There are a lot of rumors going around Montreal as the NHL has its Entry Draft today. One rumor has the Boston Bruins offering Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Tomas Kaberle and the seventh overall pick in the draft.

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Posted by Michael Finewax at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)

The big controversy after Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final is that Sidney Crosby did not shake the hand of some Detroit Red Wings including fellow captain Nicklas Lidstrom after the game.

Continue reading "Crosby/Lidstrom controversy" »

Posted by Michael Finewax at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (40)

The seventh game of the Stanley Cup. Is there anything better than that!!!

A couple of facts before the game.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have never lost the seventh game of any series as they are 4-0 lifetime. They beat the Capitals earlier in round 2 in Game 7 at Washington 6-2. The last road team to win a Game 7 in a final in any sport was the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates. Is this a coincedence.

This is the 87th game of the playoffs this year. Sidney Crosby is number 87. Is this an omen of things to come?

Either Chris Osgood or Evgeni Malkin should be named winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy depending on who wins tonight.

Petr Sykora is out for the Penguins and Miroslav Satan is back in.

The lineups will be the same for both teams as in Game 6 with the exception of Sykora/Satan.

Back after the first. Enjoy.

Continue reading "Detroit-Pittsburgh Game 7 Live Blog" »

Posted by Michael Finewax at 07:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (85)

The Stanley Cup will be awarded tonight IF the Detroit Red Wings are triumphant over the hometown Pittsburgh Penguins.

Dan Cleary will be in the Detroit lineup after missing practice on Monday so the Red Wings will go with the same lineup as Saturday.

Petr Sykora will be a game-time decision for the Penguins after missing the past 14 games as a healthy scratch.

If you believe in omens, the Pittsburgh Penguins drafted Mario Lemieux first overall 25 years ago today. It was the best thing that ever happened to the franchise.

Back after the first.

Continue reading "Detroit-Pittsburgh Game 6 - Live Update" »

Posted by Michael Finewax at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Game 5 tonight in Detroit. The series is tied at two. Pavel Datsyuk will be in the lineup for the Red Wings after a seven game absence. Coach Mike Babcock will start Datsyuk on the left wing, alongside Henrik Zetterberg and will move him to the second line center spot only if he is not laboring from his injured foot.

Daniel Cleary is a game-time decision. He missed the morning skate but will give it a try in the pre-game warmup.

Pittsburgh will not change its lineup.

Daniel Cleary is in the lineup and Ville Leino is a healthy scratch allowing Datsyuk back in the lineup.

Back after the first period.

Continue reading "Detroit-Pittsburgh Game 5 - Live Update" »

Posted by Michael Finewax at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (51)

Well we will find out soon if Pavel Datsyuk will be in the Detroit lineup for Game 4. Both Detroit papers have nothing so far.

Same starting goaltenders as it will be Chris Osgood and Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Detroit Free Press is reporting at 7:56 that Datsyuk will play.

CBC TV said that Pavel Datsyuk tried to play but will not be able to go.

Here are tonight's lineups.

PITTSBURGH

Kunitz-Crosby-Guerin
Fedotenko-Malkin-Talbot
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Dupuis-Adams-Satan

Gonchar-Orpik
Gill-Scuderi
Eaton-Letang

DETROIT

Franzen-Zetterberg-Hudler
Holmstrom-Filppula-Hossa
Cleary-Helm-Samuelsson
Leino-Draper-Maltby

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Stuart-Kronwall
Ericsson-Lebda

Draper replaces Justin Abdelkader as the only change in both lineups.

Back after the first.

Continue reading "Detroit-Pittsburgh Game 4 - Live Update" »

Posted by Michael Finewax at 07:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)

It's a must win for the Penguins tonight with Detroit leading the series 2-0. Both teams will go with the same lineup as in Game 2. This surprises me as I thought the Penguins would double-shift Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as much as possible tonight. Well, I guess they still can.

Marc-Andre Fleury and Chris Osgood are the starting goaltenders.

Back after the first.

Here are the lineups for both teams.

PITTSBURGH

Kunitz-Crosby-Guerin
Fedotenko-Malkin-Talbot
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Dupuis-Adams-Satan

Gonchar-Orpik
Gill-Scuderi
Eaton-Letang

DETROIT

Franzen-Zetterberg-Hudler
Holmstrom-Filppula-Hossa
Cleary-Helm-Samuelsson
Leino-Abdelkader-Maltby

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Stuart-Kronwall
Ericsson-Lebda

DETROIT 2 PITTSBURGH 2 after one

Lots of scoring in the first as Maxime Talbot got the home side off to a quick start as he beat Chris Osgood from the slot. But the Red Wings came back quickly as Henrik Zetterberg found himself with the puck all alone and put it past Marc-Andre Fleury a minute-and-a-half after Talbot put Pittsburgh ahead. It looked to me like the goal was Sidney Crosby's fault as he did not stay with Zetterberg.

The Red Wings took the lead as Johan Franzen wristed a shot past Fleury at the end of the Red Wings first power play.

But Kris Letang evened things up for the Penguins with a power play goal of his own as he beat a screened Osgood. I really like Letang for next season. Blysma benched Letang when he took over the team with 25 games left in the season and Letang seemed to come into his own offensively the rest of the way. He ended up with 10 goals and now has four in the playoffs.

The Red Wings outshot the Penguins 12-7 in the exciting first period.

Zetterberg, Franzen and Letang each had a goal and an assist in the first, while Malkin had a pair of assists.

Gonchar led the Pens in TOI with 9:07, while Lidstrom led the Red Wings with 9:02.

Detroit was 13 of 24 on the draw.

Back after the second.

Continue reading "Detroit-Pittsburgh Game 3 - Live Update" »

Posted by Michael Finewax at 05:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (60)