Tag: NHL

The Series is Tied

I would like to thank the Boston Bruins for the little birthday gift they gave me last night. They beat the Canadiens in overtime to tie their second round series at two games a piece. It is pleasing to live in a world where we are tied with Montreal, instead of the alternative which was a world where we trailed Montreal three games to one.

I would also like to thank the Bruins for scoring the overtime goal very quickly and not making me stay up all night shivering in fear.

Thank you, Bruins! Now go win game five!

No Score After Two Periods

You know, the other day when I said I wanted the Bruins to stop spotting the Canadiens a two goal lead, I didn’t mean that they shouldn’t score at all themselves. After two periods in a must win game four, there is no score.

Come on, Bruins. Let’s put a few biscuits in that basket.

2014 NHL Semifinal Predictions

The Kings won game seven! For the forth time in NHL history (and the fifth time in North American professional sports history) a team rallied back from a 3-0 series deficit in a best of seven to win the series. The Sharks CHOKED! It’s beautiful! Now the Bruins are not the most recent team to choke that epically! WOOHOO! Thanks Kings, but even more thanks go to the Sharks! Yes!

Now let’s recap my first round predictions, and let me just say… Nice!

Boston vs Detroit. I picked Boston (duh) and Boston won.
Tampa Bay vs Montreal. I picked Montreal and have yet to stop vomiting and Montreal won.
Pittsburgh vs Columbus. I picked Pittsburgh but hoped to be wrong and Pittsburgh won.
New York vs Philadelphia. I picked New York and have yet to stop vomiting and New York won.

Looks like I was perfect in the East.

Anaheim vs Dallas. I picked Anaheim and Anaheim won.
San Jose vs Los Angeles. I picked Los Angeles and Los Angeles won on San Jose’s epic choke.
St Louis vs Chicago. I picked Chicago and have yet to stop vomiting. Chicago won.
Let’s pause here to notice that out of seven series mentioned so far, I picked them all correctly.
Colorado vs Minnesota. I picked Colorado and……. Minnesota won. DAMN IT! Game seven even went to overtime. I was one series away from a perfect first round! DAMN IT!

That’s seven out of eight for 87.5%. Stupid Avs losing in overtime. Jerks.

Now on to round two!

Bruins vs Canadiens. A return of the greatest rivalry in NHL history! The Bruins and the Habs! This is THE series as far as I’m concerned. The biggest challenge Boston could have (given the way the Penguins have been falling apart) in their quest to win the East. Obviously I am picking the Bruins, but it’s going to be an ugly series and it is going to go seven. Go Bruins!

Penguins vs Rangers. I think the Penguins are by far the better team on paper, but they were given a huge scare by lowly Columbus. The Rangers needed seven games to advance, but I just feel they have their act together while the Pens are ripe for collapse. I am picking the Rangers in this series even though picking New York makes me physically ill.

Blackhawks vs Wild. Nice job blowing my perfect first round, Wild. You suck! I hate Chicago, but Chicago is going to win. Obviously I am rooting for Minnesota, but Chicago is going to win. Sorry.

Anaheim vs Los Angeles. The battle for California part two. I am obviously rooting for the Kings here, especially after the way they came through in the first round. My gut says Anaheim destroys them, but I am going with my heart over my head and picking LA.

So if my predictions work out we will have a Boston/New York and Chicago/Los Angeles conference finals.

Go Bruins!

San Jose Sharks Clarification

The Bruins have already won their first round series, and they already know they will be playing Montreal in round two. Game one is tomorrow night.

The first round will come to an end tonight after the completion of three game sevens. New York and Philadelphia, Colorado and Minnesota, and the game I want to talk about right now, San Jose and Los Angeles.

I beat on the San Jose Sharks a lot. One of my golden rules for playoff predictions is to always pick against the Sharks. One might think it’s because I hate them. No, that is not the case. In fact, I think they are awesome. During the regular season, in the days before the last lock out, I would often find myself dialing in Sharks games on the radio (by radio I mean iPad) when I couldn’t fall asleep at night.

Why then do I give them such a hard time? Simple. Playoff history. There was a stretch 5-10 years ago where I picked them to at least make the Western Finals if not win the Stanley Cup every year. They were a powerhouse. They owned the West during the regular season, year after year. They were awesome to watch. Then the playoffs would come and they would turtle and get their asses whooped by some clearly inferior team and I would have a big black mark on my playoff predictions.

At some point along the way I instigated the Sharks doctrine. Now I only pick them to win a series when their opponent is supremely awful. More often than not, when I pick against them I am picking right.

It just so happens that this year they matched up with the Kings. The Kings and the Sharks (and the Oilers, although not recently) have been the Western Conference teams I followed, again prior to last year’s insulting lock out. The Kings have an A-list goalie. I would have picked them against anyone. It was just a nice deal that I could pick them over San Jose.

Game seven is tonight, and I have one more huge reason to root against the Sharks.

We all remember the mental breakdown all Bruins fans suffered in 2010. The B’s took that magical 3-0 series lead over Philly and it turned into a curse as we watched in horror as Philly won game seven. It’s only happened three times in NHL history. Three times, a team has blown a 3-0 series lead and lost the round 4-3. The Bruins are just the most recent example.

Tonight, however, history could be made once again. The Sharks murderlized the Kings in the first two games. Then they won game three in overtime. Since then? The Sharks have lost by three goals scores in games four through six. The series is now tied at three games a piece. The Sharks have home ice advantage in tonight’s game seven, but I am optimistic that both the Sharks doctrine will be upheld, and that the Bruins will no longer be looked at as the last team to blow a 3-0 series lead.

The Kings. The Los Angeles Kings. They must, MUST win this game tonight. They must put the Sharks away. They must score early and often and break their spirit. Not because I hate the Sharks, not because I am rooting for the Kings so much (the Bruins are winning the cup this year, therefore I will not have to pick a back up team to root for like I did two years ago), but because the memory of 2010 still stings me, and I want another team to go through the same misery in the hopes that it will serve as a buffer between me and the memory of the Bruins failure. Not even winning the Stanley Cup in 2011 could erase the agony of 2010. Maybe this will at least ease it a little more.

I honestly hope that some day Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau will hoist the Cup in front of their Bay Area faithful. I mean it. Despite everything, I still consider myself to be a big Joe Thornton fan.

I just don’t want it to be this season, and I most definitely do not want to see them win tonight.

Go Kings.

Oh yes, Go Kings!

Much Better, Bruins

The Bruins beat the Red Wings in game two of their first round series today. That made me happy. The Red Sox are losing right now, but if that is the price we have to pay for a Bruins post season win, then so be it.

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Go Bruins!

A Thought on San Diego

There is only one downside that I can see about moving from Boston to San Diego. (we’re not, I’m just fantasizing)

San Diego does not have an NHL team.

There’s the LA Kings and the Anaheim Ducks. I expect I would follow the Kings for my local NHL fix, although Ducks games would be slightly closer to home.

I’d still be a Bruins fan, of course. I mean… duh!

gaslamp edit

Bruins/Wings Game Two

We’re a little more than three hours away from the start of game two. The Bruins must win this game. They must win this game. No more of this 1-0 shutout loss crap. They must score early. They must score often. They must embed the Detroit players into the boards in much the same way that that damn tick embedded itself in me. They must punish the Wings for each inch of ice they try to take. They must punish the Wings for each inch of ice they try to keep us from taking.

I started reading Bobby Orr’s autobiography this morning. If that isn’t enough to inspire the Bruins in game two then nothing is.

Go Bruins!
Punish the Wings!
Make them fear you!
Go Bruins!

2014 NHL Quarterfinal Predictions

Hello, and welcome to the first of the 2014 NHL Playoff Prediction Posts.

Is it still called the Conference Quarter Final Round, or is it now the Divisional Semifinals?

I haven’t paid nearly as much attention to the NHL this year as I usually do. Bruins, yes. The rest of the league, not really. Why? Because I’m still friggin’ furious over the lock out last year, that’s why.

In terms of my playoff picks, it doesn’t matter because they are all blind guesses anyway. Having said that, here are my picks for the first round match ups.

Bruins vs Red Wings. If you’ve read this post so far, then you know who I’m picking. There are caveats this year though. The Red Wings gave the Bruins a tough time. They are one of those teams that are really fast on their skates that give the Bruins and their punishing physical style fits. They are similar to Montreal in that respect, although not similar to Montreal in their black hearted evil. Add to that the Red Wings are starting to get healthy and you have a nervous little match up for my Bruins. Then there is the jinx. The Bruins won the President’s Trophy. The award given to the team that finishes the regular season with the best record overall. Congratulations, Boston! Of course the team that wins the President’s almost never wins the Stanley Cup. If you believe in such superstitions, then you can conclude that the B’s are screwed. It doesn’t matter to me though, I am picking the Bruins in this series.

Lightning vs Canadiens. It breaks my hear to say this, but Montreal is going to win this series. It looked like a decent match up, right up until the moment Tampa Bay’s goalie went out with an injury. That leaves their chances at nil and null. (that’s computer nerd speak for slim and none) Sorry, Tampa Bay. I’ll be rooting for you. I just won’t be expecting positive results. Sorry.

Penguins vs Blue Jackets. Moving on to the idiotically named Metropolitan Division (does that mean Boston, Montreal, Toronto, ext, ext are not Metropolitan places?) This is another series where I will be rooting against my pick. Pittsburgh is a disaster right now. They sucked their way into the post season. They are a total mess. They are ripe for the upset. Unfortunately, Columbus just sucks. Don’t get me wrong, I love them and are totally rooting for them. I just think that the Penguins could put out a roster with only 15 players and still win in four. I’m picking the Penguins even though I feel dirty and disgusting doing so.

Rangers vs Flyers. This looks like it might be a fun series to watch. Record wise, the teams are a pretty even match. Head to head in the regular season they were even. The Flyers really turned it on after the Olympics and are probably an easy team to pick, but I think the Rangers are good enough to take this one. Despite being from Boston, I will pick New York.

On to the Western Conference, where it is safe to say that all eight teams are better than the entire Eastern field with the exception of Boston and maybe Pittsburgh.

Ducks vs Stars. The Ducks are a million times better than the Stars. They also do not have Tim Thomas on their roster. That’s one rational reason to pick them and one irrational, petty reason to pick them. That means I pick them. Tim Thomas can go spend the rest of the season at home, the same way he spent the last year of his contract with the Bruins at home. Boo Hoo.

Sharks vs Kings. This is an easy, albeit irrational, pick for me. Rule one in making my playoff predictions is always bet against San Jose. Rule two is, for Western match ups, never bet against the Kings. Done. Los Angeles wins this one.

Avalanche vs Wild. A match up of Ringo Starrs. They’re both just happy to be here. I want to pick the Wild for the same reason I wanted to pick Columbus. It just seems like the cool pick. Not this time though, I am picking the Avs.

Blues vs Black Hawks. I hate Chicago. After last season I hope they get swept. Unfortunately, the Blues have been a suck-fest over the last couple of weeks. Can they just flip the switch and be awesome again? I’d like to hope so but… no. I am picking Chicago and it makes me want to puke.

There you have it kids, my 2014 Quarter Finals Predictions. May the best team from Boston win!