Tomas Holmstrom will not play tonight. Daniel Cleary will take his place on the top line.

Darren McCarty will replace Holmstrom on the roster and play on the fourth line with Darren Helm and Jiri Hudler.

Very nice moment of silence before the game for Luc Bourdon who was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident on Thursday in Northern New Brunswick.

Back after the first.

Continue reading "The Stanley Cup Game 4 (In Game Coverage)" »

Posted by Michael Finewax at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Second Period

Crosby nets another one, his sixth of the playoffs to give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead. However the goal-scoring machine, Johan Franzen, draws the Wings close with just over five minutes left in the period.

The Penguins were aggressive and outshot the Wings 13-9 in the frame. Malkin still doesn't have a shot, however.

The Pens have done a good job on Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg holding them to a combined two shots on goal.

Wings had an 11-10 advantage in the faceoff circle and 15-11 edge in hits.

Hal Gill has to ease up on the crosschecking of Tomas Holmstrom. He took two minors in the period, the second led to Franzen's power-play goal.

The Penguins look as if they are prepared to pay the price to win tonight. Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney have each blocked a game-high four shots.

First Period

The Penguins finally broke through with a goal! Who else but Crosby would score it? They also have their first lead of the series.

I hate to harp on this, but Evgeni Malkin hasn't had a shot on goal in five periods and has only one for the entire series to date.

The Red Wings outshot the Penguins 9-5. That makes six periods out of seven when that has occurred.

Faceoff wins were even at 10 apiece, while Detroit out hit Pittsbrugh 12-10.

It will be interesting to see if the Penguins can hold of the Wings in the second. The Motowners are still carrying the play despite the fact they are trailing.

Back after two.

Posted by Brian Rosenbaum at 08:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Second Period

No scoring in the second period and time is running out on the Penguins. The Red Wings are in shut down mode and that is going to make it tough for Crosby and company to generate any offense.

The Penguins were outshooting the Wings 6-5 halfway through the period, but Detroit finished the frame strongly and had an overall 11-6 edge in shots. That's 23-12 overall. It's hard to win hockey games if you average only six shots on goal per period.

In 11:44 of ice time Evgeni Malkin still doesn't have a shot on goal. Yikes!

Datsyuk and Zetterberg have eight shots between them. Malkin and Crosby only three. Need I say more?

Roberts and Orpik have been very physical and lead the contest with five hits each but it hasn't slowed Detroit or generated a goal for Pittsburgh.

Face offs are even for the game.

Bottom line: The Penguins haven't scored in this series yet. You can't win if you don't score!

First Period

Not a great period for the Penguins. They were outshot 12-6 and outscored 2-0 much to the delight of a very noisy Detroit crowd.

Pittsburgh did win 10 out of 18 faceoffs and held the edge in hits 19-14.

Brad Stuart had a very strong first period with two shots on goal, a plus two plus/minus rating and the Wings' first goal.

As reported earlier, Johan Franzen is in the Detroit lineup and played 5:13 in the first frame, his first game action in two weeks.

Once the Wings have a lead they are very difficult to beat. However, the Predators did come back from a few goals down in a first-round game.

Detroit is again shutting down Evgeni Malkin. He did not get a shot on goal and was on the ice for one of the Red Wing goals.

Back after two.

Posted by Brian Rosenbaum at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The NHL could not be happier with its Stanley Cup match up of Pittsburgh and Detroit. The youth of the Penguins against the veteran Red Wings. These are the two best teams in the NHL.

Pittsburgh is 10-0 when scoring first, while the Red Wings are 10-1. The first goal looks to be very important.

Marc-Andre Fleury tripped and fell coming on to the ice before the start of the game. Hopefully this is not an omen for the Penguins.

Back after the first.

Continue reading "The Stanley Cup - Game 1 (In Game Coverage)" »

Posted by Michael Finewax at 07:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quite the first period, especially if you're a Detroit fan.

Detroit 3 Dallas 0 after the first period.

Kris Draper used his head scoring the first goal of the game, well at least his face. Dallas Drake passed to Draper who took it off his chin and then banged it home. Draper then went off for stitches and missed the next ten minutes of action.

The Red Wings were outshooting Dallas 5-0 at the time of the Draper goal, but then Dallas put on a flurry and took control of the play. Brad Stuart tried to turn things around with a big hit, but missed, giving the Stars a two-on-one break that eventually led to a penalty by McCarty.

But Detroit killed off the penalty and then regained their momentum as Datsyuk scored on the power play and then Dallas Drake scored his first playoff goal in over four years, giving the Red Wings a commanding 3-0 lead.

Turco was less than stellar for the Stars in the first stanza as he gave up three goals in 13 shots, while Osgood was perfect in six shots in the Detroit net.

Dallas was much improved in faceoffs as they were 50% in 20 faceoffs, a huge improvement over Saturday's effort where they won 20 of 61 faceoffs.

Back after two. Dallas better get something going quickly in the second, or it's going to be a Pittsburgh-Detroit Stanley Cup final.

Well the Red Wings were the team that struck first as Henrik Zetterberg scored a beautiful short-handed goal after a giveaway by the Stars captain Brenden Morrow. Zetterberg had a breakaway from his own blueline, came in on Turco, faked a shot and put a nice deke on the Dallas goaltender for the goal.

It's 4-0 Detroit after two periods.

Unless something amazing happens in the third period, it's Detroit that's going to be the Western Conference representative in the Stanley Cup final.

Detroit is now outshooting Dallas 22-13.

Brad Richards has played 18:12 minutes through two periods, an unbelievable total for a forward. Zubov leads the Stars in time played through two with 18:31 minutes while Nicklas Lidstrom leads the Red Wings with 19:39 minutes.

Well, it's going to be a Detroit-Pittsburgh Stanley Cup final as the Red Wings defeated Dallas 4-1. Stephane Robidas broke up the shutout bid of Chris Osgood with an early power play goal, but then Osgood shut the door on the Stars.

The final shots on goal were tied at 29 apiece, so the Stars outshot Detroit 16-7 in the final period.

Nicklas Lidstrom led all players in time on ice with 29:03 minutes. The Stars had three forwards play over 24 minutes, including Brad Richards with 25:43, Mike Ribeiro at 24:17 and Brenden Morrow with 24:03. Zubov led the Stars at 25:43.

Posted by Michael Finewax at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Second Period

Yikes! The Flyers will have to play for pride in the third period as this series is over after the Pens scored three goals in the second to take a 5-0 lead.

The Flyers did seem to score a goal with five seconds left in the frame after Patrick Thoresen was pushed into the crease, but the goal was waived off.

Pittsburgh outshot (9-8) and out face-offed (10-9) the Flyers in the second frame.

Brooks Orpik is hitting anything that moves. He leads all players with six hits.

It was a nice run for the Flyers after a rebuilding season. Losing to the talented Penguins is nothing to be ashamed of.

First Period

Ryan Malone made the most of his 5:56 of first period ice time with a goal and an assist to pace the Penguins to a 2-0 lead. However he took a penalty at the end of the frame and the Flyers will open the second period on the power play.

Pittsburgh outshot Philly 10-5 and carried the play, forcing two early power plays, one resulting in Malone's goal. They also controlled the face-off circle with 13 wins in 22 draws.

Malkin has the other Pens' marker, while Sidney Crosby is on the board with an assist.

Kimo Timmonen has played a team-high 7:34. What a remarkable recovery!

It doesn't look good for the Flyers down two after one.

Back after the second period!

Posted by Brian Rosenbaum at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Great first period as the Stars and Detroit are tied at one.

Marty Turco and Chris Osgood have been fabulous in net, each holding his team in the game.

Defenseman Trevor Daley opened the scoring as he took a nice little drop pass from Brad Richards and shot from the slot to be Osgood.

Jiri Hudler tied the game at the 15:30 mark of the period as he took a gorgeous pass from Niklas Kronwall and banged in his own rebound past Turco.

Turco has been handlling the puck like a third defenseman and would have had an assist on Daley's goal if the NHL handed out three assists. He also set up the Stars early in the game as he passed the puck to Hagman at center ice, setting up a two-on-one, forcing Osgood to make a great save off Hagman.

Didn't think that Stuart deserved the first penalty of the game as he got the puck with his stick before tripping the player. Fortunately for the Red Wings, they killed off the penalty.

Detroit outshot Dallas 14-10 in the first.

Hudler led all shooters with three shots on goal.

It was a very exciting period and there was a lot of chippiness in the game. Should be a great game the rest of the way.

Back after the second period.

Continue reading "Dallas@Detroit Game 5 (In Game Coverage)" »

Posted by Michael Finewax at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Notes from the first period:

Philadelphia 3 Pittsburgh 0

Pittsburgh came out like gangbusters and had an 11-4 shots on goal lead as the Flyers made it 1-0 on a Joffrey Lupul goal. The goal was on a slapshot by Lupul that Penguins defenseman Hal Gill deflected over the shoulder of Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Flyers then took over and made it 2-0 on a power play goal by Daniel Briere. It was Briere's first goal this round and head coach John Stevens moved him to the wing alongside Mike Richards and Scott Hartnell in an attempt to get Briere going. It seems to have worked.

Jeff Carter made it 3-0 late in the first, also on the power play and it looks like the Flyers are going to go back to Pittsburgh for Game 5.

The Flyers ended up outshooting the Penguins 17-13, so they outshot them 13-2 in the final half of the period.

Biron was outstanding early in the period and he kept the Flyers in the game, something he had trouble doing in the previous three games.

Randy Jones led the Flyers in shots on goal with four and Daniel Briere chipped in with three, while Marian Hossa led Pittsburgh with three shots. Hossa was stopped on a power play breakaway by Biron while the score was still tied and the Flyers seemed to take over the game at that point.

The Flyers won 14 of 20 faceoffs with Mike Richards being perfect in four draws.

I'll be back at the end of the second period.

Continue reading "Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia Game 4 (In Game Coverage)" »

Posted by Michael Finewax at 08:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

Second Period

Talk about a role reversal. The Wings were all over the Stars outshooting them 14-6. However, Loui Eriksson, perhaps Dallas' most dangerous forward tonight, scored with 23 seconds left to give the Stars their first lead in any game of the series so far.

Marty Turco has held the Stars in the game thus far and will need to continue to play well to prolong this series.

The Wings were 0-3 with the man advantage.

Brenden Morrow continues to play his usual gutsy brand of hockey blocking shots and moving bodies.

Both teams' top-line centers are having a great night in the faceoff circle. Ribeiro is 7-8 and Zetterberg is 10-14.

It should be a wild third period as the Stars try to stay alive.

First Period

It was a pretty uneventful first period with the Stars outshooting the Wings 9-5.

Dallas did a good job of controlling Detroit's big guns holding Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg to one shot between them.

The Stars also stayed out of the box, while the Wings were penalized three times.

Mike Ribeiro is having a good night so far in the faceoff circle with five wins in six draws. Now if he could just score!

Back after two.

Posted by Brian Rosenbaum at 09:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Second Period

The Penguins have completely neutralized the Flyer attack. Philly had only three shots on goal in the second period, and only eight overall. That’s embarrassing! If you don’t shoot, you can’t score. And if you don't score, you can’t win. It’s that simple.

Speaking of shots on goal, Jeff Carter has half the Flyer total with four.

Biron stopped all nine Penguin shots in the frame.

Jason Smith leads both teams with five hits and the Flyers have the edge in faceoffs 21-13. At least Philly is leading in a few categories tonight.

First Period

The Flyers don't seem as desperate as they should be with only five shots on goal after one period.

Luckily for Philly, the surprising R.J. Umberger scored his 10th of the playoffs (second only to Johan Franzen).

Jordan Staal is a trooper for playing despite his grandfather's death. He is getting smoked on faceoffs though, at 44%.

Gary Robert is not playing due to illness. Some reports state he has pneumonia.

Crosby has two assists. What else is new?

Back after two.

Posted by Brian Rosenbaum at 08:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)