NHL Playoffs 1st Round Predictions

I realize that the playoffs actually started last night but I had a big test at 8 AM this morning. So, a little belated, (and taking last night's 4 games into consideration) here are my 1st round predictions!

WESTERN CONFERENCE

DUCKS-SHARKS
While the Anaheim Ducks are currently on a hot streak, they barely made the playoffs. The San Jose Sharks, on the other hand, won the Presidents' Trophy for being the team with the best regular season record in the 2008-09 season. Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller has been impressive at times, but nothing he has faced in his career will prepare him for the pressure of the playoffs. San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov has plenty of playoff experience under his belt, and that should make the difference.
PREDICTION: Sharks in 5.

BLUE JACKETS-RED WINGS
Honestly, I'd love to see the Red Wings lose this one. But realistically, it's just not going to happen. The Columbus Blue Jackets are making their first-ever playoff appearance in their nine-year existence, and like I said with the Ducks vs. Sharks series, playoff experience is going to reign supreme. Detroit has legions of players who can run up the scoreboard and Columbus has, well, Rick Nash. That's about it. Oh, and congratulations to rookie goalie Steve Mason. The guy had a great year.
PREDICTION: Wings in 5.

BLUES-CANUCKS
The Blues had the most momentum of all teams heading into the playoffs and after being eliminated from contention three years in a row, the motivation level of St. Louis to win is high. And I would love to pick them in 7 games here (I'm a BIG TJ Oshie fan). However, down 1-0 at this point and playing a nearly-equally hot Canucks team. To Luongo is so tough in net in crunch time. I think the Sedin brothers and Co. will have enough to move on. However, look for the Blues to make a deep run next year!
PREDICTION: Canucks in 7.

FLAMES-BLACKHAWKS
Speaking about not making the playoffs for … years, how about the Chicago Blackhawks? The Blackhawks, despite their youthfulness, have been sharp all season. They finished very hot with two wins over the Red Wings to cap off their season and put the icing on the cake. The Calgary Flames were leading the Northwestern Division, but then went south in the standings. Yes, the 'Hawks' youth is a concern for me but Look for Captain Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to step up and get them through the first round as the Flames take another downward dip here.
PREDICTION: Blackhawks in 6.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

CANADIENS-BRUINS
The Boston Bruins vs. the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs? Sounds familiar and bound to be a classic, right? Wrong. This year's rendition of the Canadiens were disappointing to say the least and they barely held on for the eighth playoff spot. And this year's Bruins are much, much better than the No. 8-seeded version that beat the No. 1-seeded Canadiens the last time around. Boston plays much too well as a team and they have the star power to go deep. I smell a sweep!
PREDICTION: Bruins in 4.

RANGERS-CAPITALS
The New York Rangers started off the season great and looked like they were going to have a great year. That quickly proved to be false. The Rangers, like the Canadiens, nearly failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Even with knowing the Rangers are up 1-0 on the Caps right now, I have no problem saying that it won't be long before Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals send them out. Dont' be surprised if this serves as the wake-up call this Capitals team needs and they beat them the next 4 straight. I'll give it 6 games just to be safe.
PREDICTION: Capitals in 6.

HURRICANES-DEVILS
The New Jersey Devils' season will come down to whether the Marty Brodeur who wins shows up or the one who loses makes the appearances when games matter most. And if the Carolina Hurricanes, who came out on the top half of a 2-1 decision against the Devils on March 28 during a recent nine-game win streak, have any say, the bad Marty will show up. Also the Hurricanes are very under-rated at home. However, I think the good Marty Brodeur shows up enough to move the Devils forward. This will be a great series to watch!
PREDICTION: Devils in seven.

FLYERS-PENGUINS
The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers meet in the playoffs, again. And in my opinion, the two teams are as evenly matched as ever. Don't believe me? Check the standings (99 points apiece). While it's tough to separate the two, the Penguins have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. And the Flyers don't have two names to equalize the equation. Still, the series will go deep. But the star power will prevail here for the Pens!
PREDICTION: Penguins in seven.

NHL Captains Everywhere Beware!

Former UND Fighting Sioux hockey player TJ Oshie is earning a new nickname with the St. Louis Blues - "The captain assassin." Why you ask? Oshie has been dishing out big hits on opponents' captains in the last week. Both Columbus captain Rick Nash and Los Angeles captain Dustin Brown learned first hand. Actually, Nash got destroyed two nights in a row, the ladder being my favorite.

Oshie's been receiving more and more national attention as of late as he helps push the Blues into the playoff picture. TSN's Bob McKenzie wrote a short piece on how Oshie is a phenom in the league.

A few weeks ago it looked like the young St. Louis Blues' season was over. Now they are sitting 8th in the West poised to make the playoffs. A lot of this is due to the surge made by their great young talent, i.e. TJ Oshie, Patrick Berglund, David Perron, and Erik Johnson. Notably Oshie's 13 G, 23 A, for a total of 36 pts and a +16! The Blues are young and hot. I feel like you can expect them to just squeak into the playoffs this year. They return all their young talent and get some key veterans back from injury next year and I believe they will be a force in the West in 2-3 years and a lot of fun to watch!

CHECK OUT THESE VIDEOS:

Oshie's Highlight Reel Goal at home against the Canucks

Oshie Big Hit on Columbus Captain Rick Nash - Night 1

Oshie Big Hit on Columbus Captain Rick Nash - Night 2

Oshie Hits LA Kings Captain Dustin Brown

Martin Brodeur is the Most Important player to his team in all of Sports

Can you hear that? That sound you hear is Devils fans everywhere screaming in agony. Now, we don't talk a lot of hockey here on TSF but today I really wanted to chime in on the significance of the Martin Brodeur injury for the Devils and for all of hockey.

Let me start off by telling you that the injury to Martin Brodeur putting him out 3-4 months is HUGE. If you know anything about hockey you know this. Let me follow this up by telling you that it is a lot BIGGER than you realize.

Where am I going with this? Well as I was watching ESPN somebody made a comment that they thought Martin Brodeur was the most important player to his team in sports. Yes, not just hockey but all of sports. At first I thought what most of you are probably thinking. That that is a outrageous statement. But is it? The more I thought about it the more I agreed.

What position in all of sports can be more important to its team other than a Goalie to a hockey team? Certainly no position in Basketball. You could almost argue a dominant starting pitcher or closer but they play once every 5 games or one out of every nine innings! The best argument is probably for a dominant QB in football. But I'm going to go out and say that this injury to Brodeur is way worse than the Pats losing Brady. I am telling you the goalie to a hockey team is the most important player to its team in all of sports. And when you're a dominant and historically great goalie like Martin Brodeur (I'm calling him the greatest ever) how can you not be considered the most important player it your team in all of sports.

Still not a believer? Here are some stats:

- He has played in 89.3 percent of the Devils' games (931 out of 1,043) since the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season.

- He currently has 12 consecutive 30-win seasons

- Brodeur has won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender four times, including last season, when he posted a 44-27 record and a 2.17 goals-against average.

- His seven seasons with 40 or more wins are an NHL record, and his 2.20 career GAA is the lowest in the NHL's modern era.

- He set a single-season record for wins (48) in 2006-07, breaking Bernie Parent's mark of 47.

- He needs just seven wins to tie Patrick Roy's record of 551

- In his 15-year tenure, he has led the team to three Stanley Cup championships and has taken them to the playoffs all but once.

- He holds more than thirty Devils franchise records.

- a four-time Jennings Trophy winner, a ten-time NHL All Star, and one of only two NHL goaltenders to have scored goals in the regular season and the playoffs.

- He will retire as sure-fire hall of famer

- Is widely considered to best to ever play Goalie in the NHL.

If anyone has any really strong arguments against this I would love to hear them because the stats and logic have me convinced that Martin Brodeur is the Most Important player TO HIS TEAM in all of sports.

2008 NHL Stanley Cup Finals Preview and Prediction

The Stanley Cup Finals are set as the Detroit Red Wings get set to open the Finals at home against the Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins. This looks to be one of the most entertaining Finals in recent memory as two of the most talented teams in the NHL go head to head for hockey's ultimate prize.

Detroit vs. Pittsburgh

Breakdown: This should be one heck of a series to watch. Both teams can really skate. Both teams can shut you down on defense. Both teams have goalies who are on top of their game right now. At the end of the day I give the slight edge to the Pens. I think they are a little bit deeper, a little bit more talented, a little bit younger, a little bit hungrier, a little bit better on defense, and a little bit better in goal. All in all that adds up to a Stanley Cup for Pittsburgh in my book. The Penguins are clicking on all cylinders and have been more impressive against better competition this post-season than Detroit. The Pens are battle tested and ready to finish the job. That, however, is not to say it is going to be easy for Pittsburgh .This should be the toughest series yet for the Penguins and Detroit could very easily hoist the cup when all is said and done as well.

This is a great Stanley cup for hockey fans in the U.S. Nobody in the states cares to watch the Montreal Canadiens or the Toronto Maple Leafs, or any other canadian teams in the finals really. I think the NHL and its fans could not have asked for a more entertaining matchup and I think ratings in the states will show it. When you combine "Hockeytown, USA" with Crosby and Mahlkin you've got yourself some entertaining hockey and I think the states can really get into this series a lot more than, say, last year's Ottawa vs. Anaheim final.

Player to Watch: Marian Hossa (PIT) - Make no mistake, Hossa has had a tremendous post-season thus far, and this is why the Pens went out and got him at the trade deadline. Everyone always wants to talk about Crosby and Mahlkin, but I think you can expect Hossa to continue to perform and both ends of the rink and finish off some of Sidney Crosby's passes. This is what needs to happen if the Penguins are going to complete their amazing post-season with a victory over the Red Wings. As Crosby and Mahlkin draw doubles and get banged around Hossa could be that one extra weapon that gives Pittsburgh the edge in the Finals.

Prediction: Like I said I like the Penguins to win this one and i foresee it happening in 6 games. This will be a hard-fought and physical series, however, so don't be surprised if this one stretches out to 7.

NHL Conference Finals Preview

With a rare lull in Finals week, and with the conference finals getting underway tonight, I figured this was the perfect time to unveil some conference finals predictions.

West: (1) Detroit vs (5) Dallas
In a matchup of unlikely hot goalies, Chris Osgood takes on Marty Turco. The Stars dispatched of one of the cup favorites, the San Jose Sharks, in an epic 5 overtime game 6, whereas the Detroit Red Wings had no trouble sweeping away the Colorado Avalanche. While the Stars are playing great hockey, and getting hot at the right time, the Red Wings are very talented and if this series isn't too physical, the Wings should have little trouble.
Red Wings in 5

East: (2) Pittsburgh vs (6) Philadelphia
Many people are touting the all Pennsylvania affair as a potential classic, but quite frankly I don't see it. In every facet of the game Pittsburgh overmatches the Flyers. Pittsburgh has arguably the two best hockey players on Earth, and their fourth line has players like Ruutu and Laraque who can put the puck in the net as well, as well as playing tough defensive hockey, which should frustrate Philly's skill players like Jeff Carter. To me the X factor is Pittsburgh's Ryan Whitney. He had a tough series against the Rangers and really needs to rebound. Also, Marc Andre Fleury is really emerging as a Conn-Smythe candidate.
Penguins in 5

Sure going with chalk is all boring, but it worked for the NCAA tournament (Go Jayhawks!) so why not here? Enjoy your hockey, and for all you ND readers: get back to studying you lazy piles.

The Sports Flow's NHL Awards

The NHL has announced most of the finalists for their major awards, which will be given in June in Toronto. Here are my picks:

Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman): Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
This one is pretty much a given in my opinion. Lidstrom is second in the league in plus/minus, and he receives a ton of ice time for the team who allowed the second least goals in regular season play. Lidstrom also led all NHL defensemen in points with 70, and is 5th in the entire league with 60 assists.

Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year): Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
As a University of North Dakota fan, I was tempted to pick Johnathan Toews, Kane's teammate, but looking at the numbers there really is no other choice. Kane led Chicago, and all rookies, in scoring with 72 points. Ironically, even though Toews led all rookies in goals with 24 I see Kane developing into the better goal scorer and Toews developing into the better all around hockey player.

Vezina Trophy (Best Goaltender): Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
For full disclosure, he probably won't win. Henrik Lundqvist has been getting a lot of the publicity, and Nabokov has been heralded as the best goalie in hockey. But only one of the three finalists is in the top 10 in GAA and save percentage: Marty Brodeur. He also plays in more games than almost any goalie in the league, making those stats all the more impressive. He also ranked 2nd in the league with 44 wins.

Hart Trophy (MVP): Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
This is the one where I'm sure there will be the most disagreement. Obviously Alex Ovechkin has the popular support for the award, and he is no doubt a great player, but when watching both players in person, it's obvious that Ovechkin does two things: 1. scores goals and 2. a lot of body checks to make it seem like he's playing defense. But as far as reading the game and actually playing defense, Malkin has him by a wide margin. Yes Ovechkin scored more goals than Malkin, but that's because he led the NHL in shots by a wide margin. Taking a look at the shooting percentage leaders, we see Malkin at 10th, and Alex Ovechkin all the way down at 46th. Ovechkin also spent a lot more time on the ice, more time to amass those goals, but when Sidney Crosby went down with an injury, Malkin truly showed how great he was, and in my mind he elevated himself to perhaps the best hockey player in the world, Crosby included.

Those are my picks, who are yours?

NHL Playoff Report

In the spirit of more predictions, I thought it would be a good time for a little NHL playoff talk, complete with random thoughts....

-ESPN needs to get the NHL back. Having it on NBC isn't too bad, and I don't hate the coverage on Versus, but the fact remains that it's on Versus. A lot of people I'm sure don't even get Versus. Of course, if you live in the north country like I do you get CBC, which is the best channel ever.

-My biggest problem with the NHL playoff structure is the division winners getting the top three seeds. The Washington Capitals should have finished in 7th in the East, but since they won their division they were rewarded with a 3 seed and home ice in the first round. Of course justice was served when they lost to the Flyers. Out West it wasn't as bad, the 3rd seeded Wild would have been bumped down to the 4 seed if the NHL ran their playoffs correctly. Although they did manage to win their division with only a +5 goal differential, maybe they should have played the lottery instead. Justice was served there when they were bounced by (and dominated by) the Avs in 6 games.

-Speaking of the Avs, Jordan Leopold was a healthy scratch for the first 3 games of that series, and then in Game 4 he was probably the best player on the ice.

-Segue into the healthy scratch category: the Bruins sat their 3rd leading scorer Phil Kessel for the first pair of games. Kessel was also one of only 3 Bruins players to play in all of their regular season games. Puzzling to say the least.

-Some Cup favorites struggled in their opening round series'. Montreal went 7 with Boston, although in the games I watched they look like the much better team. The defending champs got bounced by the Dallas Stars and Marty Turco, one of the NHL's most embattled goalies. And the San Jose Sharks, who a lot of experts have picked to win the Stanley Cup, went 7 with the Calgary Flames. In the end I still like the Sharks to come out of the West, but more and more it looks like an East team could win the cup.

- The team that has looked the best so far, and hopefully I'm not jinxing them, is the Pittsburgh Penguins. Granted Ottawa is awful, but the Penguins defense really showed up, and if they bring that every series they're going to be tough to beat. Everyone knows they can score with anybody, but now it looks as if their D can at least hold teams off enough, and Marc Andre Fleury could be blossoming into the type of goalie that can stand on his head for the majority of a series.

Ok enough with that, on to the Round 2 predictions:

West: (1) Red Wings over (6) Avalanche in 6 games
The Wings struggled to put away Nashville while the Avs dominated the Wild. That being said, unless Jose Theodore stands on his head, the Wings just have too much skill to be denied in this one.

(2) Sharks over (5) Stars in 5 games
The real Marty Turco returns as Joe Thorton really starts to make a bid for the Conn Smythe Trophy. The Sharks also have a pair of good young former collegians in Joe Pavelski from Wisconsin, and Matt Carle who won the Hobey Baker award at Denver.

East: (1) Canadiens over (6) Flyers in 7 games
Both these teams go 7 again, and the Canadiens have just enough again. Carey Price, a former first round draftee, looks to be the real deal and the Canadiens showed why they have the league's top ranked power play in that game 7 win over the Bruins. Since the Bruins 3rd leading scorer had less than 20 goals, their margin for error is very slim.

(2) Penguins over (5) Rangers in 6 games
I'm tempted to say 5 here, but Henrik Lunqvist can definitely steal a game or two. A quick and dirty look at the numbers suggest that he should win the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender. But I just think Crosby, Malkin and company have too much for the Rangers blue line corps and win it in 6.

Thats all for now, feel free to bash my predictions in the comments.

Buy or Sell: Fans Only Really Care About Their Favorite Teams

So as I'm driving home from our first victory in softball tonight I'm doing some inner-contemplation as to why TV ratings are becoming quite the craze and why they seems to keep on pointing down, down, down....it seems like all the talk. With "Build a Better Burger" from the Food Network beating out the NHL Finals in ratings (807,000 to 769,000) you know there is a potential problem. One might explain such an atrocity in such a way as: "Oh well, It's just the NHL. America doesn't like the NHL and that's why that happened." But with game 1 of the NBA Finals hitting the lowest ratings of a game 1 ever I think something may really be up.

I think America may be heading in the direction of a more concentrated view of the sports world....me included. I'll admit, I didn't watch a single game of the NHL Finals and I didn't watch much of game 1 of the NBA Finals either. I think there is some legitimacy in saying that if it isn't your favorite team or something really entertaining with a lights-out lovable superstar (think back to MJ, Bird, Magic, maybe even Sir Charles) then people can just catch the highlights (mostly a dunk-o-rama) later.

Is it because the game has deteriorated that much in our minds? I watched a lot more NBA games back in the day (basically the 90s). Teams like the Jazz back then with Stockton and Malone got great all-around ratings. Now, the only people watching the Jazz vs. Spurs Western Conference finals were Spurs fans, Jazz fans, and hardcore Bball fans. Maybe the game hasn't really deteriorated that much...I mean Game 1 featured Tim Duncan one of the greatest players ever -in my opinion the greatest 4 ever - and King James who could be MJ's predecessor and is in my opinion the most physically gifted player in the NBA and maybe in the History of the NBA. Could it be that Americans just have a lot more to watch now?It will be really interesting to see because the last episode of The Sopranos will be aired during Game 2. I don't watch the Sopranos but I can guess that that isn't going to help the NBA at all.

Now, in saying all of this it is important to remember that the best way to look at this stuff is in their championship games. In doing so I find it very obvious that the only sport able to avoid this whole mess is the NFL. The Superbowl is so f-ing huge to everyone whether your team is in it or not....it really doesn't matter. College Basketball also does pretty well but that's just because nearly every human being has at least 1-25 brackets filled out for it.

I can personally vouch for this as I watch MNF all the time even if the Packers aren't playing. I will tune into the second game on FOX even if the Packers played the early one. Plus tons tune in weekly for not only MNF, but Sunday night and sometimes Thursday night. By the time the end of summer rolls around some preseason NFL games could probably rival ratings of the NHL Finals and the NBA Finals (at least thus far).

I'm not totally sure why it has happened to me and most of America, but I'm Buying fans only really caring about their favorite teams. Personal experience and statistics lead me to believe this is true. I would love to continue to elaborate more on this but I am thoroughly exhausted and would like to put a little more thought into things...I will get back at you.

Are you buying or selling and why? What is the NFL doing to draw in viewers and fans to their championship game? How can the NHL and NBA get back to where they once were (and MLB too for that matter)?

As Good As It Gets

I am not going to lie and I apologize to all NHL fans out there but I am not one of you. I do not like the NHL much at all. I much prefer college hockey. I, for one, feel like they play a much more pure and finesse game and there's a lot less of just, "I'm going to skate right through you" attitude. Although I particularly dislike the NHL I have been waiting for the right time to post an NHL article and I think this is about as good as it gets (as far as the NHL is concerned).

I'm sure you all already know what this is regarding but it's just too good to pass up. It was probably the best game of the season thus far and Hell, any time you have a goalie fight and 100 penalty minutes it can't go unnoticed, and I won't allow The Sports Flow to miss this one(however mildly delayed it may be).

Things took a turn for the worst (better in my opinion) at 5:07 into the second period with Buffalo up 3-2 when Drury was bowled over by a blind-side hit by Ottawa's Chris Neil. Drury lay on the ice with blood flowing from his forehead, while Sabres rookie UND's own Drew Stafford fought Neil, both receiving 5-minute fighting penalties. The remained of the ensuing chaos occurred after the subsequent face-off.

The brawl began after the ensuing faceoff when Buffalo's Adam Mair punched Senators' star Jason Spezza in the head. All 10 players then squared off, while Biron skated to center, where he was met by Emery. Both goalies traded several punches before Peters took on Emery, landing several heavy blows. Then things really got interesting as both coaches got in to a heated yelling match. The game was delayed for about 20 minutes while officials sorted out the penalties.

I know that a lot of readers might think that the shot on Drury was a cheap shot but I don't. The hit came about .2 seconds after he had shot and his head was still down. The league has proclaimed the hit clean and so does The Sports Flow. The dirtiest part of all was when Peters came in on Emery. Granted about another 30 seconds and Emry would have killed Biron (Sabres Goalie) but you can't go after a goalie like that - unless if you are a goalie...then that's just plain awesome.

I know it's a few days old but this is a great video and you should watch it. The more I watch it the more I like it and that's what convinced me to finally do an NHL post. My favorite part is when the goalies are ripping off their helmets and gloves and Emry, for the Senators, has this smile on his face that is screaming "Bring it on."



As far as I'm concerned this is as good as it gets in the NHL.