The New York Islanders have had a string of bad luck lately as the injury bug continues with Anders Lee who fractured his leg when he took a slap shot from teammate Johnny Boychuk. This happened last night when the Islanders beat the New York Rangers 4-1 and completing the season sweep of them. Another player that has been injured is Travis Hamonic with an injured knee and is out for the rest of the season, but may be back for the playoffs. Cal Clutterbuck is also injured with a leg injury, but we don't know how long he will be out for. I already posted about it, but their starting goalie Jaroslav Halek is also injured, bur should be back soon enough in the playoffs, at least the Islanders have been playing fine with backup goalie Thomas Greiss. Those are some of the bigger and more important injuries, and the Islanders should be having some depth issues in the playoffs this year. The future doesn't seem good for the Islanders right now and their luck has been terrible so hopefully they can pull through. Will the Islanders make it to round two? Will these players return for the playoffs? What is the future for the Islanders? stay tuned....

Wild Clinch

The Minnesota have clinched the playoffs in a 3-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks last night and have eliminated the Colorado Avalanche from the playoffs. This also means that there are no spots left in the Western Conference and the East still has room. They Wild are on a four game skid, but since the Avalanche lost 4-3 to the Nashville Predators the losing streak almost means nothing. They will most likely play the Stars or Blues in the playoffs and it will be tough, but they can pull off an upset though. The season has been crazy with Mike Yeo being fired after a terrible stretch thatput them out of playoff position, but John Torchetti came to the rescue and had the Wild win games like crazy. Colorado couldn't keep up and it seems as if the injured to Matt Duchene And Nathan MacKinnon really put them down. They should have a good season next year, but they have to do well in the playoffs and not lose o the Blackhawks in order to do so. Did they desere to be in the playoffs? Was John Torchetti the reason they made the playoffs? Is this finally the year for them? stay tuned....

Stamkos Costly Injury

This came at the worst time for the Lightning, but their captain and star forward Steven Stamkos is out for 1-3 months with a blood clot by his right collarbone and will be having surgery on Monday to remove it. He can rejoin the Lightning during the second round at the soonest, but blood clots tend to take a while to recover from. He did not play against the Devils on Saturday, but did play against Montreal and that could be his final game in Tampa Bay. He's in the final year of his contract and will become a free agent this offseason unless the Lightning somehow resign him, but that seems to be unlikely. This is a devastating blow to the Lightning since they really want to win it all this year, but without their leading scorer, it just gets harder. Other good players have to step up like Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, and Victor Hedman. This adds to their injury list along with Anton Stralman so it seems to be really bad without the Lightning. they can win games now, but hopefully they can win the playoffs. Will Stamkos return for the playoffs? Is this the last time Stamkos will play for Tampa Bay? Can the Lightning win without him? stay tuned....

Fail Suspension

Sorry this is late, my internet has been slow lately, but the NHL has had a massive fail once again with punishing players for dirty plays. Recently we found out that star defenseman Duncan Keith was suspended 6 games for slashing Minnesota Wild's Charlie Coyle with his stick and drew blood. Keith has done this before when he used his stick to intentionally slash Kings forward Jeff Carter in the face in the 2013 Western Conference Finals and only got a minor penalty. This time he did almost the same thing, but drew blood. The reason this is a fail is because Keith has already done something like this and his suspension makes him miss the last five games of the regular season and the first game of the playoffs. This could be good for Keith since he gets to rest before the playoffs so he should be ready to go when  he plays game two. This should be a good thing for the Blackhawks and the NHL once again fails o stand tall on the suspension. So basically there was no lesson learned ,but the NHL is light on suspensions.  Should Keith have been suspended longer? Will this benefit the Blackhawks? Did Keith learn a lesson? Comment down below if you have a different perspective! stay tuned....