The city of Pittsburgh is still trying to recover from the complete melt down the Pittsburgh Penguins had in the Eastern Conference Quarter-finalsagainst the Philadelphia Flyers. The fans have not taken well to losing to their cross-state rival. Pens fans want some answers and they want some changes so they never have to experience the ...
Last year, I drove from Boston to Rhode Island to watch both the Eastern Conference Final and the Stanley Cup Final Game 7s. I figured that if I had the chance to watch my favorite team growing up win a championship, I would want to witness it with my dad, the person who influenced me to fall in love with this crazy sport. Of course, the Bruins won both games and I watched it all in with my dad and younger brother right beside me. Somewhere amongst the celebrations, the hugs and the complete shock, I recall my dad telling me to take everything in that’s happening, because there will never be another run quite like the one we had just saw.
Think about it: a total of 25 games including three Game 7 victories, two series of coming back from a 0-2 deficit and a first round victory that was clinched without scoring any power play goals. The 2010-11 Boston Bruins weren’t just good, they were lucky and every single fan who watched any of those games could have told you that. It was magic.
On Wednesday night, Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals between the Bruins and the Washington Capitals, that same mentality of thinking that the team was special, perhaps invincible, last year in the postseason ended up becoming the worse possible thing for every Bruins’ fan’s psyche.
Tied 2-2 on the road in the third period, Boston Bruins followers were already preparing themselves for a potential eulogy for the defending Stanley Cup Champs. Down three games to two in their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series with the Washington Capitals, the Bruins were on the precipice of their earliest exit in five seasons. Twitter ...
Nine consecutive games without a power play goal against. 37 consecutive killed off penalties. Those are the current stats for the Detroit Red Wings, who haven’t given up a goal while shorthanded through their first two games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs despite finding themselves down a man (or more) 12 times. The positive statistic ...
If complacency and a loss of focus are primarily to blame for Pittsburgh’s three-goal meltdown at the hands of the Flyers Wednesday, their inability to positively convert on any of their four special teams opportunities is running a close second. Pittsburgh counted just four shots and no goals on three power play opportunities before Philadelphia ...
As an Avalanche fan, I rooted against the Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night. For various other reasons, I’m rooting against the San Jose Sharks tonight. Generally, I’m pulling for the New York Rangers and the Nashville Predators (coincidentally, my Stanley Cup Final prediction) and I really, really hope that a lot ...
The NHL regular season has finally drawn to a close, and the Conference Quarterfinal matchups have been set. With round one of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs set to begin Wednesday night, the Detroit Red Wings find themselves part of perhaps the most intriguing matchup of the Western Conference. Finishing as the 5th seed they’ll ...
The Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals will meet Thursday in game one of their seven-game Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series. The Caps won three of four meetings between the clubs this season – but will that translate to postseason success against the defending champs? Yesterday we reviewed the Bruins and Capitals’ shared history in Part ...
Thanks to a sequence of unlikely events, the Boston Bruins will take on the Washington Capitals in an Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series. It took consecutive losses by Ottawa in regulation (plus consecutive wins by the Caps, coupled with a victory by the Panthers) to push Washington into the seventh seed. It’s certainly an exciting ...
The Detroit Red Wings are not only an annual playoff team (21 consecutive seasons, an active pro sports record), but an annual 100 point team (12 consecutive seasons, a NHL record). As such, the rest of the league is always wary of, paying attention to, and preparing for the challenge of facing them in the ...
