NHL Playoffs Recap – April 16th 2015

Another night has passed for the NHL playoffs. Last night had another full slate of games and did not disappoint. So without further adieu here is my playoff recap from April 16th

The Pittsburgh Penguins marched into Madison Square Garden last night ready to go. When reporters talked to Marc Andre-Fleury and Sidney Crosby pregame you could tell they were focused and ready to go, as they were about to take on the Presidents Trophy winning Rangers. The blue shirts came out flying at home and Derrick Brassard scored just 28 seconds in the crowd was fired up and going nuts. The Rangers played well for the whole first period as about 15 minutes later Ryan McDonagh scored to put the Rangers up 2-0. After the first period someone must have gave a Herb Brooks like speech as the Penguins game out for the second period ready to compete. Six minutes into the second Blake Comeau of the Penguins finally put one past King Henrik to make it 2-1. Unfortuanatley for the Penguins that was all the scoring this game saw as the Rangers beat the Penguins 2-1 in New York. Game 2 on Saturday should be good as the Penguins try to even up the series at 1

The other Eastern Conference matchup was the Detroit Red Wings marching into Tampa to play the Lightning. Anyone who has watched the Wings play all year knows that Pavel Datsyuk can control a game and take it over. He did just that last night. These teams battled in the first period when Datsyuk scored his first. Later in the first the local kid Brian Boyle scored a short handed goal to tie it. They went to the rooms tied and Pavel Datsyuk scored just 8 seconds into the second. Both teams added a goal in the third to make the final 3-2.

Now to the west the powerhouse St. Louis Blues played host to the Minnesota Wild. In this game it was all Minnesota all the time which game as a huge surprise to most people. The Wild jumped out to a quick 2-0 nothing lead and never looked back they tacked on one more and an empty netter as the Blues who struggled put up 2 against the wild. The blues are going to need a big turn around before game 2 on saturday

On the west coast the Ducks from Anaheim took on the Winnipeg Jets who are excited to be back in the playoffs the first period of this one was close. Winnipeg even jumped ahead in the second but the Ducks high powered offense came up big in the third period as they came up with 3 unanswered to wipe away the Jets 4-2

Another full slate of action tonight around the NHL, don’t forget to check back daily for recaps from Tom and myself

Bye Bye Chiarelli

While everything was happening during the Aaron Hernandez trial the Bruins dropped an absolute bomb on us by announcing they have fired Peter Chiarelli and all of Boston had a sigh of relief. Many people came after Chiarelli’s job after the Bruins had the worst season in recent memory.

Chiarelli wasn’t all bad to this team I mean he was here for 9 years.  When he got here this team was a shit show and people didn’t know if the Bruins would be the same again. Chiarelli came in and turned everything around and made the playoffs seven years straight including 2 Eastern Conference Finals, a Presidents Trophy, and of course a Stanley Cup in 2011. For that we can say Thanks

But ever since the Bruins went to the cup 2 years ago things haven’t been the same. It has been an utter disaster. Some may say it goes back even further to when they won the cup. Chiarelli became to dependent on the third and fourth line guys. He was way over paying Campbell, Kelly, and Paille, which in turn made the salary cap nothing but a disaster making him move Sequin and Boychuck two young players who could have made a difference for this team. Peter could not draft players for the life of him. The only good pick we had was Sequin and you thought he didn’t fit here? Insanity. Another big question was the head coach did Chiarelli keep Claude here for to long? Claude tried to keep the ‘Big Bad Bruins’ but in reality the league is moving in a different direction. If the Bruins are going to want to compete in this league they are going to need some top goal scorers.

The future of the bruins is in question, the future is sketchy and questionable. Who’s going to be the new GM? Will Claude be here?

 

 

NHL Playoffs Preview: Eastern Conference

The NHL playoffs are back tonight, the home town team didn’t make it and honestly I don’t want to hear the word Bruins until at-least August. That being said there is still some great hockey to be played. Yesterday my buddy Tom gave you a preview of the west. So now it is time for the Eastern Conference preview. 4 great series that will have you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

First up we have Montreal (A1) vs. Ottawa (W1)

Tonight 7 pm est NHL Network

Ottawa had a strong finish to the regular season to propel them into the playoffs and lock up the Atlantic Division’s last playoff spot. The Sens added a lot of fire power this offseason and have seen a lot of improvement. That being said Carey Price is on fire. He can’t be stopped. As people from Boston know P.K Subban is an unstoppable force in the playoffs and will score goals on you draw penalties and basically change the game in the Habs favor. Don’t forget The Bell Centre in Montreal is one of the toughest places to play in the NHL and the Habs take full advantage of that

Prediction: Montreal in 5

Next up is the New York Islanders (M3) vs the Washington Capitals (M2)

Tonight 7 pm est USA network

One of the more interesting match ups from the East two of the leagues leading scorers going at in Washington’s Alex Ovechkin coming off his 6th 50 goal season Alex Ovechkin has still yet to prove himself in the playoffs. One of the leagues purest scorers has never even made it to the Eastern Conference finals. Ovechkin is starting to take a lot of criticism, he is going to need to prove himself this year. On the other end of this series the New York Islanders have been on fire this season lead by there young captain John Tavares who was in the race for leading point scorers. The islanders are a very young team made up of the likes of Kyle Okposo, Johnny Boychuck and some excellent goaltending from Jaroslav Halak. The Isles want to make a run in their last year at Nasseau Collesium. I think this series will be very entertaining. The goalies are going to be key in this one Holtby is almost unstoppable in the playoffs. We still have to wait to see how Halak performs for the Isles after a phenomenal regular season.

Prediction: Capitals in 7

The Next series I’m going to preview is the New York Rangers (M1) vs the Pittsburgh Penguins (W2)

Thursday April 16th 7pm est NBSCN

Both of these teams have been in the playoffs in the near past but one of them is not the same team. The Penguins may look the same have the same players but the Penguins hit a road block at the end of the season and tanked to just barely holding a playoff spot. Sidney Crosby and Malkin are going to have to step up if they want to make a run. Another big question in Pittsburgh is how will Marc Andre Fleury perform? The Penguins have a tough test going into Madison Square Garden and playing The President Trophy winning Rangers. They are looking to make another run for the cup but I don’t see that happening the Rangers are a good team and will beat the Penguins but I don’t see them doing much more than that. The blue shirts are going to have to depend on Martin St. Louis and Henrik Lundqvist who have both proved themselves in this league. On a side note Rick Nash sat out of practice for the Rangers today. He reportedly has the flu. He will be another key factor as this series starts.

Prediction: Rangers in 5

Last series in the east is the Tampa Bay Lightning (A2) vs the Detroit Red Wings (A3)

Thursday April 16th 7:30pm est CNBC

The Tampa Bay lightning have been a quiet team since they lost to the Bruins in the 2011 eastern conference finals and many questions arose this year asking if the Lightning are back. The Lightning are playing well and do have a good shot to make a run in the playoffs. Stamkos up front with Brian Boyle and Ben Bishop on the back end may seem like an unstoppable force. We are going to have to wait and see how they hold up. On the other side of the ice Petr Mrazk gets the start in net for the very familiar Red Wings who have made the playoffs every year for the past 20 years or something crazy like that Datsyuk and Zetterberg? They may have not done to well towards the end of the season but the playoff experience of the Red Wings will outweigh the Lightning’s skill 9 times out of 10

Prediction: Wings in 7

Eastern Conference Finals Prediction:
Washington vs Montreal
Washington in 6 games
Buzz ECF Predictions

Tock: Rangers vs. Lightning (Rangers in 6)

Westy: Lightning vs. Islanders (Islanders in 7)

Tom: Rangers vs Tampa (Rangers in 7)

Nick: Detroit vs Washington (Detroit in 6)

PS- Might as well throw my cup prediction in here

Washington vs Anaheim (Washington in 7)

Sox pump the Nationals on Opening Day

 

Another Opening Day has come and gone in the city of Boston. We couldn’t have asked for a better result as The Red Sox took on the Nationals in their first game at Fenway Since last season but we’ll get to the game later. If you’re apart of Red Sox nation you know that Opening Day at Fenway is pretty much a holiday. Did i forget to mention that it was 70 degrees and you couldn’t ask for a better day? With every Opening Day comes a new beginning at Fenway and you can already tell this Sox Team is going to be fun to watch.

Every year before the game starts we get Orsillo and Castiglione on the field in their suits looking like there are going to the prom. First these 2 two introduce the Nationals (Who have a stacked rotation by the way). The crowd and all of Boston start to get anxious as they await the announcement of the 2015 Red Sox. The long time Red Sox radio announcer Joe Castiglione had the privelage of announcing the sox this season. He started with the behind the scenes guys, and continued on to the players not in todays lineup. The crowd rises to its feet as the manager John Farrell is announced because they know their opening day lineup is up next. Castiglione announce the home opener lineup and the crowd becomes electric ready to start the game. The national anthem is sung and the late great mayor Thomas Menino was recognized.

The first ceremonial first pitch is always a big moment; the Sox always bring in legendary figures in this city to throw out the first pitch. The Red Sox pulled out all the stops today as Jonathan Kraft, Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady walked from behind the monster each one of them holding a Lombardi Trophy. They walk to the mound as the crowd erupts and its finally time for Tom to throw the first pitch. He winds up and throws a fastball in the dirt. Don’t get me wrong we love Tom Brady here but c’mon Tom, you and I both know your better than that.

A great moment that occurred was Ben Cherrington announced that the Red Sox have signed Pete Frates the former BC baseball star who is suffering with AlS to a major league contract. Every year the Eagles from BC take a trip down to Florida to play the Red Sox in spring training. This year that game was a little more special. Last summer Pete launched the ice bucket challenge campaign and brought worldwide awareness to the terrible disease that is ALS. This year both the Eagles and the Red Sox wore Pete Frates jersey. Today before first pitch every single Red Sox player walked out of the dugout and touched Pete with their jerseys a tear jerking moment from Fenway.

Now it’s finally time to start the game. In the top of the first the Nationals got a quick base runner with one out which brought up Bryce Harper who hit a shot to right field and Mookie Betts robbed him of a homer. Watching this at the time we had no idea it was preview of what was to come. He and the Red Sox never turned back from that point on the Sox came out and scored 8 runs in the first 4 innings and never looked back as they only let the Nationals score 4 runs. The Nationals just did not look a major league team as the Red Sox 9-4 pumped them

Mookie Betts had himself a day and went 2-4 with a homerun 4 RBI’s and 2 stolen bases. Rick Porcello picked up the win. One of the main headlines from this game was in 8th inning one of the Sox new sluggers Hanley Ramirez fouled a ball off his toe and came out of the game. In the post game press conference John Farrell said he expects Hanley to be in the lineup tomorrow. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for this year’s sox team.