National Hockey League

[luongo01]

Well Luongo played well against the La kings, but the unfortunately the Canucks defence let him down. Atleast Luo put up a clinic for the assembled Toronto media and everyone else watching on a national broadcast who think he is done.

 

The Canucks aren't going to win a cup any time soon with their defence. Gillis has insisted that he doesn't need a Norris trophy type D-man if he gets collective scoring from 4-5 different defensemen. Unfortunately, none of those guys can play solid shut down defence and none of them play with a mean streak that can clear opposing forwards from the front of the net.

 

Philly and the Caps are struggling. Hope Luongo gets traded to a cup contender so he can get a cup that he deserves.

[Ryan]

Not too often you see a goal like this from center ice.

 

 

[darthYENIK]

Where's your Conn Smythe now, Ward?

 

I can't believe how well the Ducks are playing. They have four scoring lines, Beauchemin and Souray are playing great, and Fasth looks really good. And with Hiller looking good tonight, I'm quite happy about the goalie tandem.

[Ryan]

Habs take sole possession of first place in the east with a 3-1 win over the Rangers!

 

I know we're only a third of the way through the season, but what a difference from last year so far.

 

 

 

[darthYENIK]

Practically the same thing with the Ducks. Last year at the 1/4 mark they were probably last in the league or near it, and this season they are 2nd in the league at the same point. In a normal season where the Hawks aren't making a historical start, they'd be first in the league.

[Ryan]

If I didn't know better, I'd swear today was trade deadline day.

 

Flyers acquire Simon Gange from Los Angeles for a second stint with the team for a forth round draft pick and Montreal sends Eric Cole to Dallas for Michael Ryder and a third round draft pick. Cole was having a slow start to the season, but I sure didn't expect them to trade him. Given that Cole is likely to retire in a year or two, I'm quite surprised what Montreal got in return for him.

[darthYENIK]

Yeah that was a weird epidemic of trades.

[Ryan]

Big win for the Habs over Boston last night. As usual the Bruins played dirty and then whined and complained like a bunch of little pussies after the game about Montreal players embellishing calls, diving, and playing dirty. I don't really see the big deal with Elemin's crosscheck either. It wasn't very hard, so Seguin should be able to take it and if he can't, well he shouldn't be in the NHL.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2013 by Ryan

[Ryan]

Well, the Chicago Blackhawks have officially gone half the season (24 games) without losing in regulation and earned their 11th straight win tonight. It was awesome at first, but now its just getting ridiculous. Gotta wonder how long they can keep it up.

[FAH-Q]

Bruins kicking the Flyers ass right now!! WOOO!!

[darthYENIK]

The Hawks finally lost in regulation yesterday. They're still 8 points ahead of the Ducks, even though the Ducks are 9 points ahead of 3rd place in the West. Also, 8 points separates 15th from 3rd in the West, and 4 points separates 11th from 3rd. Gonna be another tight race this year.

[Ryan]

Backhawks lost again tonight 6-5 to Edmonton. Looks this is their fall from grace.

[FAH-Q]

Currently watching the Bruins play the Pens. Nice PP goal by Marchand.

[AreXi]

What do you guys think of the realignment? At first I thought it was a really stupid decision, with West having 14 teams and East 16, which means Western teams have a bigger chance of making it to the playoffs compared to East.

 

But then someone mentioned that the uneven conferences could be due to 2 new teams joining West: Quebec and Seattle. For the life of me I can't find a source for this information right now.

[Ryan]

I don't really like the new alignment. They should have just sent Winnipeg to the Northwest Division and moved either Nashville or Columbus to the Southeast Division. I also think it's pretty stupid how Tampa and Florida are basically in the new Northeast Division, yet, they are completely isolated on the map.

 

I've heard the same thing about the possible expansion to 32 teams. Would make sense as there as been considering about moving teams there in the past. Seattle wouldn't be and issue as it would be in the West, but a team in Quebec would require one team to move from the east to the West, which might be a bit of an issue.

[Eazy 357]

Iginla confirmed to Pittsburgh for Kenneth Agostino, Ben Hankowski and a 2013 first-round pick.

 

Big fail by every reporter who reported Iginla to Boston first

 

Do you guys think it's the year for the Pens? now with Morrow, Murray and Iginla it will be tough to accept if they fail in the first or second round.

[darthYENIK]

Wow, they finally did it. It only makes Pittsburgh that much more tougher.

 

In other news... f*cking Ducks...

[Eazy 357]

 

Wow, they finally did it.  It only makes Pittsburgh that much more tougher.

 

 

Ottawa Senators are opimistic to go far this year, Sens head coach Paul MacLean on Iginla to Pittsburgh: ''I don't know why we're going to bother playing in the playoffs.''

[Ryan]

Not overly surprised by the Iginla trade. Knew it was gonna happen, was just a matter of when and where. Boston is pretty upset about it as they apparently had a deal in place with Calgary, but Iggy refused and went to Pittsburgh instead. He had the no trade clause which gave him the ability to chose were he wanted to go, so Boston getting upset about it is futile. How the hell Pittsburgh can afford all the players they have is beyond me. That team is so stacked it's not even funny. Might as well just award them the cup right now.

 

Just going to leave this here...

 

 

Was at the end of the Montreal - Boston game last night. Montreal jumped out to a 2-0 and Boston scored 5 to make it 5-2 only to have Montreal battle back and tie it at 5-5 with eight seconds left and then lose in the shootout.

[luongo01]

Good to know Montreal is really taking it to Boston this year. I wonder what excuses Claude Julien will come up this time,

 

I despise the Bruins, especially since their owner basically got the Stanley Cup giftwrapped by Gary Bettman for approving his new pricey contract. Glad that they also missed out on Iginla.

 

As for the finals, I think its going to be Chicago vs Pittsburgh. Imagine the rating and revenue that would bring in for the NHL. Bettman and the officiating crew will probably want that to help bring new fans after the NHL image was tarnished because of the lockout. Yes I'm a conspiracy nut.

[Habs]

I'm a huge Habs fan but we're never going to beat Boston in the playoffs... Maybe we'll be alright for a round or two against teams like NYI-NYR-CAR but we ain't gonna do sh*t against teams like Boston & Pittsburgh.

[Ryan]

For anyone who hasn't heard, Sidney Crosby is out indefinitely with a broken jaw. Happened a minute and a half into yesterday's game when a slapshot by Brooks Orpik hit Crosby directly in the mouth. Left the game and went to hospital and had emergency surgery and dental work and is slated to have more surgery this week. CBC reported that Orpiks shot was clocked at 139km/h (86mph). Pretty unfortunate play. Hopefully the Pens can continue their success until he returns whenever it may be.

 

 

[Eazy 357]

Trade deadline is coming fast! More moves today as the Blackhawks acquired Michal Handzus from the Sharks for a 2013 4th round pick and the Flyers bought some grit as they got Jay Rosehill from Ducks in exchange of Harry Zolnierczyk.

 

Also reports are saying that Jason Pominville, a player that I love, was asked by the Sabres to waive his no-trade clause and prepare a list of 8 teams where he doesn't want to be traded to. Dallas Stars also made it public that the talks between Derek Roy and the organization for a contract extension are over as he demands too much money.

 

I gotta admit I haven't followed hockey at all this year, but we're heading to an interesting trade deadline and it got me back into it a bit

 

And finally:

 

I wish there were more hockey fans on here

 

Edit: And just as I finish this post we get 2 big news! Sabres Robyn Regehr is heading to Los Angeles for a pair of 2 round picks and Jay Bouwmeester joins the Blues. The Flames got a 1st round pick, Mark Cudari and Reto Berra in return. Good evening guys.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Eazy 357

[Ryan]

Montreal clinched a playoff spot tonight in a dominating 5-1 win over Buffalo and is currently sitting atop the Northeast and second in the Eastern Conference. A heck of a turn around from last year when they finished last in the Eastern Conference. I know there's still lots of time until the awards are given out, but I think Montreal is going to clean up the awards this year. PK Subban is likely to win the Norris for best defenceman; Brendan Gallghar is likely to win the Calder for best rookie; Carry Price is right up there in the mix for the Vezina (doesn't have the best numbers, but has arguably the most important part of the team's success); and Michel Therrian is up there in the mix for the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year (for turning the team around). The drive for Stanley Cup #25 is on in Montreal!

Edited April 12, 2013 by Ryan

[darthYENIK]

Whoo, and the Ducks win the Pacific division. Wish they could have done it at home, but it was sweet to shove it in the face of that prick Justin Schultz.

[Ryan]

Playoff matches are finally set. Thanks to Ottawa's win over Boston in the make up game today, Montreal wins the Northeast

 

Eastern Conference

 

Pittsburgh (1) vs New York Islanders (8)

Montreal (2) vs Ottawa (7)

Washington (3) vs New York Rangers (6)

Boston (4) vs Toronto (5)

 

Western Conference

 

Chicago (1) vs Minnesota (8)

Anaheim (2) vs Detroit (7)

Vancouver (3) vs San Jose (6)

St. Louis (4) vs Los Angeles (5)

[darthYENIK]

PLAYOFF HOCKEY! There's nothing like it. No sport in the world is more exciting.

[AreXi]

Hiller was great last night! And that snipe by Teemu...

 

Also, almost felt bad for Quick... But not, because the Kings.

[darthYENIK]

That made my night. The Ducks played lights out, but Quick single handedly losing that game...

[Ryan]

I still cannot get over Steen's goal. What the hell was Quick thinking. Not too often you see a shorthander as the OT winner.