Monday Recaps: Rangers Take It Back, Bruins As Well

Big Monday hockey in the NHL, puck heads!! Pretty spectacular finishes to some games, while other teams just managed to get by and take 2-1 series leads. Why don't I just skip the intros and head straight to the recaps, shall we?

Here's Mondays recaps:
Rangers 1, Senators 0
Brian Boyle is certainly proving the difference-maker for the New York Rangers, and he's starting to become a thorn in the Senators' side. With a brilliant 1-0 win over the Senators they now take the home-ice advantage back and lead the series 2-1. Henrik Lundqvist made 39 saves for his fourth NHL playoff shutout.

Bruins 4, Capitals 3
I feel sorry for Capitals fans, as Niklas Backstrom is suspending pending a hearing about a cross-check to Rich Peverley's face, but if he didn't do that and give the Bruins a 4-3 win, the Capitals probably would've lead the series. Instead, they lose out on home-ice advantage and it looks like Dale Hunter could be steaming mad after seeing the play his Capitals made in this game. This has suddenly turned into a Flyers-Penguins series, don't you think?

Blues 4, Sharks 3
Sorry Sharks fans, but the Blues are just smacking people this year. Maybe it's because they're really hungry for the Cup, or they want to bring hope back to Midwest. Either way, the Blues scored on three man-advantage goals and capped off a 4-3 victory in Game 3 and allowed them to take a 2-1 series lead. Jason Arnott, Alexander Steen, Andy McDonald, and Patrik Berglund scored while the Sharks' Brent Burns, Colin White, and Logan Couture scored for San Jose.

That's the recap for Monday. Tuesday looks to be a wild fest of contests. Hope to see you all tomorrow when I recap tonight's game. In the meantime, enjoy your hockey, puck heads!

Saturday & Sunday Recaps: Kings Go Up 3-0, Wings' Struggles

Hey puck heads!

I hope you all had a marvelous and Stanley Cup-filled weekend. Did you enjoy the Kings going up 3-0? How about the Sharks blowing it against the Blues? Or maybe it's the Red Wings that has you worried. Well, I have it all right here, so let's swing on down these scores and see what is surprising so far. Why don't we go ahead and start with Saturday.

Saturday recaps:
Capitals 2, Bruins 1 (OT)
Overtime wasn't enough for these two powerhouse teams and it went to overtime, where the Capitals' Niklas Backstrom managed to seal the deal in overtime. The all-time series is now at 1-1, meaning the Capitals have home-field advantage. But can the Bruins overcome this and get back to work to Game 3? Find out in my recap tomorrow. Benoit Pouliot of the Bruins and Troy Brouwer of the Capitals each scored a goal apiece.

Senators 3, Rangers 2 (OT)
Chris Neil finally gave the Senators some breathing room and a chance to take advantage of home ice with a 3-2 overtime win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Erik Karlsson and Nick Foligno scored for the Senators while Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman scored for the Rangers.

Blues 3, Sharks 0
The best goalie tandem during the regular season in goaltenders Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak were both factors in the Blues' 3-0 victory against the Sharks. They both combined for the shootout and Sharks' Marc-Edouard Vlasic should probably be embarrassed after he tapped the puck into his own net. Then again, Dan Boyle did this two years ago against the Avalanche and still won the series. Can the Sharks do it again?

Blackhawks 4, Coyotes 3 (OT)
The Blackhawks managed to find a way to score in the closing seconds for the second game. This time, they pulled a win and are heading back to the Windy City with the home-ice advantage. Bryan Bickell scored the overtime goal for the Hawks and they beat the Coyotes 4-3 Saturday night at Jobing.com Arena.

Now that Saturday is in the books, let's look at Sunday's game and see who's in the hole and not:

Predators 3, Red Wings 2
I guess I shouldn't be happy with how the Wings played in this game. They lost to the Predators 3-2, which means Predators have the home-ice advantage back and the ability to bring terror down on the Red Wings. Kevin Klein, Sergei Kostitsyn, and Shea Weber scored for Nashville, while big men Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg scored for the Wings

Flyers 8, Penguins 4
Penguins are in a hole now. The defense is struggling and thanks to a 8-4 Flyers win, they are in a hole with no hopes of getting out. If they want to get themselves back up, defense will really need to come in and make a stand against this hot-flying Flyers defense.

Panthers 4, Devils 2
Congratulations to the Florida Panthers...for winning a game! Although they didn't get home-ice advantage back, they did get even in this series by taking a 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils. Now the series shifts to New Jersey, where we'll see if the mighty Panthers can take down the Brodeur-led Devils. Stephen Weiss scored two in this game by the way.

Kings 1, Canucks 0
I am now pissed after seeing this game. 3-0 Kings lead over the Canucks, thanks to a goal by Dustin Brown, which was all that was needed in a 1-0 Kings win over the Canucks. It looks like another 8 seed could beat a 1 seed and that's not a good sign for me, since I picked the Canucks to win the entire thing.

Those are your recaps for Saturday and Sunday. Enjoy the rest of the hockey and I'll talk to you tomorrow about the three games that are happening tonight. Will the Bruins recover? Can the Senators take advantage at home? And will the Sharks overcome the mount of the Blues goaltenders? We'll see, puck heads!

Friday Recaps: Panthers Lose, Kings Surprise

Friday night is in the books, and the road trips certainly made their presence known in these playoffs, which either means the home teams are struggling to score, or the idea of home-ice advantage is irrelevant. We'll find out in these recaps just who made their presence known and who could be a threat down the stretch. And, by the way, did I happen to mention that one of these teams made their first playoff appearance since 2000? Let's take a look at those recaps:

Devils 3, Panthers 2
The Florida Panthers played in their first game in the playoffs since 2000. However, their first playoff game ended in a loss to the competitive New Jersey Devils and a hot Martin Brodeur, who earned his 100th postseason win Friday night. Patrik Elias, Dainius Zubrus, and Ryan Carter scored in this game for the Devils while Sean Bergenheim and Kris Versteeg scored for the Panthers.

Flyers 8, Penguins 5
Flyers are owning the Penguins now-a-days, and now that they have complete home-ice advantage for the rest of the series, it seems like the Flyers have this in the bag. The Penguins have allowed a leaky defense, breakaways, and goals by the bushel to put them in this hole. Now the Penguins have things to fix and must fix them fast before the Flyers win the series and put the Penguins in a first round exit again.

Red Wings 3, Predators 2
The Red Wings took something from the Nashville Predators last night: Home-ice advantage. After their 3-2 win last night, they have three games at home to try and get past the first round. Ian White, Cory Emmerton, Johan Franzen scored for the Red Wings. Shea Weber and Andrei Kostitsyn scored for the Predators, who blew their chance to keep home-ice advantage. Todd Bertuzzi dropped the gloves with Shea Weber, which proves this rivalry is getting fierce.

Kings 4, Canucks 2
This is the biggest surprise of the playoffs so far. Now that the Kings have taken two on the road in Vancouver, they'll have a chance to seal the deal with two games at home with a chance to knock out the number one seed in the playoffs. Plus, Dustin Brown is looking mighty hot after scoring a hat trick Friday night.

Hope you enjoy the Sunday games! Will the Capitals bounce back in Boston? Will the Sharks take over the Blues? Check out all the games Saturday on NBC, CNBC, and NBC Sports Network. See ya, puckheads!

Brent Sutter Out in Calgary

While the playoffs are going on, the Calgary Flames are out of the playoffs and now their coach is out of the organization.

After failing to make the playoffs for three straight seasons with the team, Brent Sutter is finally out of the C of Red and the Flames are now searching for a new head coach to replace him.

The team said on Thursday that both sides have agreed to part ways, this coming after a meeting between Sutter and general manager Jay Feaster, in which both sides had different opinions on how the team should go and the different options they had of doing both sides of issues.

Under Sutter, the Flames had a 118-90-38 record. It went 37-29-16 this season, which was second only to Vancouver but still failed to get them into the playoffs.

Also announced is that Dave Lowry, an assistant coach for the team and a former San Jose Sharks player, will not have his contract renewed.

Surprising? Not really, in my view. Although I expected this last season when they did really poorly and finished farther out of the playoffs than they did last season. Now my second favorite team will have to search for a new head coach. I don't have any options for who the new head coach should be. If this happened earlier, I would've suggested Randy Carlyle as the next new coach for the team, but since he's already been hired by Toronto, he's out of the picture.

Honestly, I think the Flames need to figure out where their players are at and who should come back to be part of the team. I think Jay Feaster has a lot on his hands this offseason and the way things are going, it looks pretty bright and pretty dull at the same time. The new coach needs to find a way to put his players around him and show them what they are playing for: something they're not playing for this year.

As a fan, I believe in the Flames. I also believe that they'll be able to find a new coach that is strongly suited to lead this team to success. So the countdown for the new coach begins. Who will the Flames pick? And will he lead the team? We'll find out in the coming weeks, puck heads!

Picture of Brent Sutter courtesy of USA Today.

Game 1 Recaps: Coyotes Get the W, Penguins Blow It

Hey puck heads,

I'm sorry I've been gone for so long and such and haven't really been up to date on my hockey knowledge and such. But hey, when you've got college works like papers to write, films to watch, and digital stories to create, well, it gets a bit tricky taking care of that and watching hockey at the same time. That's also why I've been missing a lot of hockey games, especially Ducks hockey games. But they're out of the playoffs now and it gives me more time to write my papers and such. But there are those of you out there whose teams are in the playoffs. By the way, congratulations to Panthers fans. You actually got into the playoffs when I didn't think you would. Yet, you still have a game to play yet in the playoffs but playing the Devils is probably better than playing the Bruins or Flyers. But I'll get to you guys in a second. I want to give short recaps for the games that have happened so far. Let's start with the games on happened on Wednesday.

Flyers 4, Penguins 3 (OT)
Flyers come back from a 3-goal deficit to knock off the Penguins 4-3 in overtime at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. Jakub Voracek scored the overtime game winner. This is certainly a blow to the Penguins, who I thought had this game in the bag, but thanks to Ilya Bryzgalov and the remarkable offensive play of the Flyers, the Penguins just couldn't keep up to keep the Flyers from winning Game 1.

Predators 3, Red Wings 2
How about a team that I thought would have a solid chance at getting home-ice advantage in this first round? Well, it's not and apparently the Nashville Predators made sure that the Red Wings wouldn't win when the Predators had that home-ice advantage? Predators took it 3-2 and it made the Red Wings look at an uphill battle. Think they'll come back in Game 2? Red Wings aren't quitters, I can tell you that.

Kings 4, Canucks 2
Shocker of the series so far? The LA Kings are closer to knocking off the Vancouver Canucks, but this is only Game 1 of the series and the Kings got the home-ice advantage with a 4-2 win over the Canucks in Vancouver. Dustin Penner scored the winning goal with 3:14 left in the third period. USA Today and ESPN are calling it a "lucky bounce" but I had the Canucks winning the Stanley Cup this year and if they want to bounce back, they'll have to show the Kings who's the tough in the ever-so competitive Western Conference.

Those were the games that happened on Wednesday. Let's look at games from Thursday.

Rangers 4, Senators 2
Not exactly a miracle in New York, but it was enough to at least give the NY Rangers a 1-0 series lead over the Senators. Marian Gaborik and Brian Boyle scored minutes apart in the second period and it helped them take a 4-2 win in Game 1. Ottawa needs a bounce-back in Game 2 if they want to get past the hot NY Rangers, but the way the Rangers are going right now, Ottawa has an uphill battle.

Bruins 1, Capitals 0 (OT)
The Bruins started off their Stanley Cup defense by winning 1-0 in overtime over the Washington Capitals at TD Garden. Chris Kelly scored the only goal of the game Thursday night, while it was the Washington offense that was a no-show. If Washington wants to knock off the defending Stanley Cup champions, they'll have to find a way to beat Tim Thomas. Look at this way, Holtby is certainly proving himself as a reliable goaltender for the Capitals.

Sharks 3, Blues 2 (2OT)
Um...what? The Sharks won in St. Louis? A surprising team throughout the regular season got beat by a team that has failed to perform to the best of its abilities in the playoffs got a much-needed win against a team that performed well pretty much all year. Martin Havlat scored the game-winner in the second overtime. The Sharks now have home-ice advantage. Will the Blues be able to come back? We'll find out.

Coyotes 3, Blackhawks 2 (OT)
So many overtimes Thursday night but this one is spelling a certain chance for a Stanley Cup in the Phoenix Coyotes. Martin Hanzal scored the winning goal in overtime to lead the Coyotes past the Blackhawks 3-2. However, the loss of Radim Vrbata could really hurt the Coyotes offense, especially if Jonathan Toews is returning to the lineup. Could things turn and send it the Blackhawks way? We'll see.

Those were your recaps for Wednesday and Thursday. Tonight, Game 1 of the Devils and Panthers, Game 2 of Flyers-Penguins, Game 2 of Red Wings-Predators, and Game 2 of Kings-Canucks. Hope you all enjoy the great Stanley Cup Playoffs, puck heads! See you on the puck side!