Have A Coke And A Smile. Why Zdeno Was Dehydrated

Zdeno Chara and the Boston Bruins have beaten that Game 7 jinx by eliminating the Montreal Canadiens to move onto the second round against Philly. Can they keep it up?

Well, a lot of that depends on the team keeping healthy and one of their best defenders, the human wall named Zdeno Chara, who has battled with bouts of dehydration. During Game 1 against Montreal Zdeno felt ill and he missed Game 2.

Now I’m no doctor (it’s a working title only) but I’m thinking if you’re having troubles getting proper hydration there are a few things you want to avoid. Namely alcohol and soda. Take a look at this video and I think we have a diagnosis on the Chara dehydration.

The big guy kills a Coke while on the bench. It does explain Jack Edwards rant now on why Pepsi thinks they’re royalty.

Personally, I don’t think it’s the worst thing he could have done but he probably went overboard when he ordered some nachos and chili dogs.

In Memoriam : Remembering the 2010-11 Pittsburgh Penguins

Oh, those Pittsburgh Penguins.

So much expectations came from this year. Stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin had visions of another Stanley Cup for their team. Then, sometime around the Winter Classic, the team came apart. Injuries mounted to the two big stars and the once destined team soon became a memory.

The folks at Russian Machine Never Breaks made this memorial video for Puck Daddy about the 2010-11 Pittsburgh Penguins and what once was…

Oh yeah, there’s a great article to go along with the video. Did I mention that the Russian Machine Never Breaks is a Washington Capitals fansite? Yeah, that’s right.

Ovechkin’s Silly Stick Markings

If you have ever seen Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin play you’re bound to see his smile. It’s hard to miss with that goofy, toothless smirk.

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about Ovi, besides his awesome skills, is that he seems to really enjoy playing the game. You don’t always see athletes these days enjoying their job.

That’s why I got a kick out of this image uploaded by a Reddit user from around the 2007 season showing the Capitals sticks on the bench. Each player has a bunch of sticks and will mark it with their number or name to make it easy to grab. I’m gonna have to keep an eye out to see if he still makes these funny drawings on his stick as the Caps extend their playoff run against the Lightning tonight.

Take a look and see if you can see Ovi’s stick in the crowd. Hint, he’s #8.

Bruins Announcer Jack Edwards Is Certifiably Insane

Don’t get me wrong by the title of this post. Being an insane announcer can be a good thing. Too many guys behind the microphone are too sterile and PC for my tastes. I like to spice it up.

Jack Edwards broadcasts games for the Boston Bruins and has been in the news before. And after the Game 7 OT win by the Bruins over the Canadiens to advance to the next round Edwards had a few things to say about the Montreal team.

In fact he starts to ramble on and on like a deranged hobo on the street corner preaching the upcoming New World Order. Edwards goes on to say that the Canadiens Are “Hockey Royalty Who Dictate Morality” and Bruins Were “Fighting The Good Fight.”

In a way I think Don Cherry would be proud but comparing this series to Revolutionaries fighting the British for their Independence is a bit of a stretch. [H/T to Masshole Sports for Video]

NHL Playoffs Second Round Predictions

Well, the first round of the NHL Playoffs is in the books and it was a great set of games. They started out rather ordinary with Detroit getting an early sweep of Phoenix but then something happened and we saw incredible games pushed to game 7s.

In the end we picked Nashville as our Cinderella team from the West and Buffalo out of the East. Sadly, the Sabres missed out but did push the Flyers to 7 games to give us our only series prediction miss. Here’s a look at the second round of the NHL Playoffs.

	#3		Boston Bruins	vs.	Philadelphia Flyers	#2
Boston has finally shook off that monkey which prevented them from winning a game 7 and it came at the expense of their rivals in Montreal. The series was brutal as fans and players alike gave it their all and have the bruises to prove it. Boston went into the playoffs looking strong but were shown their faults by an emotional Montreal team. In the end, the talented Bruins squad came together and plowed over the Habs to win by the skin of their teeth.  Now the Bruins face another demon, the team that surged back from an 0-3 deficit to win the series last year. The Flyers made Boston look silly last year but this year the Flyers also lack solid goaltending. Philly slumped at the end of the NHL season. Philly ruled the East for the first 3/4th of the year until goalie problems popped up. In the end it’s the goaltender situation that concerns me most about Philly as they don’t seem to have that go-to stud in the net. In the playoffs, that’s gonna be a problem. Plus, Pronger needs to stay healthy for an entire series to give the Flyers a chance. Philly struggled against the Sabres in round one which didn’t quite convince me that they’re quite ready to take that next step to get to the Finals. PREDICTION : Bruins win series 4-2 Game 1: Saturday Apr 30 3:00pm EDT @PHI (TV: NBC, CBC)
	#5		Tampa Bay Lightning	vs.	Washington Capitals	#1
The Lightning are riding the super hot streak of goalie Dwayne Roloson and that’s enough to take them to the Stanley Cup Finals. However, it’s been 5 years since Rolo dominated in the playoffs and now he’s clocking in at 41-years old. That’s quite a tall order to ask him to hold this team together for 4 wins against the strong Capitals.  The Lightning woke up for the last 4 games against a Pittsburgh Penguins team that was embarassing on the power play and couldn’t bribe Roloson for a goal. The Caps, on the other hand, were able to hold off the Rangers quickly and get a nice few days off before round 2. The Capitals are a team that needs to prove that they can play in the postseason after having only gone past the quarterfinals once in the last decade. In the last three seasons all those series went to the full 7 games. But this year the Caps seemed to gel in the last quarter of the season. They stiffened up their power play and started winning those close 1-goal games. It made a difference and the team bolted to the top of the Eastern Conference. PREDICTION : Caps win series 4-3 Game 1: Friday Apr 29 7:00pm EDT @WAS (TV: VS, TSN)
	#5		Nashville Predators	vs.	Vancouver Canucks	#1
The Predators held off an explosive Anaheim Ducks team thanks to the stellar play of goalie Pekka Rinne. The young Nashville team is showing signs of offense, an issue with the team over the years, and is playing with a lot of emotion. The good news is that even though they are playing the best team in the NHL, division rival Chicago Blackhawks pushed the Canucks to the brink and exposed Vancouver as very vulnerable.  For the Preds to win they will have to get into the head of Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, who slumped in the first round and let Chicago come back from an 0-3 deficit to push the game into OT for Game 7. Nashville needs to study that series to death and if they can get past Luongo enough to get into his head they might stand a chance. Vancouver, as mentioned, played anything but a stellar first series against Chicago. While the Preds won their series in 6 games, including 2 games in Anaheim, they don’t have the depth or offense that the Canucks have. Deep down I want to call out Nashville as the huge upset here as every year there’s that one team that seems destined to go far but in the end I think the Canucks are just going to be too much for this squad. The Canucks lifted a huge black cloud that was over their heads by beating Chicago for the first time in the playoffs in what seems like forever. That’s a huge boost for a team looking to become a playoff threat. The two teams split their 4-game regular season series with both teams winning at each arena. The Preds are capable for an upset but the Canucks look to be too strong this year to go down. PREDICTION: Canucks win series 4-3 Game 1: Thursday Apr 28 9:00pm EDT @VAN (TV: VS, CBC)
	#3		Detroit Red Wings	vs.	San Jose Sharks	#2
The Red Wings are always a solid team in the playoffs and against the rather unproven Sharks team you might think this is an easy call for Detroit to advance to the next round. Last year the Sharks had Detroit’s number and kicked the Red Wings out with a nice 4-1 series win. Can the Sharks repeat?  The Sharks have come together nicely over the last few months to quietly become a threat. The L.A. Kings threatened San Jose with a tough series early on but the we saw the Sharks dig deep and find the necessary tools to take the series. It was a convincing win unlike Detroit thumping a young Phoenix team distracted by the fate of the franchise. The two teams met 4 times in the season with Detroit getting one win. The series actually gives San Jose the home-ice advantage which could make a huge difference here as the Sharks are riding a high right now while the aging Red Wings haven’t played since April 20th. The Wings need the time to get their players healthy like Zetterberg but in the end the Sharks are an offensive explosion and should get an early lead on Detroit and hold on. PREDICTION: Sharks win series 4-2 Game 1: Friday Apr 29 10:00pm EDT @SJ (TV: VS, CBC)

Game 7s Wrap Up First Round of NHL Playoffs

Tomorrow we get the joy of talking about the second round of the NHL Playoffs but for now we must focus on wrapping up a couple of crucial Game 7′s to finish the first round.

The Western Conference has already wrapped up their games with San Jose, Detroit, Vancouver and Nashville advancing. Our breakdown and predictions will be out tomorrow because we are now waiting on the Eastern Conference to finish up.

The Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals have advanced and those two teams will face off against the winners of tonight’s games featuring Boston vs Montreal and Pittsburgh vs Tampa Bay. Let’s take a look at the games coming up tonight as two Game 7′s look to finish up the first round.

Game 7	#6		Montreal Canadians	vs.	Boston Bruins	#3
When it comes to Game 7s, Montreal and Boston have faced off more than any other opponents in NHL history. Montreal has won five out of seven, including the last two (2004 and 2008). Boston has lost their last three series in a game 7 so that doesn’t look good for the Bruins, does it? The series has been heated, both on the ice and off, as fans and players have let their emotions flow. In the end I think the Bruins are too strong of a team to beat at home in this game and although I think it’s easy enough to flip a coin and pick the winner here I believe the game will come to down to a tough game with solid goaltending with the team that keeps its cool (and head out of the penalty box) coming out the winner. PREDICTION: Bruins win series 4-3
Game 7	#5		Tampa Bay Lightning	vs.	Pittsburgh Penguins	#4
Tampa has outscored Pitt 12-4 in the last two games as Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson has shown his post-season form that made him a stud. While the Pens have the slight edge here in terms of postseason experience and the fact the game is at Pittsburgh, I like the idea that Roloson will own this game giving the Bolts their first second round series since 2004. For the Pens to win they will need a monster performance from their goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, who has been anything but stellar in his last two games giving up 8 goals out of the 12 scored by Tampa. On the other side of the red line, Dwayne Roloson is red-hot and has only let 4 goals total in those same games. PREDICTION : Lightning win series 4-3

Canucks Beat Chicago, Finally Man Up To Win Series

I’m not sure what happened to the Vancouver Canucks over the last few weeks. Maybe it was just overconfidence. Maybe it was being over-hyped. Whatever the case, the Canucks faced off against the Chicago Blackhawks for their first round of games in the NHL Playoffs and it was ugly.

Vancouver got off to a 3-0 lead in the series before the Blackhawks, last year’s Stanley Cup winners, started playing like the reigning Champions. The game went back to Vancouver for Game 7 which also went into OT. It was just that close that the Canucks, who were the best team in the NHL almost all year, were sent home packing by the 8th seed in the West who only made the playoffs on the last day when Dallas lost.

The game came down to OT and in the end came down to Chicago making a huge error to let the Canucks win. Hawks defenseman Chris Campoli gave Vancouver the opportunity they were looking for all game with a turnover that led directly to Alex Burrows’ goal. It was sloppy and sad to see coming from a young team that fought so hard to come back and take the series to 7 games.

But for me the best part is seeing the Green Men back in action. I don’t know if I just haven’t been paying attention enough but they seemed to stand out last night after the Duncan Keith penalty. One’s upside down and the other is holding a cutout of Blackhawks fan Vince Vaughn wearing a Canucks jersey.

Awesome! Check them out at the end of this video:

With the Chicago series now over the Canucks will square off against the Nashville Predators. Both teams have a shot to advance and both teams will rely on their goaltenders to do so. The Predators Pekka Rinne is the key for Nashville, which lacks the depth and offensive explosiveness of the Canucks.

Now onto the key point here and that’s the Canucks goal tending. Roberto Luongo, an All-Star stud who notched 38 wins this season, has looked anything but stellar in the playoffs. Luongo’s fault comes in that more than half of his 20 playoff losses came at the hands of Chicago so you can see that winning that series is a huge monkey off his back.

Sharks Wins and a Tribute to the LA Kings Ice Girls

Monday night the San Jose Sharks defeated the L.A. Kings after a tough series that saw the undermanned Kings squad put everything on the line only to fall short. The Sharks move onto the next round, against Detroit or Chicago, after defeating L.A. 4 games to 2.

The Kings had their chances in the series but just could not capitalize in the end.  The refs even decided to help out the cause by issuing a 5-minute major penalty to the Sharks Jamie McGinn for charging. The game ended up in OT despite the penalty and somehow San Jose managed to kill enough of the penalty to allow their captain, Joe Thornton, to knock in an ugly goal and win the series.

Now that the Sharks have eliminated the Kings we have to bring out the bad news that there will no longer be any L.A. Kings Ice Girls for the rest of the season. I know, I know….it’s a sad day.

They are known as the LA Kings Ice Crew (because there are a couple of dudes ruining the fun) or better as Great Management Decision. A few other teams have some hotties to help the fans enjoy the games but it’s hard to imagine a better set of lovely ladies than these SoCal beauties.

During the game there was always plenty of work for the Kings Ice Girls to do including bending over a shovel and cleaning the ice or bending over and picking up hats after a hat trick or just bouncing up and down in the stands for the fans. Even though the Sharks have eliminated the Kings and sent the young ladies home to get ready for next season we can still enjoy a bit of their work.

Finally! Nashville Predators Advance For First Time

I may have to register my mind as a dangerous weapon with the Government because after I stated I would put my mind-grapes in action to will the Nashville Predators to their first NHL Playoff series win I’m feeling a bit confident.  Time to hit the Lotto.  You can’t win if you don’t play!

It had nothing to do with the Anaheim Ducks, the Preds opponents in the first round. It was actually centered around the fact that I was sick of seeing the Preds dump and run in the first round of the playoffs.

And when it comes to the NHL Playoffs, the Nashville Predators came to play.  They were able to hold off a high-scoring Ducks offense that continuously pestered Preds goalie Pekka Rinne.

There’s a long list of ‘nevers’ for the Predators franchise that began playing in 1998 and have teased the good citizens of Nashville with playoff hopes ever since. They have never won a playoff series, never advanced, and never won a game 5.  They were a franchise needing a win bad to become a legitimate force in the NHL and help convince the fans to support the team that has threatened to move several times.

But finally the Preds got over that hump and wiped out a lot of those items on their ‘never done’ list with a Game 6 victory in Nashville to wrap up the series and advance to the next round.

Unless the Kings or Blackhawks can stage a Game 7 miracle win in their series, it looks like Nashville will square off against the Vancouver Canucks in round 2.

Central Division rivals Chicago Blackhawks were able to find some dents in the Canucks armor and exploit the goaltending so look for Nashville, if they end up in Vancouver, to follow a similar model as the ‘Hawks.

Should the ‘Hawks win, the Predators would play the winner of the Kings/Sharks series.  I haven’t figured out if I will continue to use my all mighty mind powers to help the Predators take on the next round or support another team but the thoughts of a Kings/Predators matchup sounds pretty cool to me.

Goaltending Changes Can’t Help Canucks Topple Chicago

There was a lot of debate heading into Sundays Game 6 matchup between the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks about which goalie would get the nod for Vancouver. The Canucks lead the series 3-2 as the teams headed back to Chicago after dropping 2 embarrassing games to the ‘Hawks.

Vancouver led the series 3-0 but struggled over the last two games as Chicago stormed out of the gate early in both games and outscored Vancouver 12-2 to make the Canucks question their goaltending. Could the Blackhawks come back to win a series after being down 3 games?

Before the game the Canucks showed they were uneasy putting in the veteran Roberto Luongo and sure enough the Canucks went with backup Cory Schneider. Oddly enough Cory Schneider, with only 35 NHL regular season games started in his career, was replaced in the third period after a fluke injury. Luongo was back in the game and held off the Blackhawks to take the game into OT.

And it was a tough game. Look at this hit on Henrik Sedin. Poor Sedin took quite a hit here and if he’s lucky he can play in Game 7 because in the end the ‘Hawks got that one lucky goal in OT to push a Game 7 and threaten the best team in the NHL.

Blackhawks fans can thank rookie Ben Smith for his first playoff goal and it couldn’t come at a better time. With time dwindling in the OT, Smith took a funky rebound from Luongo and flipped it in. Smith may not have had much experience coming into the game but you can guarantee this game-winning goal will secure the young pup some more playing time.

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