Go vote on ESPN.com’s SPORTSNATION. The poll is on who will advance to the 3rd round and who will win the Cup. The results so far are kinda surprising to me:
1) Which team will win the Ottawa-Philadelphia series?
36.5% Ottawa in 6
31.5% Philadelphia in 6
11.0% Ottawa in 7
9.2% Philadelphia in 7
5.7% Ottawa in 5
4.4% Philadelphia in 5
1.1% Philadelphia in 4
0.7% Ottawa in 4
2) Which team will win the New Jersey-Tampa Bay series?
43.6% New Jersey in 5
31.3% New Jersey in 6
7.4% Tampa Bay in 7
5.6% Tampa Bay in 6
5.6% New Jersey in 7
4.3% New Jersey in 4
1.6% Tampa Bay in 5
0.5% Tampa Bay in 4
3) Which team will win the Dallas-Anaheim series?
34.9% Dallas in 6
21.7% Dallas in 5
13.5% Dallas in 7
11.7% Anaheim in 6
10.7% Anaheim in 7
3.5% Anaheim in 5
2.8% Dallas in 4
1.4% Anaheim in 4
4) Which team will win the Vancouver-Minnesota series?
26.9% Vancouver in 6
21.2% Minnesota in 6
19.7% Minnesota in 7
16.1% Vancouver in 7
10.4% Vancouver in 5
3.3% Minnesota in 5
1.5% Vancouver in 4
0.9% Minnesota in 4
5) Which surprise team is most likely to advance to the conference finals?
44.5% Minnesota
23.9% Anaheim
23.3% None of them
8.3% Tampa Bay
6) Which team will win the Stanley Cup?
22.4% Philadelphia
22.0% Dallas
17.9% New Jersey
11.7% Ottawa
11.6% Minnesota
9.0% Vancouver
3.7% Anaheim
1.8% Tampa Bay
Total Votes: 40,039

Hardly anyone thinks the Ducks could win that series. I’m surprised that many people think the Wild can win theirs. I’m also surprised people think the Wild are more likely than the Ducks to win the Cup.

Some quotes from the Blues on their elimination and the possibility of a coaching change:

“I hear things about how the coaching staff couldn’t motivate a hockey team. That has to be the lamest excuse in sports. How do players get to this level without motivating themselves? Please. If you’re not able to motivate yourself in the Stanley Cup playoffs, please let us know.”
- Al MacInnis

“He’s an unbelievable coach. What’s happened this year, through all the adversity, you’ve got to give him a lot of credit. I believe in him. He should be back.”
- Keith Tkachuck

“I feel as disgusted as I’ve been in my life. Not my career. My life.”
- Doug Weight

“Personally, I felt this was our year to have something special. We blew it, we really did. We were exactly where we wanted to be, up 3-1, and we choked. You can write that. It’s pretty unacceptable.”
- Dallas Drake

I’m impressed. Good to see those guys take responsibility, instead of giving it to someone else. Quenneville is a great coach and I think it would be a mistake on the level of the Avs firing of Hartley for St. Louis to do the same to him.

I’ve heard some people put the blame on the goalie, like many people have done here in Detroit. I think that’s stupid and simplistic. Ozzie is as solid a goalie as they were likely to get. He’s won a Cup before and if the Blues defense can get up to what it used to be, the Blues might actually make a run next year, if they don’t get ripped apart by management and if the Wings don’t stop them (as they always do).

There is an interesting article on ESPN.com about the small market teams winning out on the big market teams.

Two comeback wins last night, first Ottawa came back to win 4-2 after they scored 3 goals in the 2nd period against Philly. The Flyers, by the way, equaled their goal total for last year’s 5 game series against the Senators when they scored two in last night’s game. If the Sens can keep scoring like that, maybe they will win the series. They do have some good goal scorers on their team. Next game: Sunday in New Jersey @ 7.

The second comeback win came later, the Canucks came back to beat the Wild in OT, 4-3. Vancouver was behind 3-1 in the 3rd and they tied it up with 1.2 seconds left in regulation. That’s pretty amazing considering how good the Wild are at holding leads. Lemaire said he’s pretty happy with how his team played but he can’t be very happy with them giving up a lead like that. It was also the first time the Wild gave up more than 3 goals in the playoffs. I watched the first period and saw the Wild go up 1-0, when they scored a PP goal during a mad scramble in front of the net. A few minutes later, the Canucks “scored” but it was called back because it was knocked down with a high stick. There was no doubt on that one, the guy would have had to have been about 2 feet tall for that not to have been a high stick. The teams looked pretty even to me, with the ice tipped a little bit more in the Canucks favor but the Wild did a good job of clearing the puck and doing the little things. Vancouver can definitely hit harder than Minnesota though and that will probably be a big factor in this series. I still can’t decide who I want to win…… The next game is on Sunday in Vancouver @ 10 EST.

Today’s games:
Anaheim @ Dallas, Game 2, @ 3, Ducks lead series 1-0
Philidelphia @ New Jersey, Game 2, @3, Devils lead series 1-0

Here’s a 5 day old column that’s still relevant. It basically says the Wings must do everything they can to make a run at the Cup next year because the CBA will run out in September 2004. A lockout is very possible and that whole season will probably be lost. When a new agreement is reached, there will most likely be a salary cap, which could be around $32 million. A salary cap like that would rip the Wings apart, if the lost season doesn’t do that beforehand. Players like Yzerman, Hull and Chelios will almost certainly be done after next season, especially if there is no ’04-’05 season (Hull has said that if there is a lockout, he’s done because he can’t go a year without playing). Lidstrom could even decide to go back to Sweden (he’s been saying he will for years). The Wings would have their young guys left and would still be a good team but much there will be little chance of getting experienced players if they can’t spend the money. Next year has to be the year.

It’s happening again. The Ducks beat the Stars in the 5th overtime last night, 4-3. Our buddy JS Giguere had 60 saves, 40 in OT. Turco had 51 saves. I watched some of the game and it had a lot more action than the Wings/Ducks games. There was a stretch of play in the 3rd where it was end to end for about 5 minutes, with clutching and grabbing being the main ways players were kept from scoring. The Ducks looked to be getting all the lucky breaks once again because the Stars had many chances where the puck went just wide or a pass went bad. I’m pulling for the Ducks, even though the fanatic in me wants the Ducks to be destroyed. You can’t judge the 1st round until the 2nd round is over so if the Ducks beat the Stars, theoretically, the Wings don’t look so bad, even though every Wings fan knows what would have happened had the Wings faced the Stars. Four of four games with the Stars were ties this season. That would have been an exciting series but we got stuck with the boring, lucky Ducks……

Anyway, the other playoff game last night was between the Devils and the Lightning. The Devils shut out the Lightning and won 3-0. Is anyone surprised about that? I’m not. The Devils get a lead and then shut down the other team using their insanely boring system and Martin Brodeur’s brillancy. I wouldn’t expect the Lightning to win any games in the series.

The Wild play the Canucks tonight in Vancouver @ 10:30 EST (stupid West Coast games…ugh!). Though I’ve said I’ll be cheering for the Wild, I’m actually struggling to decide which team I really will cheer for. I like the Wild and they beat the Avs, those are good reasons to cheer for them. On the other hand, they have an incredibly boring system that will probably end up killing exciting, offensive hockey in the future (I can only hope that as the Wild get more talent, Lemaire will begin to use another system). I’m not sure if I want to cheer for a team that plays a suffocating style like that. The problem I have with cheering for the Canucks is that they’re coached by Marc Crawford, the former Avs head coach who almost took Bowman down a few years ago. I guess I’ll be glad when the Wild win but not mad when the Canucks do. I won’t be able to watch many of the games anyway, since they’re all on late and school starts up again next week.

The other game tonight is the Ottawa/Philadelphia game. I have nothing to say about this except I hope the Sens win, even though I’m not so sure they will. Lack of toughness.

This also was in USATODAY a couple days ago:

News: Steve Rucchin is being heralded as the next great defensive forward after his first-round shutdown of Sergei Fedorov.
Views: I’ve always like Rucchin and have thought that he’s one of the most underrated centers in the league. But let’s face it, folks, as a defensive whiz he’s an imposter. He had the Ducks’ third-worst plus/minus this season, marking his third straight season of declining plus/minus marks. It was a lot easier for Rucchin to post positive plus/minus marks when Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya were racking up those impressive offensive numbers from 1996 to 2001.
His main value now to the Ducks is his ability to win faceoffs. He didn’t so much shut down Fedorov in the first round; he frustrated the Wings with faceoff wins and getting in the neutral zone once in a while. But everyone in the NHL knows Rucchin takes a few nights off during the season. It’s funny how the playoffs so drastically change the makeup of some players’ games.

I’ve said Sergei Fedorov is the Wings most important free agent. He still is, but only if he plays through things like the Rucchin shadow. He did not play through it this year, he instead played with no passion and is one of the biggest reasons the Wings did not advance. Last year, he was one of the biggest reasons the Wings won the Cup. If Segei can find consistency, he’ll be worth that $10 million. As it is right now, giving him that much would be a gamble because he has not shown that he will play 100% the majority of the time throughout his career. He had a good regular season but a terrible playoff, not because of Steve Rucchin but because he did not give the effort needed to succeed. Just like the rest of the Wings. With Yzerman close to retirement, Sergei needs to begin taking up a leadership role on this team, he has the talent and he can be just as good as Forsberg, if he would just play.

Today’s interesting quote:

“This is not a hockey team, it’s a cult. They’ve got a total buy-in on their system, they work hard and they’ve got excellent team speed. It’s going to be a very, very difficult opponent for us.”
- Vancouver GM Brian Burke on the Minnesota Wild