User Rating: / 2
PoorBest 

Tuesday, 19 April 2011 23:09

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

Playoff Stuff

Penguins - Lightning

-"You don't ever want to put your team in a bad situation by going short a man, but I usually pride myself on playing hard, and playing within the rules. That was definitely something I got away from there." - Chris Kunitz (above) on his elbow in Game 3 on against Lightning forward Simon Gagne which led to a one-game suspension.

-"It's disappointing obviously, because I let my team down. But I think it's a pretty fair call.'' - Lightning forward Downie on his charge against Penguins defenseman Ben Lovejoy which also led to a one-game suspension.

-Lovejoy said Downie never hit him in the head and only made contact in the chest.

-"It's playoff hockey. You're expecting those types of hits. You're expecting those dirty plays and you're expecting those big hits. It's playoff hockey, and that's part of the game and you need to be ready." - Gagne on Kunitz's hit.

-The Penguins' penalty kill hasn't been too hot as of late.

-Out of no where, Craig Adams, Arron Asham and Mike Rupp have become the Penguins' best line.

-Either Mike Comrie or Eric Tangradi will replace Kunitz in Game 4. (PG+)

-What's up with James Neal? (PG+).

-Dan Bylsma speaks:

-Kunitz speaks:

-"You have to be able to have amnesia. After you win a game, you have to forget about it. And after you lose a game, you have to forget about it, come back the next day ready to go for whatever is happening." - Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson.

-The Lightning recalled forwards Blair Jones and Mattias Ritola from Norfolk of the AHL.

-How does Vancouver's Raffi Torres get off scott-free for his hit against Chicago's Brent Seabrook but Matt Cooke gets slammed for upwards of 17 games for a hit to New York's Ryan McDonagh? (PG+)

Capitals - Rangers

-“We have confidence in the league, we have confidence in the officials that they won’t be influenced by all the whining going on here right now." - Rangers coach John Tortorella responding to the accusations of Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau that New York players were targeting the head of Washington defenseman Mike Green.

Flyers - Sabres

-“I think it's totally normal. They're cheering for their team. And if they're booing me, that means I'm doing something right to get under their skin.” - Flyers forward and former Sabres forward Daniel Briere (right) on being booed by his former fans.

-Sabres forward Patrick Kaleta is questionable for Game 4 due to an "upper-body" injury.

Bruins - Canadiens

-The NHL's declined to discipline Canadiens forward Benoit Pouliot for a hit to the head of Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk in Game 3.

-The hit in question:

-Thinking Out Loud: Presumably, since Boychuk didn't suffer brain damage on the play, NHL discipline czar Colin Campbell couldn't be bothered to take action.

-In order to cut down on distractions in Montreal, the Bruins are spending the two-day breaks between Games 3 and 4 in Lake Placid, N.Y., site of the 1980 Winter Olympics. Lake Placid is approximately two hours away from Montreal.

Canucks - Blackhawks

-A goal and three assists by Dave Bolland led the Blackhawks to a 7-2 defeat of the Canucks in Game 4. Michael Frolik added a goal and an assist for Chicago while teammate Patrick Sharp scored two goals. Corey Crawford made 21 saves in the victory which kept Chicago alive. Vancouver leads the series, 3-1.

-Goal of the Night: Check out this move by Chicago's Bryan Bickell around Vancouver's Kevin Bieksa to score on Vancouver's Roberto Luongo:

-“Oh, Bieksa, what a joke. The guy was talking about how I was getting walked wide and then he gets beat wide the first shift of the game. I guess he needs to take skating lessons, not me.” - Blackhawks forward John Scott responding criticism from Bieksa.

-Save of the Night: Luongo on Chicago's Viktor Stalberg:

-Check out this re-direction goal by Vancouver's Daniel Sedin:

-Luongo had issues with this puck:

-Bieksa and Stalberg had issues with this puck:

-Everyone in general had issues here:

-Bolland played his first game after missing 17 due to a concussion.

-“It was pretty dreadful. Going through some period of time with depression . . . is really tough. I can feel for Sid (Crosby) and a few of the guys that are out right now because it’s a tough process. You never know when you’re going to snap out of that concussion and it’s (awful) to see these headshots. That’s one thing we have to cut down on. Guys are going to get hurt and it’s not going to be fun.” - Bolland on recovering from his concussion.

-"We're too good of a team not to challenge Vancouver into a series." - Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell.

-Blackhawks forward and former Penguin Marian Hossa, he of the 12-year, $63.3-million contract, finally recorded his first point of the postseason - an assist - in Game 4. Maintain Ray Shero's employment.

-"We didn’t think we were going to beat them four straight. They were too good a team to do that to, but at the same time, we didn’t come up to our standards tonight." - Canucks captain Henrik Sedin.

-After being struck in the head during Game 3 by Canucks forward Raffi Torres, Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook did not play in Game 3 due to an "upper-body" injury.

-Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo was chased early in the third period and replaced by back up Cory Schneider.

-Vince Vaughn is not, in fact, a Luongo fan.

-Late in the game, Blackhawks fans got into it with Vancouver's management:

-“We took it for a couple of periods before somebody got fed up and said 'why don't you shut up and go back to your mother's basement' and of course that really got them going.” - Canucks executive Laurence Gilman.

Sharks - Kings

-An overtime goal by Devin Setoguchi gave the Sharks a stunning 6-5 comeback win against the Kings in Game 3. San Jose won the game despite trailing 4-0 early in the second period. Ryane Clowe scored two goals for San Jose while teammates Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau each had a goal and an assist. Antero Niittymaki came on in relief of starter Antero Niemi and made 11 saves in the victory. Brad Richards had a goal and an assist for Los Angeles.

-Setoguchi's goal:

-A good look at Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick giving up Setoguchi's goal:

-Happy times for Smyth and teammate Jack Johnson:

-Happy times for the Sharks. Not so much for Los Angeles' Michal Handzus:

-Happy times for Niittymaki:

-Cool Photo of the Night: Stoll was ready for this faceoff:

-Happy times for the Kings. Not so much for Niemi:

-Niemi had issues with this puck:

-San Jose's Jason Demers apparently had Kings forward and former Penguin Alexei Ponikarovsky in his playoff pool last season and voiced his displeasure with the results directly:

-We think.

-Funny Face of the Night: Kings defenseman and former Penguin Rob Scuderi getting his helmet knocked crooked by Clowe:

-Bloody, popular times for Handzus:

-Bright times for Handzus:

-The Sharks became the fourth team in NHL history - and first since 1985 - to comeback from a 4-0 deficit and win a postseason game.

-“We had nothing to lose. We could have left here at 7-0 and we still lost the game and we’d be down one. So we started to play loose, we started to roll lines a little bit more, we were better on our line changes, we got pucks in behind them. It started to go in our favor. You could feel it a little bit on the bench. The more we did it, the more we believed it could happen.” - Sharks coach Todd McLellan.

-"I've never seen anything like it." - Kings forward Matt Greene on his team's collapse.

Red Wings - Coyotes

-"Last time I looked you've got to win four to win a series, and nobody's won four yet." - Coyotes coach and former Penguins forward Dave Tippett on his team trailing, 3-0, in the series.

-A sub par postseason could cost Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov (right) some money this offseason when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Ducks - Predators

-The Ducks sent all-star goaltender Jonas Hiller back to Anaheim due to persisting vertigo symptoms.

-Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne grew up a fan of the man he's trying to stop this series, Ducks forward Teemu Selanne.

Calder Cup Playoffs

-Brad Thiessen made 28 saves for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 2-1 win against the Norfolk Admirals in Game 3 of their first round Calder Cup playoff series. Norfolk leads the series, 2-1.

-Highlights courtesy of The Wilkes-Blog:

Adams Division

-The CHL's Fort Wayne Komets have remixed Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" into a playoff anthem called "Black and Orange."

Non-Playoff Stuff

Penguins

-Happy 57th birthday to former Penguins defenseman Gilles Lupien. Acquired prior to the 1980-81 season in a deal which sent a draft pick to the Canadiens, Lupien appeared in 31 games and recorded one assist for the Penguins that season before being traded to the Whalers for another draft pick.

Northwest Division

-In order to fulfill his military obligation in his native Finland, Wild captain Mikko Koivu has signed up in the Finnish Army as a private.

-Koivu learning how to make a bed in a military school:

-The Wild signed undrafted free agent forward Justin Fontaine to a two-year contract.

Patrick Divison

-Forwards Logan Couture of the Sharks, Michael Grabner of the Islanders and Jeff Skinner of the Hurricanes are the finalists for the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year.

-As a result of the new NHL/NBC/Versus television contract, each NHL team will scoop in approximately $6.6 million per year for the life of the deal.

-With the new deal, Versus will carry 90 exclusive broadcasts next season, up from the 50 it showed this past regular season.

-Additionally, Versus will get a new "NBC-ier" name within 90 days.

-Allana Henderson, The wife of former Maple Leafs/Oilers/Canadiens/Sharks forward Vincent Damphousse, was charged with assaulting him. A week ago, Damphousse was charged with six counts of assaulting Henderson.

(Photo: Kunitz-Jeff Gross/Getty Images; Briere-Claus Andersen/Getty Images; Canucks/Blackhawks-Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images and Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press; Sharks/Kings-Harry How/Getty Images and Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press; Bryzgalov-Christian Petersen/Getty Images; Koivu-Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva/Associated Press; "NBC"-Getty Images)

Comments (2)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by tennpen, April 20, 2011 - 10:50 AM

Barbacue-sauce Boudreau whining about officiating? Shocking

• 
• +3
• 
• 

...
written by Staal Tactics11, April 20, 2011 - 12:12 PM

Boudreau is a moron. He likes attention. Nothing more. I'd rather see Washington lose than Philly, now.

• 
• +2
• 
•