The Devils and Senators will be facing off in 10 minutes at the CAA for Game One. The Devs will be without captain Patrik Elias, who is out sick. A big loss no doubt for them on one of those top two scoring lines. So who will step up? Rookie David Clarkson gets the call. This guy is a solid player. Defenseman Colin White returns and replaces Johnny Oduya.
The Sharks and Red Wings get underway at the bottom half of the hour in Hockey Town which will air on Versus.

Here’s some relevant info to pass along on key Wing grinder Tomas Holmstrom, who will miss Game 1 with a bad eye:
FROM THE STAT WIZARDS AT ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU
Detroit and San Jose open their series tonight at Joe Louis Arena. Tomas Holmstrom will miss tonight’s game after suffering a cut left eyelid in the series finale against Calgary. Prior to today, Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom were the only Red Wings who had played in all 98 of the team’s playoff games since 1998. Kirk Maltby (97 games) and Kris Draper (95) have been nearly ever-present for Detroit over the last nine playoff years.
And now for some articles:

1.Spezza foresees shadow

“Position,” said Spezza. “He’s never willing to put himself in a compromising position. He always stays above the guy that he’s covering. He doesn’t let the guy get a step around him. He’s really willing to sacrifice offence for defence. He can still beat you on turnovers and he’s still decent offensively, but he’s willing to wait all game to shut you down.”

2.Beware the grinning Devil

“We’re in fantasy land and I’ve always appreciated that,” Gomez said Wednesday following the Devils’ final practice in advance of their second-round playoff opener tonight against Ottawa. “What’s not to love? I mean, I play hockey, I’m in a locker room, this is my job.”

Of course he’s right.

3.Sharks setting their own tradition

“I remember he tried to give me a Pepsi and I wouldn’t take it,” Wilson said. “I was a Maple Leafs guy, a Dave Keon guy, not a Gordie Howe guy. I got off his knee as fast as I could.”

Is Mark Purdy taking the Wings lightly? I think so.

4.Babcock changing perception of Wings

“I don’t know if that (soft) label is gone and I don’t care,” Babcock said. “I think a lot of times, people talk about stuff they know nothing about — even the so-called experts who never see us play. Only time will tell, right?

5.Coming out party for Vanek

“It’s been a learning year,� Ruff said. “It’s been a growing year. It’s been a maturing year, and I still feel it is. That was a bigtime tip, and that was a big-time goal he came up with late in the second period.�

6.Poised Pronger sets the tone for Ducks

“If he didn’t want to be part of our leadership group at the beginning of the year, that was fine. Just go be Chris Pronger,” Carlyle said.

“To some degree, it’s an advantage that we play in a nontraditional hockey market that you can go hide a little bit. I think that’s what he did. I think he was able to get back to a comfort level.”

And we’re ready for hockey. Remarkably, the Sens have already scored as a Sens’ shot deflected off someone in front.

They got it 90 seconds in. There’s already been some hitting in this one. It might be worth checking out.

Final score: Ducks 5 Canucks 1

The Ducks lead the best-of-seven series 1-0.

Outside of fourth liner Jeff Cowan’s goal which we’re still trying to figure out how it could’ve happened, this wasn’t a good start for VanCity. He’s got stone hands. What can we say?

Anaheim got a hat trick from Andy McDonald as the underrated top center got his first career trick with 51.8 to go via the power play putting an exclamation point in a game they chased Roberto Luongo from- scoring the final five goals at The Pond. The most scary aspect for me was that ridiculous goal horn. Ugh. LOL

So what do the Canucks have going for them? As what’s his face said from Necessary Roughness, “Not a god damn thing!”

But the good news for Vancouver which had to be tired from that grueling seven-game marathon against Dallas is that they get to do it all over again in a couple of nights. It’s a seven-game series. So nothing is decided yet. Ditto for the Rangers who were just as off at Buffalo in their 5-2 defeat which we broke down earlier tonight.

The Ducks PP is just scary. All those weapons. Pronger. Niedermayer. Beauchemin. Selanne. McDonald. Kunitz. Getzlaf. Perry. Penner. Are you sensing a theme here? All these guys can contribute on it and they spread it out so well that it makes defending it a nightmare. Play the points and they’ll work it down low. Play aggressively down low and Pronger and Niedermayer and even Beauchemin can bomb away. Getzlaf sometimes plays point too. They all possess top heavy one-timers which can give goalies trouble meaning bad rebounds.

It’s going to be tough. The Canucks need to stay out of the box. They weren’t able to do that tonight giving Anaheim nine power plays. The Ducks converted twice with both via McDonald.

What made it worse is that Vancouver’s power play struggled finishing a dreadful 0-for-7 including a missed two-man advantage early on which could’ve set the tone.

One comment on all these power plays which was a theme tonight. That’s 16 total for this game. The other one featured 13. So that’s 28 on the night, meaning an average of 14 total PP’s took place in the two games. Come on. Let them play! Alright. Maybe some of the players weren’t as sharp at the outset. But you can’t tell me the games have to be this tightly officiated. Hockey fans want the players to decide it.

A few other rumblings:

1.The top line of Kunitz-McDonald-Selanne combined for nine points. They’re a lethal line which has great chemistry and speed to burn. Vancouver must find a way to slow the trio down.

2.J.S. Giguere improved to 8-0-1 in his last nine games against Vancouver, finishing with 26 saves. He was particularly sharp early when his team needed it making a few denials in close. If the Canucks want to win this series, they must get traffic and find a way to reverse that trend. They got to make it tougher on the 2003 Conn Smythe winner or it will be a quick 2nd round exit.

3.Luongo botched a puck behind the net in the third and didn’t recover in time as Getzlaf redirected a Penner shot in for a 4-1 lead. The Quebec native who will be up for the Vezina was brilliant in his first ever series. We wouldn’t say any of the other three goals were his fault as the Ducks got point blank chances a la Buffalo vs New York. He was peppered in 49:05 facing 31 shots- making 27 stops before giving way to backup Dany Sabourin who allowed McDonald’s hat trick goal in the final minute. Giving Luongo a breather wasn’t a bad move by Alain Vigneault. He had to be a little fatigued. Maybe he’ll comeback fresher for Game 2.

4.The Canucks took 10 penalties and lost their discipline. A similar theme we saw with the Rangers at HSBC. They’ll need to stay more disciplined the rest of the series to have a chance.

5.VanCity will also need it’s best players the Sedins to show up. They’ll also hope that two key top four defensemen Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo comeback healthy for Game Two. Without those two, forget it.
Here are my three stars:

3rd star- Jean-Sebastien Giguere (26 saves)

2nd star- Teemu Selanne (GW goal, assist)

1st star- Andy McDonald (1st career hat trick, assist)

For complete NHL postseason coverage, please click on NHL Playoffs.

Not surprisingly, Peavy’s performance didn’t result in a win. Thanks to his pen, he watched closer Trevor Hoffman serve up a two-run walkoff homer to Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew. The blow off the Cooperstown bound reliever came with one on and two out.

What ashame. I guess it was almost predictable considering that Peavy worked the first seven shutting down the D-backs before his pen couldn’t hold it.

It’s just more evidence that today’s games pale in comparison to the old days when starters used to go the distance when they pitched the way Peavy did. Even if he needed another 20-25 pitches to complete it, you know that would’ve been the case in the old era. So, the biggest question is did he ask out?

Who knows? But score another one for why this era of pitch counts stinks! A big thumbs down here.

It comes from baseball where San Diego ace Jake Peavy came within one strikeout of matching legendary Tom Seaver’s record. He fanned nine straight Diamondbacks at one point during a 16 K seven inning masterful performance on 117 pitches before giving way to the bullpen. At last check, his team still led the game 2-1 with Arizona batting in the home ninth. It would be ashame if he didn’t get the victory.
Thirty seven years ago almost to the day back on April 22, 1970, Seaver fanned a major league record 10 consecutive batters for the Mets en route to 19 K’s- fanning the final 10 he faced ironically enough against the Padres.

Pretty amazing stuff.

Also, just to pass along, Barry Bonds hit his seventh home run of the first month in LA off Dodgers pitcher Randy Wolf in the first inning. It was No.741 for the slugger as the controversial left fielder continues his pursuit of sports biggest record- Hank Aaron’s 755. With Bonds looking as healthy as ever compared to the past couple of years, there’s almost no doubt that he’ll shatter the mark before the first half concludes. He’s swinging a hot bat and looks to be in much better condition.

So what will baseball’s reaction be when the 42 year-old seven-time NL MVP breaks it? Remains to be seen. It’s such ashame that it won’t be celebrated. But that’s the way it goes. I used to be a huge fan of Bonds before the whole juiced era. I liked him better though when he was a bonafide 40/40 threat who could field his left field position with the best of them. Many choose to forget that.

So will they put an asterisk next to it when it happens? Who knows? But it’s going to happen.

I guess the only question is when and where. Oh well.

In Game One at the Pond in the Western semis, the Ducks still lead the Canucks 3-1 after two periods of play. The Canucks got on the scoreboard first when grinder Jeff Cowan beat Jean-Sebastien Giguere unassisted at 7:07 in period one.

Considering that the Canucks had an early two-man advantage with two valuable Ducks’ penalty killing forwards Rob Niedermayer and Samuel Pahlsson in the box, they could’ve been up more at that point. But Giguere was on his game including a robbery of Trevor Linden in front off a great play by the Sedins.

The Ducks were able to respond after Cowan’s tally by making Vancouver pay for a bench minor for too many men. Top pivot Andy McDonald pounced on a loose puck off a Chris Pronger rebound and put it past Roberto Luongo for his first of the series at 9:24. It seemed to get Anaheim going. Before the stanza was out, McDonald had also setup a go-ahead goal from top sniper Teemu Selanne and then gotten his second of the night from the Finnish Flash in the final minute. Underrated linemate Chris Kunitz notched secondary assists on those two goals.

Giguere has made 14 saves thus far while Luongo has been busier making 20 stops after two stanzas.

One thought as they enter the final period. If that Anaheim top line is going to score at that clip, it’s going to be a really short series. They’re very good but when you consider the support they should have from the Kid line of Dustin Penner, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf plus the lethal duo of Pronger and team captain Scott Niedermayer on the blueline, it spells big trouble for Vancouver.

They better get it in gear soon. Falling down two wouldn’t be good for morale, especially after such a hard fought seven-game series against Dallas. We’ll see what they’re made of.

The Spurs’ backs were to the wall but they rose up like most experienced winners do by posting a 97-88 Game Two victory over the Nuggets to even their best-of-seven first round series which will now shift to the Rocky Mountains.

In Game One, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan had quiet nights while dynamic Nugget scoring duo Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony were big time combining for 61 of their 95 points in a six-point win. Tonight at the Alamo Dome, the two Spurs stars bounced back with solid performances. Duncan finished with a team high 22 along with seven boards and five assists while valuable sixth man Ginobili chipped in with 17 on 6-of-12 shooting including one trey and 4-for-4 from the line in 29 minutes. He also dished out four assists.

While they got the job done, AI and Melo were held to 46 points- 15 less than in the first game. Each had tough shooting nights going a combined 17-for-46. Trailing by double digits late, Iverson did spark a 23-9 run which included his only two three’s back-to-back to slice the deficit to 91-88 in the final minute. But the Big Fundamental answered by banking one home to spark his club to the game’s final six points for the big ‘W.’

The Spurs also got 20 points and six dimes from point guard Tony Parker.

One other noticeable difference was bench scoring, where San Antonio thanks in large part to Ginobili held a 30-7 edge. That kind of depth could be a factor as this series evolves.

In the lone Eastern Game 2, LeBron James and Co. made it two straight home wins for the Cavaliers over Washington to go up 2-0 on the Wizards.

James finished with 27, 8 and 7 while teammate Drew Gooden chipped in with a double double (24 and 14) as four Cleveland starters reached double figures in a 109-102 victory.

Remaining Washington star Antawn Jamison paced them with a game high 31 points on 12-of-24 shooting including three-for-eight from downtown. He also added 10 rebounds. Point guard Antonio Daniels had 11 points and 11 assists in the loss as the Wizards were very competitive despite no Gilbert Arenas or Caron Butler.

They made a good push in the final quarter outscoring their opponents 39-34 thanks to some strong bench play. Brendan Haywood (13), Darius Songalia (13) and Roger Mason (10) all hit for double digits to keep it close- supplying a 38-14 edge off the bench.

Eddie Jordan’s shorthanded club has proven they can stay in games despite the big blows to two of their All Stars. We’ll see how they fare for Game 3 back in the nation’s capital.

In the lone late game out West, top seeded Dallas has taken control against Golden State leading by 10 late in the third quarter. They again have had problems containing all of the explosive Warriors’ scoring. Four Golden State starters are in double figures with Stephen Jackson leading the way with 24.

In this game, the Mavs already have five players in double digits and are being led by Josh Howard’s 20. Dirk Nowitzki has 15 including seven in the third quarter. Super sub Jerry Stackhouse has come off the bench to add 11 and eight boards after a terrible Game One in which he was blanketed.

At last check, it was 84-74 with 27 ticks in the third quarter.

The Mavs must have this game to level the series as it transitions to Golden State.

This comes courtesy of the Sabres’ 5-2 Game One victory over the Rangers as Thomas Vanek scored his second goal of the night beating Henrik Lundqvist top shelf. Check out this cool over the head look at it. The actual camera angle is referred to as the “high end” look because it’s shot all the way at the top of the arena:

Final Score: Buffalo 5 Rangers 2
Buffalo leads the 2nd round series 1-0.

The Rangers came out sharper in the final 20 minutes. But it was too late. They did have one pivotal chance to get back in this one when both Daniel Briere and Dainius Zubrus were sent to the box for different infractions with 13:33 to go.

Predictably, they blew a full two-man advantage. It summed up the kind of night it was. Ryan Miller was only forced to make one big save on it snatching Brendan Shanahan’s one-timer. The Rangers were just far too predictable on it with their passes and didn’t get enough quality chances to throw Miller off his game.

One problem as we saw it in this one for Tom Renney’s club was their failure to get much done on the cycle. The one instance when the Jagr line did, it produced their first tally. Michael Nylander setup Marcel Hossa in the slot for a one-timer which beat Miller to cut it to 3-1 with 9:16 remaining. It was one of the few shifts where the top line got something done. They’ll need to be far better in Game Two.

The Sabres really didn’t attack much in this stanza. Shots at one point were 6-1 Blueshirts. But they have such dynamic skill and countering ability that the few chances they get are sometimes enough. This was proven true when Jason Pominville got credit for his third off a quick three-on-two rush started by Briere. Jochen Hecht tried a pass for a cutting Pominville, who got the shaft of the stick on it to put it home. Intially, referee Marc Joannette waived it off thinking the net either came off before it crossed the line or thinking it might’ve gone off Pominville’s glove intentionally.

After a lengthy video review which probably involved Toronto headquarters, they ruled it a goal which was just as well and summed up a frustrating night.

Brendan Shanahan got his first of the series in the final minute from Straka Nylander. But the Sabres added an empty netter from Drew Stafford with 16 ticks left to seal the Sabres’ 5-2 Game One victory.

So what are our thoughts?

1.Buffalo was just sharper. They started slowly but once they got going, there was no stopping their transition game. Nobody has better finishers and it showed.

2.The Rangers were far too undisciplined. Handing the Sabres eight power plays and taking needless minor after minor is no way to beat these guys. They’re that good. While it’s true Buffalo only got one PPG, it gave them momentum forcing the Blueshirts to play from behind.

3.The officiating was disturbing. I was told by NY Hockey Report’s own Joe McDonald that the NHL brass was in the building. It showed. Far too many penalties were called. Some of the tacky variety. Ryan Hollweg got two minutes for just breathing on a Sabre. You also have to question the two goalie interference calls in this one as both Mara and Briere’s showed. Mara was clearly pushed in on his. What’s he supposed to do when he’s battling with a guy there? And Briere barely touched Lundqvist. Meanwhile, blatant infractions such as high sticks and take downs were let go of. This is what’s so frustrating.

4.Miller was better than Lundqvist. Yes, Lundqvist faced far more tough opportunities but that match-up is big in this series. Tonight, the more experienced netminder was a little better.

5.Too many turnovers. You just can’t turn it over against Buffalo. The Rangers were guilty of this and paid the ultimate price on the scoreboard. They also backed up too much. When you do that, you make it even tougher on your goalie.

6.There was hardly any physicality which was disappointing. Neither side really pounded anyone. Expect this to change as this series progresses with each side ratcheting up their intensity level.

7.HSBC Arena was very loud. Those are some great hockey fans. It’s one of the louder arenas in the NHL. They were vocal taunting Sean Avery during the game with an “Av-ery, Av-ery, Av-ery” chant. They made a difference.

8.Speaking of Avery, his line was miserable in this one finishing a combined minus-10. They just couldn’t get anything done. It was similar to Game One against Atlanta where they were invisible. They need to be much better the rest of this series.
Here are my three stars:

3rd star- Ryan Miller (32 saves)

2nd star- Ales Kotalik (goal)

1st star- Thomas Vanek (2 goals)

The Rangers were dreadful the final half of that period and paid the price against an explosive and opportunistic Buffalo offense.

First Marty Straka went to the box for yet another penalty. And Buffalo finally cashed in when sniper Thomas Vanek redirected home a Dmitri Kalinin one-timer to put the Sabres on the board.

Only two minutes later, it was Ales Kotalik capitalizing off a two-on-two surprising Henrik Lundqvist with a wrister up top. That was one he could’ve had. It definitely hurt.

Vanek would strike yet again 2:05 later when Rachunek fell down allowing the dangerous sniper to walk in around Paul Mara and fire one top shelf for his second (fourth of playoffs).

Just like that, the Sabres had exploded for three goals in 4:05.

My sentiments…stay out of the box and stop turning the puck over. You just can’t do it against this kind of offense. They’re far too skilled.

Making matters worse the Blueshirts lost Rozsival to a leg injury and he won’t return. Talk about a rough period.

We’ll see you after the game for more analysis and our three stars.

The Rangers came out strong and tested Ryan Miller early but the Buffalo netminder stood tall stopping all eight shots including his best stop on the game’s opening shift.

But a lack of discipline turned the period in the Sabres’ favor. It was pretty obvious who the officials are going to favor. Especially when they called a tacky penalty on Matt Cullen when he was the one being held behind the net. Oh btw rookie Ryan Callahan was high sticked during that play! And no call. Wouldn’t want to call that, right? Just keep programming these damn officials to call every hook, hold and slight tug!

Offensive zone penalties kill your momentum and are the worst kind you can take. The Rangers were guilty for three. And that just won’t work in this series against that high powered offense. Eventually, it will get them in trouble.

If not for Henrik Lundqvist robbing Tim Connolly point blank after he undressed Michal Rozsival and another denial on Chris Drury during a PP, the Rangers would be trailing. King Henrik finished with 15 saves with many coming late.

So what are my thoughts overall? I felt the Rangers backed up too much and reset. You can’t dilly dally around with the puck against an aggressive forechecking team like Buffalo. They’re dangerous. Just look how they got that unnecessary turnover in the final minute forcing rookie Dan Girardi into a holding penalty which was the fourth of the period. You have to be proactive. Get the puck out quickly. Make precision passes and attack.

A couple of quick hits. Karel Rachunek and Ryan Hollweg are back in the lineup for Thomas Pock and Colton Orr. Rachunek looked a little shaky while Hollweg was sharper.

That’s all for now. See ya later!