The Stanley Cup Playoffs are destroying the NBA playoffs once again, and it’s not even close

  Basketball and Hockey will forever be linked by the many similarities they share. They both play 82 games a season, at the same time of year, and often in the same building. Both have a playoff system of 16 teams competing in best of seven formats from April to June. So it is impossible to not compare how the two playoffs stack up to each other, and this year, the difference is once again staggering. To be fair, the Stanley Cup Playoffs are the best tournament in all of sports in terms of excitement and drama, but even so, the NBA playoffs are no comparison. Nearly every hockey series this Spring has had some sort of drama, with 10 of the 14 series going at least six games, five going the distance, including both of the Conference Finals series. Compare that to the NBA, which has had 7 of 14 series go five or fewer games. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, you never know who is coming out of each conference. Many people wrote Tampa Bay off down 3-2 in round one against the Red Wings. The Ducks seemed unbeatable until all of a sudden they weren’t. Every team has a realistic shot of making a deep run in the playoffs, as the last seeded Kings proved three years ago.  Even on a game by game level, the NHL has no comparison. In the Blackhawks Ducks series alone, there were six overtime periods, 120 minutes of sudden death. In the NBA, the drama just isn’t there. Of the 14 series to date, only TWO have been won by the team with the worse record, and in both instances, the team with fewer wins was the common sense favorite (Wizards over Raptors, Cavs over Hawks).  If you were to ask basically any basketball fan in December their prediction for the Finals, nearly everyone would have said Cavaliers-Warriors. There is simply no suspense or drama there, and this year is not unusual. Nearly every season, there are a maximum of four teams with a realistic shot at the NBA crown, which brings me to my larger point.

Is the NBA broken beyond repair?

  

 Out of any professional league, the NBA has by far the most predictability.  You know which teams and which players are going to be there in the end, and no matter how long a series goes, you usually know who is going to win it. And it’s getting worse. Since 2011, only one Finals team out of the 10 that advanced that far was lower than a 1 or 2 seed (2011 Dallas Mavericks).  Compare that to hockey, where the finals from 2012-2014 featured in order: 6th seed vs 8th seed, 1st seed vs 4th seed, 5th seed vs 6th seed. This year, the Blackhawks had the 4th best record in the West, and Tampa had the 3rd best in the East. In the NBA, it is once again the 1 vs the 2, just as everybody expected. Lebron James is making his fifth consecutive finals appearance, and hasn’t been tested in many of those runs. The league is becoming more star driven by what seems like the day. The ability for one player to completely takeover a game and series is only growing, for a couple of reasons. The main reason is due to the ever growing presence of the “best player gets every call” factor. Especially at home, the superstar will get every call in every big situation in that league, as if beating Lebron wasn’t hard enough by itself. And if by some miracle a call goes against a star, they’ll throw a temper tantrum for the next five minutes like a two year old. All this leads to an NBA that has so much chalk it’s difficult to watch.  Can it be fixed? I have a hard time seeing the NBA institute anything that would hinder its stars, it’s golden boys, but that’s it’s only hope. Change the refereeing, chance home court, do something!  But turn on ESPN on any given day, and there’s a 90% chance they’re talking about a basketball series which everyone knows is going 5 games max, but still pretending its exciting. Meanwhile, a seventh game in the NHL gets maybe 3 minutes of analysis from Barry Melrose, and then back to what color headband Lebron will be wearing for the next game. One day, America might realize what they’ve been missing for all these years. Until that day comes, they can enjoy those 20 point sweeps filled with grown men flopping around on the floor. I’ll be over here watching the best sports has to offer, two months of playoff hockey.

Stanley Cup Playoffs 4/21 rewind

In my opinion, we are in the most enjoyable part of the entire NHL season. The first round is approaching the midway point, and every night there are multiple games coming down to the wire of the utmost importance. Last night was no different.

Detroit 3 Tampa Bay 0

Detroit leads 2-1

  

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Petr Mrazek show. After struggling and getting pulled in a game 2 shellacking, Mrazek bounced back, making all 22 saves in the shutout of the Lightning. Datsyuk gave the Wings an early 1-0 lead, and that proved to be enough for Mrazek and company. Two third period goals, including an empty netter, provided the rest of the scoring and made the win seem easier than it appeared. After a great offensive showing in Tampa, the Bolts came out cold in this one, and have that to thank for trailing 2-1. Game 4 will be critical. If the Lightning can take it back home tied 2-2, they will reclaim command of the series.

Washington 4 New York Islanders 3

Series tied 2-2

For the second game in a row in front of a racous Long Island crowd, the Isles and Caps played to a stalemate through the first three periods. The great 8, Alex Ovechkin opened the scoring, but Casey Cizikas answered six minutes later, and after one the score was knotted 1-1. It remained there the rest of regulation thanks to strong efforts by the goaltenders, and once again we got free hockey. However, unlike game 3, this one lasted longer than 15 seconds, and ultimately it went in the other direction. Nicklas Backstrom snuck one by Halak 

Or, as ESPN put it, “hit the game winning goal”

 Edit  

at 11:09 of overtime to give Washington a massive win, having been outplayed much of the game. For the Islanders, they’d like to have this one back, failing to capitalize on chances, including four power plays, falling to 0-10 in the series. This series has lived up to the hype and then some. Anything less than a game 7 thriller would be disappointing.

  

 

Calgary 4 Vancouver 1

Calgary leads 3-1

Of all the first round series, perhaps the most surprising is happening in the great Northwest. Calgary, a team no one has expected to be here, has just run wild on Vancouver, the team expected to make a deep run. The Flames got out to a hot start, thanks to the first playoff goal of Johnny Hockey’s young career. Many many more to come from him. Vancouver tied it up, but goals from Hudler and Sam Bennett staked the Flames to a 3-1 lead, and Vancouver turtled. Calgary now has three chances to advance to the second round for the first time in a decade, while Vancouver looks doomed to another first round exit.

  

Chicago 3 Nashville 2 (3OT)

Chicago leads 3-1

The playoffs doesn’t truly start until we have our first triple overtime game. Well, the playoffs have now started. For the second time in 4 games, the Preds and Hawks went to at least two OTs, and this one went even longer. Pekka Rinne was once again awesome, the only reason this game wasn’t decided in regulation. As if over 100 minutes of hockey wasn’t enough, at one point the puck became lodged in Rinne’s padding, and it took three minutes to find. Playoff hockey, nothing like it. Immediately into the 3rd OT, Brent Seabrook, a man with a penchant for scoring the big goal, struck again and gave Chicago a stranglehold on the series. Nashville responded well from a heartbreaker in game 1, now they must do it again. Two losses of this magnitude might be too much, I think they’re done.

  

On tap tonight:

NYR @ Pittsburgh, 7:00 NBCSN

NYR leads 2-1

Montreal @ Ottawa, 7:00 USA

Montreal leads 3-0

STL @ Minnesota, 9:30 NBCSN

Minnesota leads 2-1

Anaheim @ Winnipeg, 9:30 USA

Anaheim leads 3-0

Edmonton Oilers win the draft lottery

 

 For the fourth time in six years, the Edmonton Oilers will be selecting first overall in the 2015 NHL draft, essentially winning the Connor McDavid sweepstakes. Here’s McDavid looking THRILLED to be an Oiler.

  

Edmonton will now have Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, and Connor McDavid all on the same team, but that’s no guarantee for any success. Probably the most pathetic organization in all of sports still can’t figure it out, getting four top draft picks is evidence of that. Connor McDavid has been sentenced to the worst punishment a man can get in professional hockey. Getting sent to Edmonton is the NHL equivalent of Siberia. Edmonton makes Buffalo look like a tropical paradise, and the Sabres like the Blackhawks by comparison. Speaking of Buffalo, they dropped a slot, but that doesn’t really matter. They’ve wanted Jack Eichel since the beginning, and now they’re getting him. Arizona and Toronto round out the top 4, and the Bruins remain in the 14 slot, despite the fact that I convinced myself over the past week that they would be cashing in on their 1% chance of landing the top pick. Check back a year from now when I’ll be able to copy and paste the same blog and Edmonton will be making their fifth top pick in seven years.

#PrayForMcDavid

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)

Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference First Round Previews

Apologies to March Madness, but the best tournament in sports is upon us. In a little over 24 hours, the puck will be dropped on the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs, and we are sure to be in for two months of non-stop action. Now, even though our beloved Bruins didn’t make it, there’s still plenty of great hockey to be played, especially out in the wild, wild West. The defending champion LA Kings missed the cut, so the title is wide open. All four matchups bring something special to the table, here’s what to look for in each.

C2 Nashville vs. C3 Chicago

Game 1: Wednesday 8:30 (Eastern), NBCSN

   

 

In a classic battle of offense vs. defense, the Chicago Blackhawks take the short trip South to visit the Nashville Predators.  The big news out of the Windy City is the return of maybe the best pure scorer in the league, Patrick Kane. After missing weeks with a broken clavicle, Kane has been cleared for full contact and expects to play game 1. This is obviously a huge deal for the Hawks, anytime you get your best scorer back in your lineup that makes a huge difference. Nashville has the home ice due to an incredible start to the season, but have somewhat faded down the stretch. Nashville is one of the best defensive teams in the league, and has a very strong core led by Seth Jones and Shea Weber. The Preds have the distinct advantage in the net, as Pekka Rinne is capable of being the best goalie in the league, while Corey Crawford has holes in his game including the weakest glove in the NHL. However, Crawford is the only really weakness the Hawks have. They boast two of the best players in the game in Kane and Jonathan Toews, and also have a strong defensive unit led by Duncan Keith. Nashville is very tough at home, which is why I think they hang on for a few games, but eventually the better team prevails.

Prediction: Blackhawks in 6

P2 Vancouver vs. P3 Calgary

Game 1 Wednesday 10:00 USA

   

 

In maybe the most intriguing matchup of the first round, two teams who missed out on the playoffs a year ago will do battle in the Canadian Northwest. For Vancouver, they are looking to get back to where they were a few years ago, 2011 cup finalists. The shine of the franchise has worn off, but the Sedin twins remain, always dangerous.  On the other side, the Flames are making their first postseason appearance since the 2009 season, ignited by an amazing rookie season by last year’s Hobey Baker winner and this year’s Calder favorite Johnny Gaudreau. What makes this team so special is their resiliency. They don’t have a very talented roster, but you can never count them out. On top of the tendency of Vancouver to under perform, I am picking the upset.

Prediction: Flames in 7

C1 St. Louis vs W1 Minnesota

Game 1 Thursday 9:30, NBCSN

   

 

The St. Louis Blues have had one of the league’s most stacked rosters for a few years now. From Paul Stastny to Vladimir Tarasenko to American hero TJ Oshie to David Backes, the Blues have the horses to compete for the whole thing. Each of the last two years, they have run into buzzsaws known as the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks. With that not the case this year, the Blues hope to get off the schnide and make some noise in the tournament. The Minnesota Wild were floundering for most of the season. A playoff team from a year ago was in danger of missing out, until the immortal Devan Dubnyk stepped on the scene. The journeyman goaltender has had by far the best year of his career, posting a 1.78 GAA and .936 SV% in 39 games. Dubnyk gives the Wild a chance, but in the end the Blues have too many weapons for Minnesota to compete.

Prediction: Blues in 6

P1 Anaheim vs W2 Winnipeg

Game 1 Thursday 10:30, CNBC

   

 

Like the Blues, the Ducks have a complete roster, but have not made a deep playoff run in the last few seasons. However, there is a different look to this team this season. Adversity was thrown their way with the mumps outbreak early in the season, but they overcame everything to grab the top seed in the West and almost the Presidents’ Trophy. It is time for Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry to prove why they belong on a list of the best players in the league. Anything short of the cup finals is a disappointment. Their opponent is the Winnipeg Jets, a team that snuck into the playoffs over the defending champion Kings. This team relies on the rabid atmosphere of their home barn in the Peg, a city that hasn’t seen playoff hockey since 1996, during the original incarnation of the Jets. It will be wild games 3 and 4 which might be enough to level the ice a little bit. Dustin Byfuglien is a major presence for the Jets, and needs to be his usual physical presence in order for Winnipeg to have a chance. I think they put up a good fight, but the Ducks live to see another round.

Prediction: Ducks in 7

Western Conference Final Prediction: Blues over Ducks in 7

Buzz WCF predictions

Nick: Vancouver over Chicago in 6

Tock: Chicago over Calgary in 5

Westy: Chicago over Anaheim in 6

Meaves: Chicago over Anaheim in 5

Keep on the lookout for Meaves’ Eastern Conference preview tomorrow