The Meaningful Collateral

Dallas 1 - Detroit 4 (Series 1-0 Det)

The Stars are going to call this one fatigue.  The Red Wings are going to call it execution.  The top seed Red Wings showed no ill effects from an extended break and capitalized on a trio of Dallas power plays to bury the Stars 4-1 in the series opener.  Detroit’s possession style stymied a Dallas team that very much seemed hungover after an epic Game 6 victory against San Jose in the last round.  The Stars looked sloppy and dead-legged.  Not helping was letting the Red Wings get 5 power plays (including a pair of 5 on 3 advantages) and failing to convert on the 4 chances they received.  Turco was not the problem, but he also didn’t do anything to quiet talk of his 0-8-2 record in Joe Lewis Arena.  Detroit’s superior play prevented the Stars from getting ahead in the series early, which has been a key factor in their previous success.  By making Dallas play from behind - both in the actual game and in the overall series - Detroit will be able to dictate the tempo; a huge advantage over a team that has played a much tougher schedule so far.  It’s a great start for the Wings, but for Dallas, I would imagine that the focus from day 1 was getting a split.  If they can head back to Dallas 1-1 (which is no small task) they still have a chance to draw this series out.

Long story short, I rocked the Conference Semifinals 4 for 4 in my predictions. So I’m going to take about 45 seconds right now and gloat. Yeah, feels nice. Feels good. That was fun. Assuming nobody was really paying attention - a safe bet with today’s NHL - let’s just say the last round can be summed up as follows: Montreal was too soft, San Jose showed up 3 games too late, New York couldn’t keep up and Colorado got old, fast. The winner’s bracket, meanwhile, gives us a pair of kick-ass Conference Finals that will both thrill and delight the score of NHL fans scattered across Northern Alberta.

We’ve got the NHL’s premiere market and President’s Trophy winners Detroit primed for a showdown with a Dallas team that beat not only last year’s champ (Anaheim), but also this year’s trendy favorite (San Jose). Detroit trots out leading goal scorer, Johan Franzen (11 goals), the ageless Nic Lidstrom and the always nifty duo of Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Dallas, meanwhile, boasts Conn Smythe frontrunners in Brendan Morrow and Marty Turco, as well as the sparkling Mike Ribeiro/Mike Modano/Brad Richards combination down the middle.

Out East, it’s all Pennsylvania as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia steamrolled good teams to set up what could be a classic showdown. Pittsburgh is all flash with Geno Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone (ok, that last one wasn’t as impressive). They can skate, they can score and by this time next year we might even see Sid’s playoff beard start to fill in. In the other corner, Philadelphia essentially pummeled Montreal out of the playoffs. The superlative play of goaltender Martin Biron has allowed the Flyers forwards and defense to play a borderline, reckless style full of big hits and highlight-reel goals.

I would say both series are even to the point of being toss-ups, but that would discount the fact that I totally rocked the last round (4-0) and will undoubtably pick things perfectly yet again.

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Bob Costas eulogized Howard Cosell thusly: “… his style — part journalist, part carnival barker — made him unique.”  Cosell’s vibrant and occasionally provocative style made him a giant among sports journalists.  It is to his great credit, then, that he was always respectful of the boundary between journalistic integrity and sensationalism.  He certainly set a standard, but the fact that his style was inimitable didn’t stop countless followers from trying.  

These days it is a requirement of sports journalists in general (and soccer pundits in particular) that they have a flair for the dramatic and a gift for hyperbole.  Given the level of media saturation in this day and age, this is hardly shocking — the prosaic just won’t do when you’re competing for reader- or viewership against 100 other outlets.  However, the advent of new media and the meteoric rise of competitive journalism have seen the boundary which Cosell so carefully toed trampled into near oblivion.  The most obvious example in recent memory was last week offered up by Times London scribe Martin Samuel.

Following Chelsea’s victory over Liverpool in last week’s stunning 3-2 Champion’s League semi-final, writers across the globe lavished praise upon Blues midfielder Frank Lampard for his well-struck penalty.  The goal itself was of less consequence than the fact that it marked Lamps’ return to the field only a week after the death of his mother.  Certainly his will and emotional constitution in the face of personal tragedy are admirable, but perhaps Mr. Samuel was overly effusive with his praise when he declared Lampard’s goal “among the gutsiest acts from many athletes, across many decades.”  Samuel further declared that the goal “… was about the bravest act most [spectators] had ever seen from a professional athlete.”  These statements could hardly be further from the truth. 

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Pittsburgh 5 - New York Rangers 3 (series 3-0 NYR)

The Penguins are beating the hell out of a very good Rangers team.  MVP Runner-Up Evgeni Malkin killed a second period New York rally, and the Rangers lost despite out-shooting their opponents 39 to 17.  The Rangers aren’t even playing badly, they are an excellent hockey team getting played out of the rink by a Pittsburgh squad that has to be the Cup front runner at this point.  Sidney Crosby has been, so far, the second best player on his team most nights, the defense is holding up, Marian Hossa has apparently paid off.  Hell, even Georges Laraque found his way onto the scoresheet. It’s pride time for New York.  There’s no way this Penguins squad drops 4 straight, especially when they might not lose 4 the rest of the way.

San Jose 1 - Dallas 2 OT (series 3-0 DAL)

Also done for the post season are the San Jose Sharks.  It was a better effort, but Dallas has consistently found the goal they needed, the big hit or turnover to change the game.  Reworking things to include Sergei Zubov has led to a couple of Shark goals, but the defender has made up for it in spades on the other end of the ice.  Joe Thornton hasn’t done anything to improve his post-season reputation, but Patrick Marleau has been solid thus far.  This was the game for Nabokov to steal, but the Sharks couldn’t sneak two past Turco.  They’ll be on the ice again in a shade under 24 hours, and while I can’t imagine either of these teams taking both sides of the double header, I also somehow don’t see San Jose sticking around.  Dallas could go a long way to legitimize their own Cup aspirations by ending things.  You have to think the Sharks blow it up in the off season.

Detroit 4 - Colorado 4 (series 3-0 DET)

How about that anticlimatic second round, eh?  I don’t think the Avs have played a game in this series without having a significant injury, and Jose Theodore’s illness pretty much killed thier chances to get out of the gate quickly.  Detroit, meanwhile, doesn’t let up.  Consistent ay at even strength, on special teams and the occassional tough save from Chris Osgood leave the Wings one win away from advancing to the Conference Finals. Rolling the dice with old hands got the Avs one round into the playoffs, which should be a positive for this group, but they lack the pieces to get much further.  A big game from Paul Stasny - who is also now hurt - would go a long way to extending this series.And a final note to the NHL.  I’m sure there are many complex issues behind scheduling games during the post season, but do you think it’s maybe a bad idea to have 6 of the 8 teams play on the same night?

Montreal 2 - Philadelphia 3 (series 2-1 PHI)

The Flyers sent a physical message.  Unfortunately, that message was “we’re idiots, don’t worry about falling behind, we’ll keep you in the game”.  Martin Biron put on a show, Carey Price continued to struggle, but the Flyers used multiple ill-conceived penalties to give the Montreal attack a much needed boost of confidence - and a pair of goals.  The Flyers could be up 3-0 in the series, but 2-1 isn’t terrible.  For Les Habs, how do you handle your 20 year old netminder now that he’s been pulled from a playoff game?

By now, I’m sure everyone has heard of Josh Howard’s weed smoking ways. In addition to Howard making it public, the topic was further brought to the public during Michael Irvin’s radio show. Irvin did a great job insistently prodding Howard about the topic until it was almost painful to hear. I understand that it was the hot topic with Howard and the public wanted to hear about it, however, Michael Irvin, finally took it too far. At one point during the interview, Irvin compared Howard’s offseason marijuana use to his own cocaine problems during his playing days. Irvin commented that he had similar “problems” with drugs, insinuating that his cocaine use is comparable to Howard’s recreational marijuana use. He even went so far as to call Howard’s use an addiction. Firstly, there is no such thing as being addicted to marijuana. Grow up. Secondly, if he smokes marijuana only in the offseason, which he claims is the case, that doesn’t really add up to an addiction. Additionally, Howard never even failed an NBA drug test. Irvin needs to realize that doing a few lines off the urinal at halftime is in no way, shape or form similar to smoking a few blunts in the offseason. Have a great day.

Colorado 1 - Detroit 5 (series 2-0 DET)

The bubble may be starting to burst for Colorado.  Peter Forsberg is hurt, Jose Theodore’s amnesia has passed and the better team is starting to separate from its inferior opponent.  I’d talk about how this changes the dynamic of the series, but that implies it was ever not “Detroit by a mile”.  A bit of a sidebar, but my favorite moment was Cody McLeod removing an Octopus from the ice, and shaking it threateningly towards the Detroit bench.  After the game he explained it was “just to let them know they were going to be in a battle”.  How’s that one working out for your Cody?

Philadelphia 4 - Montreal 2 (Series 1-1 TIE)

Good response from the Flyers after Thursday’s catastrophe.  Also, nice to see someone else throwing a sucker punch for a change.  This competitive series is poised to get nasty.  The Canadiens are starting to get tired of being banged around, and are pushing back.  The Flyers, meanwhile, are perfectly content to punch one another in the head and see who remains standing.  After a B+ season, Philly’s marquee free agent, Daniel Briere, is leading the playoffs in scoring.  Nice pickup.

New York Rangers 0 - Pittsburg 2 (Series 2-0 PIT)

I agree that it was a quick whistle, you might have a case about Straka’s goal counting, but that’s grasping at straws when you get shut out in the playoffs.  It’s not one player for Pittsburgh, the whole squad is playing with poise and with purpose.  They’ve got the best two players in the series - Malkin and Crosby - and their goaltending isn’t killing them.  New York, meanwhile, is about to learn the downside of Sean Avery.  Once things start going south, and they are, he gets a bit harder to put up with.  It’s not panic time, but after Tuesday’s game 3 it might be.

Dallas 5 - San Jose 2 (Series 2-0 DAL)

San Jose came out swinging, Dallas came out flat, but the Sharks blinked first and got buried.  Three huge factors in this game: 1) Dallas got the best player on their team back (Zubov), 2) Dallas got big contributions from their three star centers and 3) despite not getting a lot of work, the power play continues to be deadly.  I don’t know where the Sharks improve, they had Dallas cooked through much of the game’s first period, but didn’t exactly create high quality chances.  Game 3 should be a street fight, the Sharks know they aren’t coming back from 3-0.

As a general point, Galen asked me a question I thought worth answering - How worried should each of the Game 2 losers be?

1 - Montreal - Not too worried.  They ran into a hot Martin Biron, they’re getting chances, they just need to stay in the series physically.  Also, gotta love the Montreal press already turning on Carey Price.

2 - New York Rangers - Medium worry.  Coughed up a lead in game 1, shut out in game 2, they need a statement win or this could be a sweep.

3 - San Jose - Very worried.  Down 2-0 and the team is still laid back.  Is this team quitting on its coach?  I’m not sure how they play better against Dallas.

4 - Colorado - NA.  To be worried implies that they had a snowball’s chance in the first place.

A final note on this weekend: Dear Versus, it’s midway through the third period and Dallas, and one of the post season’s best power plays, hasn’t been on the job yet.  You think that might be worthy of mention?  Maybe just a little tidbit?

New York Rangers 4 - Pittsburgh 5 (series 1-0 PIT)

This game was a statement of intent, but the real story will be game 2, when both teams say ‘fuck it’ and play 5 forwards at a time.  Both sides were clearly rusty, but based on the first round of games this is the marquee series of the semifinals.  Villainous Sean Avery and his dastardly Rangers thwarted in the final moments by Sidney Crosby and his merry band of youngins.  Good times.  The only real blemish so far is Crosby’s AWFUL attempt at a playoff beard.  Sid, it’s a great tradition, but bow out now, before it gets really embarassing.

Dallas 3 - San Jose 2 OT (Series 1-0 DAL)

Dallas will eventually have to play 3 periods of hockey to have success in this series.  Aside from two well-timed second period goals, the Sharks kept Dallas pinned into their zone for much of regulation.  That said, it was good enough to force overtime, and once bonus hockey started Dallas took control.  San Jose avoided the pitfalls that doomed Anaheim, and were able to apply physical pressure without drawing excessive penalties.  They also got strong games from their important players - Joe Thornton in particular looked dangerous.  Marty Turco kept this game close, and Dallas will be glad not to have wasted a superior goaltending performance - San Jose’s first goal excluded.  In the end, Dallas played too conservative in the third and almost paid for it, they’ll need to learn that lesson quickly, or keep making the most of limited scoring opportunities.

I hope that the NFL will learn something from Freddie Prinze Jr’s career.  Remember when you couldn’t go five minutes without seeing a teen flick staring the actor of Puerto Rican, German, Jewish and Italian descent.  He was everywhere; he had roles in I Know What You Did Last Summer, AND I Know What You Did Last Summer 2.  He starred in She’s All That, for Christ sakes and was a mischievous Jessica Biel- loving stud in Summer Catch.

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Philadelphia 3 - Montreal 4 OT (series 1-0 Mon)

Philly dropped the ball, big time, and let a reeling Montreal team off the hook.  For two and a half periods Philly got to the net and Montreal didn’t.  The Flyer forwards crashed and banged and bothered Carey Price while back-checkers and an aggressive defense made Montreal work to keep the puck.  Then they got lazy, got sucked in to overtime and lost.  Hatcher’s 3rd period shot on Andrei Kostitsyn will be a re-curring theme.  Focus is going to be a series key.  When the Flyers dialed in Montreal couldn’t generate pressure or move the puck, when that pressure dropped, Montreal grabbed the goals they needed to win the game.  If I’m in either locker room I’m downplaying Game 1.  This is going to be a long series.

Colorado 3 - Detroit 4 (Series 1-0 DET)

I don’t even remember who was famous in 2002.  Wasn’t Chumbawumba big?  Anyways, Detroit ran Jose Theodore out of the building - the goalie was supposedly sick and returned to the team hotel after surrendering 4 goals on 16 shots - and then milked a 3 goal lead for the victory.  As is his usual, Chris Osgood played just well enough to get the victory (3 goals allowed, 18 saves) but isn’t exactly slamming the door on Hasek.  Colorado’s happy because they got sub-par play from their goaltender and still got within a goal.  They also un-tracked Paul Stasny who scored the game’s opener.  Detroit is happy because they won the game.  Johan Franzen had a big night and they’re up in the series.