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Partisan cheering for your club or favorite players aside, NHL playoffs can't be beat.
NHL Playoffs Proving Best Show in Sports Once Again After Wild Weekend to Open Stanley Cup Playoffs
One weekend. That was all it took to end any debate that the Stanley Cup playoffs is still the best show in sports. Forget March Madness, baseball pennant races or even the Super Bowl, where the commercials are often more memorable than the actual game.
In the span of two days, eight games were played across the NHL. They produced the kind of action, intensity and drama that other sports could only dream of creating. Want a nail-biter to keep you on the edge of your seat long into the night? This weekend had that, with the Bruins and Capitals going to double overtime before Washington squeaked out a 2-1 win. The Senators and Rangers, and Blackhawks and Coyotes each needed sudden death as well, though Chicago first had to rise from the dead with a game-tying goal with six seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Want high-scoring, end-to-end action? The Flyers and Penguins took care of that, with Philadelphia taking an 8-4 win on Sunday to grab a commanding 3-0 lead over their rivals from across the Keystone State. This after the teams combined for 20 goals in the first two games of the series. Or is a tight, defensive struggle with great goaltending and a chess match between coaches more to your style? The Bruins and Capitals provided that with their double-OT epic following Thursday's 1-0 overtime victory for the Bruins in the opening act. Speaking of 1-0 wins, Jonathan Quick and the Kings have pushed the mighty Canucks to the brink of elimination with a 1-0 victory Sunday, giving Los Angeles a 3-0 series lead. And that leads us to perhaps the greatest attraction of the NHL postseason, the pure unpredictability of it. Fans across the league may have dreamed of it, but who honestly would have ever expected the Canucks, fresh off winning the Presidents' Trophy yet again with the league's best record, being on the verge of being ousted from the playoffs without winning a single game in their series with eighth-seeded LA? Who could have foreseen Braden Holtby having such an impact on the postseason, but the 22-year-old netminder who had never started a playoff game in the NHL has stepped in with Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth both injured and given the reigning Stanley Cup champions all they can handle with 72 saves on 74 shots through two games. If skill and strategy isn't enough, the NHL has even brought back the hatred in this year's playoffs. It's that combination of on-ice artistry and brute physical force that makes hockey the unique sport it is. For too long, the playoffs have shied away from the mayhem that makes for so many memorable clashes in the regular season. Not this year. In the eight games over the weekend, there were 10 full-fledged fights, a marked increase over the 0.44 fights a game averaged in the regular season. That's the way the postseason used to be when the intensity of the action led to frequent fights in the playoffs in the 1970s and 80s. In more recent years, the stakes have been too high to risk the extra penalties in fights, and knowing the momentum to be gained from the bouts, teams were often reluctant to risk letting the opposition turn the tide by engaging in scraps if they were already ahead. But this year those concerns appear to have taken a backseat to the emotions involved in these matchups, much to the enjoyment of the fans on hand and those watching at home.
It's almost as if the players, who voted 99.5 percent in favor of keeping fighting in the game in a recent Sports Illustrated poll, had finally heard enough of the lame "but if fighting is so important why is there none in the playoffs" arguments from the anti-fighting crowd and decided there was enough of that nonsense. Even the stars are getting involved, with the likes of Shea Weber, Anze Kopitar, Claude Giroux and Sidney Crosby dropping their gloves, and in Crosby's case knocking away the odd glove when a Flyer tries to pick it up. Even Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette, who has built a skilled Flyers team far from the image of the old Broad Street Bullies, couldn't help but enjoy the spectacle. "I thought it was great," Laviolette said when asked about Giroux fighting Crosby on Sunday. "In the end, that's really playoff hockey, isn't it? You know, couple of the best players in the world dropping the gloves and going at it." Laviolette isn't the only one enjoying what they've seen. NBC reported its playoff rating are up 50 percent over last year, with Sunday's wild Pittsburgh-Philadelphia battle drawing a 77-percent increase over the Rangers-Capitals game shown in that time slot a year ago. North of the border, the hockey purists in Canada don't seem offended, with TSN's ratings up 56 percent. The Flyers-Penguins are the big draw there as well, averaging 1.4 million viewers a game compared to the overall playoff average of 991,000. Some of those viewers come from within the league itself.
No matter how busy they are this time of year, hockey people always make time to check out the other games around the league, and not just for scouting purposes. "Absolutely, this is the time of year you watch everything you can, even if it means you stay up late, because it's interesting," Bruins coach Claude Julien told reporters in Washington on Monday. "You don't just watch it for reasons of homework, but you're also a fan of this game and this is a great time of year to be watching hockey. Obviously there's a lot of intensity in some of those series. A lot of them are about rivalries and it kind of gets amped up to a point where it's borderline." Sure, there's been some indefensible actions with nasty stickwork, elbows and even the odd head smacked into the glass in these early games, and some even odder disciplinary decisions both from the on-ice officials and the league office. But hey, every drama needs a good villain, and with the Canucks looking ready to head back to the smoldering ruins of their home, you have to admit Brendan Shanahan is playing the part perfectly. Everything, in fact, was pretty close to perfect in that first weekend of playoff action. And to think, this is just the opening round. Imagine what the games will be like when the teams get a little closer to actually hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup. Actually, that does bring up one shortcoming to the NHL playoffs. They will end in a couple months.
This is just stunning and it only scratches the surface. How any self-respecting hockey fan can root for this guy is mind boggling.
Frankly how can any serious hockey fan NOT cheer for him? In a single word...WINNER. Glad to see Wings' Fans pay tribute.
Cherry defends Crosby, NHL on Coach's Corner; says playoffs always rough
Canadian Press
2012-04-16 20:44:00
Don Cherry stood up for some of his usual targets on Monday night.
The hockey commentator defended Sidney Crosby, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan during his Coach's Corner segment on CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada."
Crosby had been criticized by members of the media for his role in a fight-filled 8-4 loss by his Pittsburgh Penguins to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.
"(Crosby) could've bailed in that game," said Cherry. "(Pittsburgh was down) 7-4, they weren't going anywhere.
"He even double shifted to get out there and I gotta tell you something, I admire him more for doing that than anything."
Cherry then went on to say that he felt the Penguins' captain was justified in his physical play with Flyers star Scott Hartnell, noting that the Philadelphia forward had been pulling Crosby around by his stick.
Ron MacLean, the co-host of Coach's Corner, pointed out that Cherry had criticized Crosby in the past.
Most recently, Cherry called out Crosby on the April 7th edition of the show. In that episode, Cherry said Crosby made trouble for himself on and off the ice and that if he wanted to be the best like NHL Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr, he had to stop mixing it up with his opponents.
On Monday, however, Cherry allowed that that confrontational style may benefit Crosby.
"I have to say, that's his game," said the former Boston Bruins coach. "He'd be smart to be like Guy Lafleur, he'd be smart to be like all those guys and everything, but that's got to be his game and that's the way he's got to play."
Cherry then moved on to criticizing members of the media who were disapproving of the spate of violence in the NHL this past weekend.
"The fans love it, who pay the money. (...) The players don't seem to mind it, the coaches don't seem to mind it, the players like it," said Cherry. "So who is it who doesn't like the fights and the banging around? It's the reporters who get in free.
"This is war. This has been going on forever. This has been going on forever."
MacLean asked if Bettman and Shanahan had set the bar too high at the start of the season when they said they would eliminate the head shot from the game.
"This regime is being blamed, y'know, 'it's out of control', and the whole thing 'this regime is bad', 'Gary's bad' and 'Shanahan's bad'," replied Cherry. "This stuff has been going on in the playoffs for a long time."
Cherry then showed two clips of bench-clearing fights from the 1980s and 70s. The first was a brawl between the Montreal Canadiens and Quebec Nordiques in the 80s and the second was of the Cherry-coached Bruins tangling with the Habs in the 70s.
"All I'm saying is, quit whining that this stuff hasn't been going on and it's not hockey. It's hockey the way it's played," said Cherry as the second video wound down. "If you don't like it, take up tennis.
"I can see these guys playing tennis, these reporters, playing tennis 'oh, sweet-love', in their little white shorts."
Cherry wrapped up the segment by saying that American broadcaster NBC is having record ratings for these playoffs.
?I don?t take vacations. I don?t get sick. I don?t observe major holidays. I?m a jackhammer.?
Crosby watches as the real Hulk Hogan appears on video board Let Chris Therien sum up your feelings about Sidney Crosby (and the Pittsburgh Penguins), following the first period scrum in which Crosby punked around all over the ice: "You know what, Crosby is the one who started that thing. What is to say someone […]
"You know what, Crosby is the one who started that thing. What is to say someone can't just punch his lights right out? Concussion or no concussion. Punch him in the face as hard as you can. He went after Timonen, so you drop a bomb right at his beak, and you let him know, "I don't care about your head, kid, if you're going to pull this stuff in our house." He's going to whine all night and cry all night for penalties, yet he goes after Kimmo Timonen."
The audio clips are great.
“What is Crosby doing with Hartnell?! Crosby is an absolute joke right now.” “This is Crosby’s fault! It’s a joke! The whole thing is Crosby’s fault.” “Look at Crosby and Schenn. Come on Sidney, drop the gloves. Don’t hide behind the linesman. Why’s Crosby.... Crosby is giving it to Schenn behind the linesman. Get out in the open and drop your gloves. Go! Go ahead Schenner, take him.” “He has caused more teammates and opposition to fight because of him today than I’ve ever seen one player in my NHL career, the history I’ve been involved in this league.” “They should put one of those little nuks in his mouth. What do you call those things there? Those little baby soothers.” Tim Saunders: “In my day we called them nipples.”
Wow can't believe that dirty, gutless, European-douchbag Zitterburger attacks Weber with his STICK naturally, while Howard is pulled for the extra attacker essentially ruining Detroit's entire season.
Hank is a fucking joke! Predators take a stranglehold on the series 3-1.
He's had 4 games to drop 'em and go with Weber man-to-man but he prefers to use his stick as weapon, thankfully the officials held him accountable. Nashville scores on the PP essentially icing the series...hopefully Someone is kicking Hank's ass in the Detroit dressing room right about now.
Final
Nashville -3
Team Ikea -1
Sadly worth noting, Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Franzen go pointless.
Last edited by Optimus Prime; April 17, 2012, 09:54 PM.
?I don?t take vacations. I don?t get sick. I don?t observe major holidays. I?m a jackhammer.?
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