The Boston Bruins keep talking about fortunate bounces and a dash of luck, insisting the margin between themselves and the Pittsburgh Penguins is thin.
At the moment, it looks like a chasm.
Brad Marchand scored twice during a four-goal first period and the Bruins routed the Pittsburgh 6-1 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.
"It doesn't matter what the series is at right now," Marchand said. "If they get the next one, they're right back in it. The next one is the one that's most important." It's a phrase the top-seed Penguins repeated after losing Game 1 on Saturday night to fall behind in a series for the first time in the playoffs. The inspired play they needed never materialized.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were held scoreless for the second straight contest to send the NHL's highest-scoring team slouching to Boston for Game 3 on Wednesday with its season on the line.
"Tonight was terrible, there's no other way to describe it," Crosby said. "A loss is a loss. It's frustrating. You don't like giving one like that. We really didn't do a lot of things to give ourselves a chance to win. This one we have to forget pretty quickly."
It won't be easy.
David Krejci, Nathan Horton, Patrice Bergeron and Johnny Boychuk also scored for Boston while Tuukka Rask stopped 26 shots. Pittsburgh's top-ranked power play went 0 for 2 and the Penguins were never in it after the Bruins scored three times in 17 minutes to chase Tomas Vokoun.
Brandon Sutter netted Pittsburgh's lone goal. Vokoun gave up three first-period goals on 12 shots before being replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury.
"We've gotten away from our game," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "We've gotten off our game plan."
The Bruins had more than a little something to do with it. Pouncing on every mistake -- of which there were plenty to choose -- Boston buried the Penguins early. Not bad for a team that needed an improbable third-period rally in Game 7 of the first round against Toronto to advance. In the span of three weeks, Boston has morphed from a team hanging by a thread into one capable of bookending the Stanley Cup it won two years ago.
"Winning that Toronto series created some momentum from that," Bruins forward Milan Lucic said. "We've been able to keep riding that momentum. We need to keep pushing harder."
Another nudge or two would almost certainly send the Penguins toppling over.
Pittsburgh blamed its choppy play in the opener, including a rare fight by Malkin, on an eight-day layoff, stressing there was no need to panic.
Might be time to start now.
The last 16 teams to go up 2-0 in the conference finals have advanced to the Cup Finals. The Penguins managed to escape a 2-0 hole against the Bruins in 1991 on their way to the franchise's first championship.
These days Mario Lemieux is relegated to watching from the owner's box. At the moment, the view isn't pretty.
Marchand took advantage of a sloppy play by Crosby to give Boston the lead just 28 seconds into the game. Crosby attempted to flip a bouncing puck back into Boston's zone. Marchand casually flipped it out of the air, then streaked in on Vokoun before putting a wrist shot over Vokoun's glove.
The Bruins - and Marchand - were just getting started.
Boston poured in two more goals to rattle the Stanley Cup favorites and end Vokoun's run through the postseason. Not that Vokoun had much help from the guys in front of him.
Kris Letang failed to clear the puck at the end of a Boston power play and Torey Krug kept it in and fired a slap shot at the net. Neither Vokoun, Letang or Paul Martin could grab it and Horton reached down and tapped it in between a sea of sticks to make it 2-0. Krejci's eighth goal of the postseason pushed it to 3-0, though his shot was the easy part. Jaromir Jagr and Bergeron took care of the hard part, dismantling Pittsburgh's defense with a series of slick passes that left the NHL's leading playoff scorer all by his lonesome in front of the Pittsburgh net.
"We were playing catch-up right from the start," Crosby said. "It's not a good feeling."
And it only got worse.
The score put an abrupt end to Vokoun's hot streak. The 36-year-old journeyman won six of his first seven starts after replacing a shaky Fleury in the opening series against the New York Islanders. He was hardly to blame for the loss in the opener against Boston, but Bylsma nodded at Fleury after Krejci's goal.
Fleury returned to a warm ovation and for a moment it gave Pittsburgh a jolt. Sutter snapped a wrist shot over Rask's stick with 34 seconds left in the first period and the Penguins appeared to have life.
Marchand quickly snuffed it out, rifling a shot over Fleury's outstretched glove to restore Boston's three-goal edge.
That was more than enough. Way more.
The Bruins allowed five goals in a game only three times all season. The Penguins never even came close to getting two as the NHL's highest-scoring team had trouble getting out of its own way. Players collided, tripped over themselves and seemed unable to generate any kind of energy.
Boston squeezed away all the open ice Pittsburgh enjoyed while racing to the league's second-best record. The Bruins blocked shots, poke-checked and pushed the Penguins all over the ice.
The boos grew to a dull roar when Pittsburgh flubbed a second-period power play. They dissipated late, if only because so many left after Bergeron's goal made it 5-1 only 27 seconds into the third period. There's a chance it may be the last home game of the season. The Penguins need to win at least one of two in Boston to force a Game 5.
Notes
Krejci's 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) lead all scorers in the postseason.
Pittsburgh adjusted its lineup before the game, scratching D Mark Eaton and RW Tyler Kennedy in favor of D Deryk Engelland and C Joe Vitale.
The Los Angeles Kings know all about the creeping inevitability that sets in when a team gets behind 0-3 in a playoff series. After all, that's where they put every opponent they faced on the way to the Stanley Cup title last year.
With more big points from their Siberian defenseman and even more big saves from their champion goalie, Los Angeles stayed safely out of that hole in the Western Conference finals.
Slava Voynov had a goal and an assist, Jonathan Quick made 19 saves, and Los Angeles beat Chicago 3-1 in Game 3 Tuesday night, trimming the Blackhawks' series lead to 2-1.
"This is kind of what I expected this to be when we did it last year," captain Dustin Brown said. "Last year, we were playing at a level few teams ever play at. This year, it's taking that extra effort out of us, and we're coming up with it."
Game 4 is Thursday night in Los Angeles.
Justin Williams also scored and Dwight King added an empty-net goal in the defending NHL champions' 15th consecutive home victory since March. The Kings never trailed while ending the top-seeded Blackhawks' five-game postseason winning streak, but they had to survive a tense third period with Quick's brilliance and a strong defensive effort, avoiding that nearly insurmountable three-game deficit.
"It's not something we wanted to try and test out, so it was certainly a must-win in our situation," Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi said. "We were just able to be aggressive instead of sitting back and letting them dictate the pace this time. That's what we have to do to compete with those guys."
Jeff Carter had two assists in an inspired effort, despite the absence of injured linemate Mike Richards, and Voynov had his fourth multipoint game in a prolific postseason. Every time the Blackhawks mounted their speedy attack, the Kings survived with solid defense and fortunate bounces - a combination they've been getting all spring at Staples Center.
Although they can't explain it, the Kings have won all eight of their home playoff games - nine straight dating to last season's title clincher. After their 16-4 roll through last season's playoffs, not much has been easy this year for the Kings, who haven't scored more than two goals without an empty-netter in their last eight games.
"We have a certain way we need to play," Kings defenseman Robyn Regehr said. "For whatever reason, we do a heck of a good job of it at home, and not as good on the road."
Bryan Bickell scored and Corey Crawford stopped 25 shots for the Blackhawks, who chased Quick from Game 2 and earned back-to-back home victories to open the series last weekend.
The Kings had lost five of their previous seven playoff games before getting back to friendly Staples Center and their sellout crowd. Quick also returned to Conn Smythe Trophy form in Game 3, highlighted by a dazzling late save on Bickell, while his low-scoring teammates generated just enough offense to hold off the Blackhawks, who hadn't lost since Game 4 of the second round.
"They play a lot better at home," Crawford said. "They were buzzing. They were running around a little bit more than in Chicago, but we were ready for that. We knew they would come harder. We were almost there. We almost tied it."
The Blackhawks matched their playoff low with just 20 shots, but the Presidents' Trophy winners were one good bounce away from tying the score in the final minutes.
Brandon Saad nearly had an open net after a cross-ice pass from Viktor Stalberg with 5 minutes left, but couldn't collect the puck. Moments later, Keith missed a near-breakaway at the Kings' blue line when Chicago went offside - and Quick set off a frenzy in the crowd when he stopped Bickell's fine chance late.
"We knew exactly what kind of game they were going to play, and that they would have more confidence and more energy in their own building," Saad said. "We just didn't bring that same effort and same pace. There were a lot of little thing we could do better, but that comes with our preparation and being ready to play at the highest level. We know we've got to be better than that."
The Kings played their second straight game without Richards, their leading postseason scorer heading into Game 3. The veteran center has an apparent concussion after a big hit from Dave Bolland in the series opener.
Richards' absence opened a lineup spot for promising rookie Tyler Toffoli, who has three points in the last two games. The 21-year-old AHL rookie of the year got the primary assist on Voynov's goal.
After the Kings scored just 11 goals in their previous seven games, coach Darryl Sutter shook up his lines. Slumping center Anze Kopitar was moved back to the third line, while Jarret Stoll moved up to the Kings' nominal top line between Williams and Brown.
Between the line changes and the desperation necessary in such a situation, the Kings came out with a noticeable edge and improved passing. They took the lead just 3:21 in on a strong sequence started and finished by Williams, who forced Nick Leddy's turnover before scoring on a pass from Voynov.
The two-time Stanley Cup winner has six goals in the playoffs - four in the past six games - after scoring just 11 in the 48-game regular season.
Los Angeles kept up the pressure in the second period, with Carter and Toffoli generating sustained pressure before Voynov beat Crawford, who was screened. Voynov's shot was doubly hard to stop because he broke his stick on the swing, turning it into a changeup.
The Kings got a four-minute power play moments later when defenseman Duncan Keith high-sticked Carter in the face, punctuating a bad-tempered game by opening a gash on Carter's mouth. Sutter thought Keith deserved a match penalty for the nasty play, calling it "retaliation."
But Los Angeles managed just one shot on that scoreless power play, and Bickell got the Blackhawks back in it with his seventh goal of the postseason in the final minute of the second period. Bi
The past four Stanley Cup winners have gathered for another chance at glory, franchises that have proved to be not simply visitors to the pinnacle, but at the very least residents of the surrounding area.
How rare an event is what is unfolding now in the two conference finals? According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other time in NHL history that the previous four Cup winners advanced to the final four of the playoffs was in 1945.
What makes the fact the Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins stand on the verge of another trip to the Stanley Cup finals so impressive is that a decade ago, to suggest this might be possible for any of these teams, let alone all four, would have been pure folly.
Indeed, as much as this storyline is about a sudden return to glory, it is also about teams that have overcome much -- the threat of relocation, general uninterest and malaise among their fans, questionable ownership decisions, and so on -- to become the kinds of franchise that other teams around the league both envy and emulate. "You can go beyond the NHL," league COO John Collins told ESPN.com. They illustrate the truth in the old saying, "good management wins," Collins said. "I use them all as a case study."
Not long before his team jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals, Chicago president John McDonough was talking about the energy in the city surrounding the Blackhawks.
"There's a vibration here in Chicago, I mean it's seismic," said McDonough, whose team in 2010 won its first Stanley Cup since 1961, and now stands two wins away from another trip to the finals.
"These are not just games, they are events, and I think there's a discernible difference between the two," McDonough told ESPN.com.
This isn't hyperbole. Anyone who's been to a game at the Madhouse on Madison in the past four or five years understands the reference, can feel the hair stand up on their arms at the mere thought of the national anthem.
Those moments make the club's long, dark period seem like a century ago. But during a 10-year stretch between 1997-98 and 2007-08, the Blackhawks missed the playoffs nine times. They were drawing fewer than 13,000 a night in the United Center, and were often outdrawn by the local American Hockey League affiliate as an entire generation of Blackhawks fans turned its back on the team.
But with owner Rocky Wirtz taking over the franchise following the death of his father, Bill, and McDonough coming over as president after a long and successful run with the Chicago Cubs, the Blackhawks have become one of the most successful sports franchises on the continent, on and off the ice.
Wirtz immediately moved to put all of the team's games on television, something his father did not believe in, and aggressively moved to repair the relationship between the team and its disenfranchised fan base.
"We were a little bit behind before," McDonough said, offering what can be described only as a monumental understatement.
With youngsters Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane redefining the team's image, the Blackhawks have led the NHL in attendance for five straight years. Forbes magazine reported that franchise value has more than doubled to $350 million in the past six years.
On the ice, the team has overcome having to shed a number of key parts of the 2010 championship roster to earn the Presidents' Trophy this season as the best regular-season team, including a record-setting 24-game point streak to start the regular season.
"Every year it's difficult. Making the playoffs is difficult. The competitive balance is razor thin," he said.
But the fan base following this Chicago team has evolved with the team itself. In spite of its Original Six history, research done by the club shows between 70 and 75 percent of fans are considered "new" fans.
"It's a very young demographic. I think they've laid claim to this team," McDonough said. If the Blackhawks are the kings of cool in one of the best sports markets in America, then their opponents in this Western Conference finals are West Coast cool after winning their first-ever Stanley Cup championship last June. We visited with Hall of Fame player and Kings president of business operations Luc Robitaille last season, and he talked about the selling of the team's plan to the fan base.
With only one trip to the Stanley Cup finals in Kings history -- in 1993 with Wayne Gretzky as the centerpiece -- Robitaille and general manager Dean Lombardi had to sell the promise of a future led by young stars Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty. The team had won just one playoff series over a 17-year period from 1994 until last spring, and attendance in 2008-09 had slipped to 22nd in the league.
Hard to imagine how things might have gone had the Kings missed the playoffs in 2012, as it appeared they might when Lombardi fired head coach Terry Murray. Suffice it to say there would have been a significant housecleaning.
But Lombardi's longtime friend and associate Darryl Sutter led the Kings on a remarkable 16-4 playoff run to capture the Cup.
"When you're telling a story and it comes true, it always helps," Robitaille told ESPN.com this weekend.
Youth hockey has grown exponentially in California in recent years, and an Orange County high school team this year won a national varsity championship. Attendance is as strong as it's ever been, with almost every game over the past three years sold out. This season marked the first since 1991-92 that every home game was sold out.
The lockout that delayed the start of the season until Jan. 19 didn't help in terms of being able to take full advantage of the Cup win, although the silver lining was that the team was able to use the Cup itself in more fan-related events during the labor dispute.
Still, it's hard to quantify the importance of returning to the final four just 12
Bruins center Patrice Bergeron decided late Wednesday night that the biggest obstacle to staying sharp after 95 minutes of hockey was mental.
After Bergeron's goal gave the Bruins a 2-1 victory in double overtime in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, it's the Penguins that have one giant mental hurdle to overcome.
Before a thrilled crowd of 17,565 fans at TD Garden, the Bruins took a commanding 3-0 series lead, something that has been insurmountable to nearly all as only three teams in NHL playoff history have come back such a deficit to win in a seven-game series. The last one was the Flyers, who defeated the Bruins and then went on to lose in the Stanley Cup Final to the Blackhawks in 2010.
The Bruins will try to secure their second trip to the Stanley Cup Final in three years Friday night in Boston.
"It's all in your head," Bergeron said of staying in a two-overtime game. "As long as you don't feel tired in your head, your legs are fine. Your body's cramping up, but you just have to find a way. You have to keep battling."
On the winning play, Jaromir Jagr won a battle for the puck and passed it to Brad Marchand, who fired a pass to Bergeron for the game-winner with 4 minutes, 41 seconds left in the second overtime.
"We do have that chemistry that we know where we're going on the ice, so I knew he was going to try to find me there if I was driving the net," Bergeron said. "I just went to the net and tried to have my stick on the ice, and he found me."
The Bruins reiterated all week that a serious Penguins challenge was coming after two lopsided victories in Pittsburgh, and the Penguins made good on the promise.
They fired 54 shots at Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask, but only Chris Kunitz could find the back of the net in the second period. Rask prompted the crowd to call out a long "Tooo" multiple times during the night, including at times during the Penguins' six unsuccessful power-play attempts.
"I don't think you get these double overtime games too many times in your career, so it's a memorable one," Rask said.
Goaltender Tomas Vokoun was back on the ice for the Penguins after he was benched in Game 2 after giving up three first-period goals. He made 38 saves.
The Bruins took a first-period lead for the third game in a row, and for the second consecutive game it was a quick strike.
Bruins center David Krejci took the puck behind the net, turned the corner and sent it past Vokoun from just inside the left circle 1:42 into the first period his fourth goal of the series. In Game 2, Marchand scored 28 seconds into the first period.
But Kunitz scored the equalizer off a Paul Martin pass 8:51 into the second. The goal, Kunitz's fifth of the playoffs, came after Penguins center Sidney Crosby won a faceoff.
The Penguins out-shot the Bruins 14-4 in the third period before the game headed to overtime.
Kunitz's goal helped to quiet a crowd rejoicing over the Bruins' penalty kill against one of the best power-play units in the playoffs, up until this series.
"We had the puck on the stick, people in spots we wanted to have and got great opportunities. At the end of the day, a power play goal would have made the difference in the game," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "You don't feel like you capitalized on those opportunities, especially in overtime. It would have sent us home winners."
Bruins-Penguins: Boston Bruins take commanding 3-0 series lead in NHL Eastern Conference finals - chicagotribune-com
In the spring of 1997 the Philadelphia Flyers cruised through the first three rounds of the playoffs, winning each series in five games.
The Flyers arrived in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in a decade with the expectation, at least externally, that they would cruise through a Detroit Red Wings team that had been remade before the season and featured five Russian players playing prominent roles.
They didn't.
In fact, after being crushed 6-1 in Game 3 of the finals, head coach Terry Murray referenced the team being in a "choking situation," a term that has become part of the lexicon of playoff hockey.
Whether that was accurate or not, the Flyers lost Game 4 and were swept out of the finals, and shortly thereafter Murray was fired as head coach.
History suggests, however, that despite the presence of players like Eric Lindros, Rod Brind'Amour, 50-goal scorer John LeClair and goalie Ron Hextall, the Flyers weren't necessarily chokers but rather the victims of a Detroit team that was deceivingly good.
That Red Wings team -- with future Hall of Famers Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan, Slava Fetisov and an emerging Vladimir Konstantinov -- might have been underappreciated at the time, but it turned around and won the '98 Cup by sweeping the Washington Capitals in the finals, as if to reinforce the Red Wings were the real deal no matter how much emphasis had been on what the Flyers did or did not do against them the previous year.
We were reminded of that '97 series as we watched the Pittsburgh Penguins drop a gut-wrenching third straight game to the Boston Bruins on the road Wednesday night. Patrice Bergeron, the Bruins' perpetual hero, redirected a Brad Marchand pass past Penguins netminder Tomas Vokoun with 4:41 left in the second overtime period to give the Bruins a 2-1 victory, with Game 4 and a possible sweep in the Eastern Conference finals set for Friday night in Boston.
It was a game that saw the Penguins produce by far their best performance of the series, and perhaps their best overall performance of the entire postseason.
Were it not for the fact they could not dent Tuukka Rask for that second, pivotal goal, the Pens' effort might well have been considered a perfect road game.
But the heartbreaking loss highlights the dynamic that reminds us of that '97 finals series.
So much of the attention coming into this series was on Pittsburgh and its star-studded lineup. The Penguins had been buoyed by the addition of key veterans like Jarome Iginla (who spurned the Bruins to join the Pens), Brenden Morrow, Douglas Murray and Jussi Jokinen. That made them, on paper at least, the kind of team that seemed well-positioned for another long playoff run after several seasons of postseason disappointments.
And they appeared to be peaking at the right time, outscoring Ottawa 22-11 in the second round and coming into the conference finals with the most potent power play in the postseason.
It wasn't quite the Penguins as Harlem Globetrotters and Bruins as Washington Generals, but the focus from many quarters as this series began was clearly skewed toward Pittsburgh.
But just as the '97 Red Wings were a very good team that just hadn't been recognized as such, this Boston team has not been given full credit for all of its success.
And no, that doesn't really bug the Bruins.
"Not really. We're not a group that needs the limelight, let's put it that way," head coach Claude Julien said Thursday. "We're a group that wants results. You just have to look back at how David Krejci, how Tuukka Rask has been handling this. It doesn't matter to us.
"What matters to us is what we accomplish as a group," Julien added. "We go about our business, you gain the respect from winning a game, winning a series and hopefully winning Cups. Our goal is to continue to play well and give ourselves a chance."
Rookie defenseman Torey Krug, who has been a revelation since coming into the Bruins' lineup with four goals and two assists in eight postseason games, agreed.
"I don't think it bugs us. We know what we have in this locker room. We know it's a great group of guys that comes to compete every day, and I don't think we're worried about them at all. We're just worried about ourselves," Krug said.
Yes, Game 3 could have gone either way. In that sense it was a true classic playoff tilt. But the Bruins found a way to make it go their way, just as they found a way to erase a 4-1 third-period deficit against Toronto in Game 7 in the first round.
Did the Leafs choke in that game?
Fair question, but was it choking as much as it was the Bruins rising to the occasion, imposing their will on a less-experienced team?
Are the Penguins choking in this series?
There's no question they haven't come close to the overall performance they had hoped to deliver, having been outscored 11-2 through three games. And the power play has not delivered, going 0-for-12. Their stars have not played to their potential, although captain Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and James Neal were all much better in Game 3, and all had terrific chances to win it for the Penguins.
Still -- and this is the great yin and yang of the playoffs -- is the lack of production from such great players a failure on the Penguins' part, or a grand achievement on the part of a Bruins team that has been as close to perfect in this series as a team can be?
Julien called Malkin's play in Game 3 "outstanding."
"But it's not about doing a better job on one or the other [Malkin or Crosby]. We're trying to do a great job on all of them," the coach said. "But like I said, you can only hold that team back so much, try and minimize the opportunities, because they are a potent team offensively and when it's not our guys up front it's our goaltender that's doing a good job. Our whole team has committed itself to respecting the strength of that team and doing the best job we can to defend against them."
Hockey’s Original Six is staging a revival. For the first time since 1979, when the mighty Montreal Canadiens crushed the Rangers in five games, two Original Six teams — the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks — will duel for the right to splash Champagne into the shiny silver Stanley Cup.
To add to the theater, the Bruins and the Blackhawks will collide in a Cup finals for the first time, beginning Wednesday night in Chicago, after nearly nine decades of coexistence.
Over the last half-century, the N.H.L. has expanded, not always wisely or well, to 30 teams from coast to coast and across Canada. But for 25 seasons between 1942 and 1967, its territory, like Caesar’s Gaul, was divided into three parts — the Bruins and the Rangers in the Northeast, the Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs in eastern Canada, the Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings in the Midwest.
The six franchises had survived from the birth of the N.H.L. as we know it during the 1926-27 season after the Cup became the sole property of the league. Hence the Original Six nickname.
During those 25 seasons, hockey was North America’s forgotten sports stepchild. Baseball expanded to 20 teams, including four in California. Football featured Paul Brown’s Cleveland Browns, Johnny Unitas, and Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers. The N.B.A. matured in the Boston Celtics’ reign. College basketball basked in John Wooden’s U.C.L.A. dynasty.
Hockey, in contrast, was mostly ignored, although each of the six teams was adored by its fans in a venerable arena.
In the Montreal Forum, a goal was trumpeted in French and English: “Canadiens goal by Mauriiiiice Riiiiichard.” In the Detroit Olympia, Gordie Howe was idolized as Superman on skates. After a game in Chicago Stadium, the public-address announcer intoned: “Please drive home safely. The life you save may be Bobby Hull’s.” In the churchlike suit-and-tie hush of Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, you could hear the puck skidding across the ice.
Voices in New York and Boston were seldom that respectful, especially when that era’s one referee appeared. Red Storey was greeted with a “Storey is a bum” chant by Rangers fans in the old Madison Square Garden on Eighth Avenue between West 49th and West 50th Streets. When the balding King Clancy was about to drop the puck in the old Boston Garden, a New England accent bellowed, “Hey, Clancy, we got a town named for you here — Maaarblehead.”
That was life in the Original Six era, when fans seldom had to check the number on a player’s sweater unless he was a new face. None of the players wore a helmet; they were as recognizable as your next-door neighbors. None of the goaltenders wore a mask until the night in 1959 that Jacques Plante, then with Montreal, was cut on the nose and cheek by a shot at the Garden, took 15 minutes to get stitched and then returned wearing a mask he used in practice. Never to take it off.
For the 1967-68 season, the hockey world changed. The Original Six was joined by the Expansion Six: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Oakland. To ease their arrival, the N.H.L. herded its six new teams into a West Division and kept the Original Six together in an East Division. Three seasons later, the breakup began: Buffalo and Vancouver franchises were inserted in the East; Chicago was transferred to the West.
The league soon devised what resembled a Greyhound bus timetable crisscrossing the continent. It added the Islanders, Atlanta (the team later moved to Calgary), Washington and Kansas City (the team moved to Colorado and later New Jersey) and relocated the Oakland franchise to Cleveland, briefly.
When the rival World Hockey Association folded, the N.H.L. absorbed Edmonton, Winnipeg (the team moved to Phoenix), Quebec (the team moved to Colorado) and Hartford (the team moved to Carolina). It later added San Jose, Tampa Bay, Ottawa, Florida, Anaheim and Atlanta again (whose team moved again, to Winnipeg), and Minnesota’s team moved to Dallas before another Minnesota franchise was created.
Of the early expansion teams, only the Philadelphia Flyers, alias the Broad Street Bullies, won the Cup, in 1974 and 1975, before the Canadiens of Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Ken Dryden and Coach Scotty Bowman won four in a row, notably that 1979 thumping of the Rangers’ Dave Maloney, Ron Greschner and John Davidson.
In 1980, the Islanders of Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy began a four-Cup reign, and then the Oilers won five of the next seven Cup finals, with Wayne Gretzky along for four of the titles. Of the other expansion teams, Pittsburgh and the Devils have each won three Cups; Colorado two; and Calgary, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Anaheim and Los Angeles one each. Since 1979, Original Six teams have won only nine Cups: the Red Wings four; the Canadiens two; the Rangers, the Blackhawks and the Bruins one each.
And now, in a rare reminder of what hockey was like before nearly a half-century of expansion, either the Blackhawks or the Bruins will win another.
Newly hired Edmonton Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins has at least one reason to look forward to NHL realignment next season.
For the first time since the 1997-98 campaign, each NHL team will visit every other club at least once, and that means a chance at payback for Eakins.
It was during the 2012 American Hockey League (Calder Cup) finals that Eakins’s Toronto Marlies were swept by the Norfolk Admirals and head coach Jon Cooper, who next to Eakins is the newest AHL graduate to step behind an NHL bench.
Cooper was named head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning in late March and won five of his first 16 games after taking over from another former AHL bench boss in Guy Boucher. This past season, Cooper guided the Lightning’s new AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, to the best record in the league at 39-18-8.
But it’s a series-clinching 6-1 loss at the hands of Norfolk on June 9, 2012 that probably still stings for Eakins, who leaves Toronto after posting a record of 157-114-41 in four seasons as Marlies head coach. He missed the playoffs in his first two years but won the North Division each of the past two seasons.
Hiring AHL coaches has occurred with more regularity since the Washington Capitals promoted Bruce Boudreau from their farm team in Hershey, Pa., on Nov. 22, 2007 and watched him guide the squad from last place in the NHL to the Southeast Division title, capping the season with coach of the year honours.
Strong communication skills
It’s believed the work and preparation needed to succeed as a coach in the AHL is the ideal foundation for the same post in the NHL. Strong communication skills are a must with young prospects and Eakins demonstrated his strength in that regard with the Marlies as well as his attention to detail and emphasis on strong defensive play.
Forwards Nazem Kadri, Matt Frattin and defenceman Jake Gardiner flourished under his guidance before making an impact with the parent Maple Leafs this past season.
Another AHL-to-NHL coaching success story came out of Pittsburgh, where general manager Ray Shero gave former NHL defenceman Dan Bylsma a chance to coach in February 2009 after he oversaw the team’s AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pa.
All he did was take a Penguins outfit that stood 10th in the Eastern Conference and rack up 18 wins and 40 points over the final 25 regular-season games on the way to becoming only the second coach in history to lead his team to the Cup as a midseason replacement.
Bylsma’s Penguins won no fewer than 47 games in each of the following 82-game regular seasons before going 36-12-0 in the lockout-shortened 2013 campaign, only to be swept in four games by Boston in the East finals.
In Florida, Kevin Dineen has had mixed results since becoming the 11th coach in Panthers history in June 2011 after six seasons guiding the AHL’s Portland Pirates. Dineen led the 38-26-18 Panthers to their first playoff berth in 11 years in 2012, only to finish last in the Southeast the next season (15-27-6).
Valuable addition
Jack Capuano has been a valuable addition in New York since the Islanders rolled the dice with the one-time coach of the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers in November 2010.
He guided a young group of Islanders, led by forwards John Tavares and Matt Moulson, to a 24-29-9 mark that season and followed it with a playoff appearance in 2013 and a trip to the East finals.
And Ron Rolston did his best to put smiles back on the faces of Buffalo Sabres fans in 2013 after the firing of Lindy Ruff. A man with a reputation for excellence in player development with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, Rolston led a young Sabres team to a 15-11-5 record as interim head coach. Buffalo lifted the interim tag on May 7.
Several others have traded in long bus trips for charter jets since Boudreau and experienced varying levels of success including the Islanders’ Scott Gordon (Providence), Colorado’s Joe Sacco (Lake Erie), Ottawa’s Cory Clouston (Binghamton), Minnesota’s Mike Yeo (Houston), St. Louis’ Davis Payne (Peoria) Atlanta’s John Anderson (Chicago) and Dallas’ Glen Gulutzan (Texas).
A change in the rules of the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft could bring an end to European goalies playing junior hockey in the league.
The annual import draft is a two-round process that allows the 60 teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Western Hockey League to pick the best junior-age European talent. Each team is restricted to two European players on its roster.
However, for the 2013 CHL Import Draft, which will be held later this summer, teams can select only goaltenders in the first round.
Starting with the 2014 import draft, goalies will be banned from the selection process and will have no other way to become eligible to play in the league. However, the two-player European limit will remain.
The ban would not apply to European goalies already playing in the CHL. They will be allowed to remain with their teams and finish their junior eligibility.
The move is seen by some as a response to Canada's recent inability to develop top-notch goaltenders. For the first time this year, all three finalists for the Vezina Trophy are European.
Poor goaltending has been blamed for Canada not winning a World Junior Championship gold medal since 2009; the CHL goaltender of year was awarded to Czech-born Patrik Bartosak of the Red Deer Rebels; the last time a Canadian-born goalie was the first at his position picked in the NHL Draft was 2008; and in the past five NHL drafts, three Canadian-born goalies have been first-round picks.
"For me, it's all about opportunity,” Ron Tugnutt, a former NHL goalie who spent the past few seasons working as Hockey Canada's goaltending consultant, told The (Toronto) Star on May 30. "There's nothing wrong with goalies in our country and there's nothing wrong with how we're developing them. They're just not getting a chance to step up to the plate."
CHL moving to ban European goalies - 2013 NHL Draft
With a decision on the Phoenix Coyotes possible in the next two weeks, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says the league remains focused on keeping the team in Arizona.
The NHL has chosen a new ownership group for the team, Renaissance Sports & Entertainment. But the group’s deal is contingent on a new lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena, and negotiations with the Glendale City Council are still ongoing.
During the NHL’s State of the League news conference, Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly took several questions from the media regarding the ownership situation.
Bill Daly: We're in the short strokes in Phoenix now. The ownership group we've negotiated a deal with has been negotiating with the City of Glendale. I think everybody knows what's on the table and the pot is pretty much in the City of Glendale's end with respect to how they want to deal with that.
How much time do you have left? Why not have a deadline?
Gary Bettman: No reason to. It's a been a complicated process. We, in our minds, understand that we're dealing with a time-frame but a specific day isn't going to do it but time is getting short and as Bill said, this is a decision that the City of Glendale is going to have to make.
Would Quebec City be a Plan B or Plan C?
Bettman: We're still focused on making it work with the Coyotes staying in Arizona. I don't want to begin a process, particularly publicly, where there's going to be a lot of speculation as to where the team might go, if it moved, because all that would do would be to unfairly raise expectations in places and I don't want to do that to fans in those communities. So we're just going to leave that we're focused on the Coyotes in Arizona.
Does the Phoenix issue affect realignment at all?
Bettman: Since our hope is they're going to stay where they are, it shouldn't and if the team is forced to relocate, then we'll have to look at it and make a decision as to whether or not it is impacted.
If we understand that you have an ownership in place that will only take control of the team once the city council of Glendale strikes a deal, it seems like we're working off a time-table that is controlled by the city council of Glendale. Is that correct?
Bettman: No. The answer is no. At some point, we're going to have to make a decision.
Daly: The city of Glendale knows what our decision timeline is and what are the decisions we have to make. There's no misunderstanding.
You spoken of keeping the team there and relocation. Does a third option of having the franchise in hiatus exist?
Bettman: There are myriad of options and we're not prepared to engage in speculation as to what the optionality is. The focus, at least for the time being, remains on having the Coyotes in Arizona. Obviously, we'll have lots of choices, options and decisions and at the time, if we get to that point and hopefully we won't, then we'll focus on which one is the best.
Do you need a decision on Phoenix by the Board of Governors meeting on June 27?
Bettman: Maybe... Listen, there's a Board of Governors meeting on the 27th, there's a city council meeting on June 25th. Stuff's going to happen.
Are there that many markets out there available that you could turn around and go to?
Bettman: There are a number of markets that have expressed interest to us over the years and the phone keeps ringing more regularly the longer that the Coyotes situation stays unresolved and based on the dates that we just happened to talk about ... it's causing the phone to ring even more.
Why is Phoenix still the best option for the NHL and can the franchise not just survive but thrive with new ownership?
Bettman: That's a great question so let me answer it in two parts. The first is we try to avoid franchise relocation. We try to do everything possible. We don't think it's fair to fans and we don't think it's fair, unless you have to move, to do it to communities that build you buildings. And so, we're not going to get involved in a bake-off where we're going to say, you know, we'd rather be here than there. We're going to try to preserve what's in place. That's what we've always done, even when it's resulted previously in franchise relocation, that only happens when we've exhausted all possibilities. We've now operated this club for about three years, indirectly. We've had ownership of it, we've had great support by the people on the ground ... Mike Neely and Don Maloney in particular. We actually believe that if you gave the community an owner, not the league, who said I'm committed to being here, this franchise could actually be successful from a business standpoint. We've seen what the fanbase will do with all the uncertainty. We understand the dynamics from the business community and the broadcasters and the media and people who buy suites and naming rights and all that stuff. If there were certainty surrounding this franchise, its fortunes would improve dramatically and immediately just by virtue of putting in a real owner.
Daly: No matter how this plays out, I don't think anybody can accuse of being a grass-is-greener type approach to this. We've been committed to this market. We've done everything humanly possible to make this franchise work in this market and now's the time we're going to find out whether that works.
Bettman: When the obligation that we take so seriously, it starts with the fans. But for those of you who have been to arena I worry about the arena if the team isn't there. I think it's likely to get boarded up because they won't have enough events to sustain it. I worry about what happens to Westgate and all the businesses and people who are employed there. I'm worried about the impact it may have on football stadium, of having a situation on its front steps that may not be ideal anymore and so we've taken all those things into account over the last 3 years as e've tried to make it work and that's why ultimately it's up to the City of G
Andrew Shaw skated off to the side and pumped his arms furiously.
One shot from the right point plus two deflections was just enough to beat Tuukka Rask in the fifth-longest Stanley Cup finals game in history.
Shaw skated in front of the goal in the third overtime and redirected Dave Bolland's shot into the net for the winning score in the Chicago Blackhawks' 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins in a riveting Game 1 on Wednesday night.
Michal Rozsival started the winning sequence with a shot from the right point into traffic. Bolland tipped it before Shaw got it by Rask for his fifth goal of the playoffs.
And just like that, the longest finals game in five years was over.
"We knew it wasn't going to be pretty," Shaw said. "It was a great shot, great shift. It was unbelievable. All the guys deserved this. It was a great battle for us."
Milan Lucic had two goals and an assist for the Bruins, who had won five straight and nine of 10. Patrice Bergeron scored a power-play goal and David Krejci finished with two assists.
Rask made an astounding 59 saves in the longest finals game since Pittsburgh beat Detroit 4-3 when Petr Sykora scored at 9:57 of third overtime on June 2, 2008.
Game 2 is Saturday night at the United Center.
"Get some rest, because we basically just played two games in one night here," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "But based on how it went tonight, we'll have to be ready."
The Blackhawks won for the eighth time in nine games and improved to 10-1 at home in the playoffs. Bolland and Johnny Oduya scored in the third period for Chicago, which never would have made it to the third overtime if not for an impressive performance by goaltender Corey Crawford. Brandon Saad had his first goal of the playoffs.
Crawford gave the Blackhawks a chance by standing his ground when the Bruins had repeated opportunities in the extra sessions.
Shawn Thornton and Daniel Paille skated in for a 2-on-1 in the first OT, and Crawford turned away Thornton on the doorstep. He denied Rich Peverley and Tyler Seguin in rapid succession, and helped Chicago kill off two power plays when it was whistled twice for too many men on the ice.
Nathan Horton hit the post in the first extra session, and Zdeno Chara's slap shot deflected off Jaromir Jagr and then the inside of the right post at the very end of the second overtime.
Crawford had 22 of his 51 saves in the first two overtimes, and Rask was forced to make 18 stops. The action was so fast and furious that it took a toll on the players with Horton skating off during the power play with an injury -- likely a serious one to leave the ice during that pivotal moment.
Bergeron scored on a slap shot went off the stick of Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson and made it 3-1 at 6:09 in the third period. It was just the fourth power-play goal allowed by Chicago in 59 playoff chances.
The Blackhawks responded with more pressure on Rask, who stepped up when he faced a similar attack from Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference finals. This time, he coughed up the lead, hurt by one unlucky carom.
First, Bolland converted a nice pass from Shaw for his first goal of the playoffs. The pesky Bolland had three goals and three assists when the Blackhawks beat Philadelphia in six games to win the 2010 Stanley Cup.
Then Oduya's long slap shot went off the left skate of Boston defenseman Andrew Ference and into the net for the tying goal with 7:46 remaining in regulation. Oduya's shot was going wide if it didn't hit Ference's skate.
"Not disappointed in our effort," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "There's certain things you're going to want to fix for next game. But as far as the game is concerned, it was a hard-fought game."
The sellout crowd of 22,110 cheered as Krejci and Chicago captain Jonathan Toews stared each other down for the opening faceoff of the first Stanley Cup finals between Original Six franchises in 34 years.
And it almost didn't happen.
Game 1 came exactly five months after the official end of a long and bitter lockout. The labor dispute wiped out 510 games, but the sides managed to come together in time to save an abbreviated 48-game season and playoffs.
They were rewarded with a final playoff series between two big-market teams with passionate followings and scores of top players. Led by Toews and a group of skilled forwards, the Blackhawks returned to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since they won it all three year ago. Boston won the title the following season, and the same core of players is at the center of this year's playoff run.
It was enough to attract the attention of President Barack Obama, who has a home in Chicago and made it clear who he was pulling for before the opener. He wished the Blackhawks good luck over Twitter before adding: "hope to welcome you back to the White House again as (hash)StanleyCup champs."
Boston countered with a Rolling Stone: Mick Jagger tweeted a picture of himself holding a Bruins jersey before a show at TD Garden.
Chicago landed a few big hits early on, but the Blackhawks chased the Bruins around for much of the first period. So much for all that talk about Chicago's speed and skill versus Boston's strength and power.
A missed check by Hjalmarsson proved costly when Krejci threw the puck in front of the net to Horton, who passed to a wide-open Lucic for the first goal of the series at 13:11 in the first.
Lucic set up his second goal with a little dirty work. He won the puck in a scrum along the boards, got a pass from Krejci and fired it into the right side just 51 seconds into the second period, extending Boston's lead to 2-0 with his fifth goal of the playoffs.
The two-goal lead looked like a sure bet with Rask in net, but the Blackhawks found a way to get back into the game against the red-hot goaltender. Marian Hossa stole the puck from Dennis Seidenberg in the Boston end and fed Saad, who one-timed it past
After helping the Blackhawks to a narrow victory over the Bruins in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals, the Chicago captain Jonathan Toews logged a second narrow victory over Boston on Friday when he edged the Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron for the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the N.H.L.’s best defensive forward of 2013. Toews received 1,260 points from voters to Bergeron’s 1,250.
Martin St. Louis of Tampa Bay, the N.H.L.’s top regular-season scorer, won the Lady Byng trophy for gentlemanly play for the third time. Ottawa Coach Paul MacLean won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year.
Talks to potentially bring an NHL team to Seattle began weeks ago.
Seattle mayor Mike McGinn told local NBC affiliate King 5 on Sunday that two weeks ago he and other city councillors were introduced to potential investors who wanted to bring an NHL team to the city. Not only that, McGinn also spoke with league commissioner Gary Bettman last week.
"Our message to all parties has been the same: We believe we can support an NHL team as a tenant at KeyArena, and as a potential tenant of a new arena, subject to all parties reaching agreement on terms," McGinn said.
The city has a deal in place to build a new arena that hinges on an NBA franchise coming to Seattle. KeyArena, once home to the Seattle SuperSonics, was last renovated in 1995.
The obvious target for investors to bring NHL hockey to Seattle would be to relocate the embattled Phoenix Coyotes.
"As recent news reports indicate, it appears the NHL is taking the new ownership proposal seriously," McGinn said. "But we also know from experience that it may be some time before an NHL team is located in Seattle, as the home city for the Phoenix Coyotes is working to keep them."
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly talked down McGinn's meeting with Bettman, telling King 5 the discussion was "like any number of conversations the commissioner has all the time with a variety of people."
The mayor's comments come on the heels of a report by Hockey Night In Canada Saturday, which identified two men ready to bring a team to Seattle.
According to the report, Ray Bartoszek and Anthony Lanza will purchase the Coyotes for $220 million if Glendale City Council fails to reach an arena lease agreement with prospective buyers Renaissance Sports and Entertainment.
It is also believed former NHLer Jeremy Roenick would have a front-office role with the potential Seattle team.
Renaissance has a lease agreement in principle with Glendale, but a make-or-break June 25 council meeting will likely determine if the Coyotes will receive the subsidies they need to continue playing in Arizona, according to Sportsnet.
Seattle already in talks to bring NHL team to city | Hockey | Sports | Toronto Sun
As announced earlier tonight by the National Hockey League and live on CBC'S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA, the wait is over for fans in the Ontario township of Stirling-Rawdon, the winner of Kraft Hockeyville.
After the postponement of last year's game, hockey enthusiasts will have the opportunity to see NHL® stars take the ice at Yardmen Arena in Belleville when the community hosts a 2013-14 pre-season game between the Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013.
"The National Hockey League is proud to conduct Kraft Hockeyville and is absolutely delighted that this unique initiative will resume in September," said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. "I already have congratulated Stirling-Rawdon for its passion and spirit; today I applaud its patience and look forward to the excitement the community will enjoy when the Jets and Capitals take the ice in the Kraft Hockeyville game that always is a highlight of our pre-season."
Last September, the passionate hockey township of Stirling-Rawdon celebrated its Kraft Hockeyville contest win with a Stanley Cup® parade, an NHL alumni visit and game, hockey clinics, and a $100,000 cheque presentation from Kraft Canada for arena upgrades and renovations to the Stirling District Recreation Centre.
"We look forward to participating in this season's Kraft Hockeyville event in Stirling-Rawdon, Ont.," said Washington Capitals Vice President and General Manager George McPhee. "This game represents an opportunity for NHL teams to return to their roots and give back to the communities that support them while continuing to build our great game."
"The Kraft Hockeyville program is an exciting celebration of the game of hockey and the Winnipeg Jets are proud to be a part of it once again," said Winnipeg Jets General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. "We look forward to facing off against our former divisional rival, the Washington Capitals, as well as visiting the community of Stirling-Rawdon in September."
Kraft Canada has supported hockey for more than 30 years through sponsorships and grassroots programs. Since its inception, Kraft Hockeyville partners have provided more than $1 million in arena upgrades, hockey equipment and local food bank donations.
Further information on the game, including ticket information and ancillary events, will be provided in the months ahead.
NHL And CBC Announce Participatine Teams And Date ForKraft Hockeyville Host Town, Stirling-Rawdon
The Great One firmly believes the NHL will return to Quebec City.
The Quebec capital has been without an NHL franchise since the Nordiques left in 1995. But hockey legend Wayne Gretzky said Tuesday his gut feeling is that Quebec City will again have its own pro hockey franchise.
"I think it's only a matter of time before Quebec City is going to get a franchise," Gretzky told reporters at the Joe Carter Classic Golf Tournament. "Listen, I think we all agree it's a good city and it can support an NHL team, especially now with the salary cap rules and the parity we have in the game of hockey.
"When that's going to be, it's anybody's guess but when they do come back in, it's going to be a strong, solid franchise just like Winnipeg is now and it will be as successful as they are."
The NHL made a triumphant return to Winnipeg in 2011 when the Atlanta Thrashers relocated there and were renamed the Jets. The original Winnipeg Jets operated in the NHL from 1979 until 1996 when they left for Phoenix.
The Quebec Nordiques were founded in 1972 and played in the World Hockey Association before joining the NHL in '79. But following the 1994-'95 season the franchise was sold, moved to Denver and renamed the Colorado Avalanche.
To add insult to injury for Quebec hockey fans, the Avs won the Stanley Cup their first year in Denver.
Future of Coyotes
The uncertainty surrounding the NHL's future in Phoenix has helped fuel speculation Quebec City could be a potential landing spot for the Coyotes. Trouble is, Seattle has also been mentioned as a frontrunner for the troubled club, which is currently owned and operated by the league.
Renaissance Sports & Entertainment is trying to purchase the Coyotes and keep them in Arizona. But Glendale city council must decide whether to accept a tentative lease agreement with the group.
Talk around hockey circles is if the deal isn't accepted, the Coyotes could be playing elsewhere next season. Gretzky, 52, was a part-owner in Phoenix as well as the club's head coach (2005-'06 to 2008-'09) following his playing career but couldn't shed any light on his former club's future.
"Honestly, I've not followed it at all," he said. "I don't live in Arizona anymore and you probably know more about it than I do.
"I'd be just guessing if I said anything . . . and probably so would you."
Despite the Coyotes' struggles in Phoenix, Gretzky feels there is potential for an NHL club to succeed there.
"It's a great city and it's a great sports city," he said. "When you look at franchises . . . Columbus is a great example: They turned their season around this year, they started winning, they got some excitement, they started selling out again.
"Phoenix is a very good sports city and hopefully they get the right owner that can go in there and keep that franchise in Phoenix."
Gretzky's illustrious NHL career spanned 20 seasons and was spent with four teams (Edmonton, LA, St. Louis and New York Rangers). He retired following the '98-'99 season and the four-time Stanley Cup champion with the Oilers remains the game's all-time leader in goals (894), assists (1,963) and points (2,857).
The six-foot, 189-pound of Brantford, Ont., was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame shortly after he retired.
'Never talked' to Rangers about coaching
Gretzky is presently out of hockey but was mentioned as a potential successor to John Tortorella as the Rangers' head coach. However, the New York club has reportedly hired former Vancouver head coach Alain Vigneault to that post.
"Listen, everything I have in my life is because of hockey, everything I've got to do and the places I've got to go to are because of hockey," Gretzky said. "I never talked to the New York Rangers.
"At this point and time in my life, it's nice that other people mention my name to say that I'm around . . . I'm enjoying what I am doing and right now hockey is not part of it. Is it going to be one day? Maybe. But right now that doesn't seem to be the case."
So does Gretzky miss the game?
"Oh sure," he said. "I wish I could play but unfortunately I'm too slow and too old.
"It's the greatest game in the world, yeah, I miss it."
Gretzky has watched the Stanley Cup final from afar — "I can't get tickets," he said when asked if he's attended any of the first three games — and been impressed with what he's seen from Boston and Chicago. The Bruins lead the best-of-seven final 2-1 heading into Wednesday night's game in Beantown.
"I think the hockey has been as good as I've ever seen," he said. "You've got two evenly matched teams that are doing everything they can to be successful.
"They're playing hard, they're playing fair, they're playing the right way. I think they've done a great service for the game of hockey and the NHL. It's been truly tremendous."
And Gretzky has a rooting interest in the series. He's hoping the Bruins prevail because his brother, Keith, is a scout with the club.
"So from that point of view I'm pulling for the Bruins and hope they get the chance to win the Stanley Cup," he said.
Wayne Gretzky believes NHL will return to Quebec City
The NHL instituted the shootout after the lockout last decade -- yes, it's a once-a-decade thing in the NHL -- to end ties and have games end with some excitement. Because what's more boring than a tie?
While most fans decried the atrocity the NHL had committed to the sport, introducing a skills competition, there was one thing everybody did seem to love watching: spin-o-ramas like Mayson Raymond's above. I hope you enjoyed them, because you might have seen the last of them. From Darren Dreger of TSN: Well, that makes a lot of sense, now doesn't it? Take away perhaps the most exciting thing that happens in a shootout? Players already have a hard enough time scoring, even in shootouts. This was their best weapon. Besides, I think we can all agree that outlawing a certain move in the shootout should be at the top of the NHL's priority list.
That said, the spin-o-rama has always been controversial. It has always seemed wrong and against the spirit of the attempt. The puck is supposed to be moving forward on an attempt but the spin-o-rama was always OK by the referees. That bothered a lot of people, apparently enough to change the rule.
Goaltenders were never fond of the spin-o-rama, that's for sure. So seeing this report was music to their ears, as Roberto Luongo so clearly demonstrated on his "undercover" Twitter account. Seriously, Luongo is the best, particularly on Twitter.
I have always been in the minority in NHL circles in that I like the shootout; I always took it for what it was: a fun way to finish a game. I have always felt the league could eliminate a lot of the consternation with the tiebreaker if it moved to a 3-2-1-0 point format to differentiate a shootout win from an outright win but there doesn't seem to be an appetite for that.
However, I don't like this. It's not as if every player is doing pirouettes every attempt. This does nothing but take away some of the fun from the shootout that most hockey fans already dislike. Hard to believe the league is offended by a trick in what is already a skills competition, an unnatural hockey environment.
Report: NHL likely will outlaw spin-o-rama in shootout next season - CBSSports-com
In due time, the Dallas Stars will announce Lindy Ruff as its new head coach.
Thursday, team president Jim Lites said Ruff is in line to fill the vacant position, according to a report from the Dallas Star-Telegram, barring unforeseen circumstances.
Ruff, NHL coach of the year in 2006, was fired by the Buffalo Sabres in February after spending 16 years bench the bench.
The Stars have not had a coach in place since relieving Glen Gulutzan of his duties in mid-May.
FLYERS WILL BUY OUT BRIERE
Danny Briere’s tenure as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers is over.
The club announced Thursday they will use a compliance buy out on the 35-year-old assistant captain. It cannot be processed until free agency starts July 5.
Briere had two years left on his deal. The Flyers owe him $3.75 million.
“This was a very difficult decision for us to make as Danny has been a very good player for us over the past six years,” Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said in a statement. “Danny came to our organization as a free agent in July of 2007 and has been a tremendous player, person and role model in all aspects and for that we thank him.”
Briere, who has accumulated 696 points in 847 NHL games since breaking into the league in 1997, played only 34 games in 2012-13. He was concussed in March, which shelved him for a month.
Under the new collective bargaining agreement, NHL teams can buy out up to two players each year.
Meanwhile, the Flyers are “absolutely” interested in pursuing Brad Richards if he is bought out by the New York Rangers, a source told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Richards, 33, has a cap hit of $6.67 million per year. His contract with the Rangers runs through the 2019-20 season.
BRIEFLY
Buffalo Sabres signed backup goaltender Jhonas Enroth to a two-year contract extension Thursday. Enroth, 24, will make $1.25 million per year, according to TSN … San Jose Sharks signed depth forward Raffi Torres to a three-year contract extension Thursday. Torres, 31, will make $2 million per year, according to TSN … Dallas Stars signed two minor leaguers, forwards Travis Morin and Colton Sceviour, to one-year, two-way contracts Thursday … New Jersey Devils signed forward Mattias Tedenby to a one-year contract Thursday … St. Louis Blues signed defenceman Taylor Chorney to a one-year, two-way contract extension Thursday …
NHL notes: Stars to hire Lindy Ruff as coach | Hockey | Sports | Toronto Sun
Suddenly, the four-round marathon that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs has morphed into a best-of-3 sprint to the finish line.
After four games of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final, the favored Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins are tied at two games apiece with Game 5 in the best-of-7 series Saturday at United Center (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, RDS).
So many players on each side have been responsible for delivering his team to within two wins of the championship. So NHL-com thought it would be interesting to revisit the race for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Four members of the NHL-com staff -- NHL-com senior managing editor Shawn Roarke, LNH-com managing editor Arpon Basu, senior writer Dan Rosen and staff writer Corey Masisak -- voted for their top three candidates prior to Game 5.
Here is how the voting went, awarding three points for a first-place vote, two for a second-place vote and one for a third-place vote:
Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins center
Bergeron was the most popular choice among the panel, garnering 11 points, including three first-place votes.
He has been deployed as a checking center throughout the postseason but it has not hurt his offensive production. He has nine goals and 15 points in 20 games. Four of his goals have come on the power play, and two have been game-winners
Among Boston forwards, only leading scorer David Krejci has played more minutes than Bergeron. Also, Bergeron has won 62.2 percent of the League-high 474 faceoffs he has taken, allowing the Bruins to establish the puck-possession game that is at the core of their philosophy.
Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins defenseman
Chara has been a tower of power for the Bruins, so it is no surprise he earned a first-place vote and a second-place vote from the panel, finishing with five points.
No player who advanced past the first round has played as much hockey per game as Chara, who is averaging 29:59 throughout Boston's 20-game run. He is constantly deployed against the best line from the other team yet is a plus-10.
Chara is not a one-dimensional player; he has two goals and 14 points, the second-highest total among defensemen in the tournament.
Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins goaltender
Rask has been the best goalie in the playoffs, playing to a League-low 1.83 goals-against average and a League-best .941 save percentage. His 658 saves are 77 more than the second-place goalie, Corey Crawford of the Chicago Blackhawks, has faced.
Rask has three shutouts, tied for the League lead with Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings. One of Rask's shutouts came in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, with the others in the Eastern Conference Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were the highest-scoring team in the regular season and the playoffs. He held the Penguins to two goals in a four-game sweep.
Rask received a second-place vote and a third-place vote from the NHL-com panel to finish with three points.
Others receiving votes: Marian Hossa (Chicago forward) 2, Duncan Keith (Chicago defenseman) 2, Patrick Kane (Chicago forward) 1
Trio of Boston Bruins lead NHL-com's Conn Smythe Trophy race - Blackhawks vs Bruins - 2013 Stanley Cup Final
Patrick Kane was right there again. Slicing through the middle of the ice, setting up his teammates for prime opportunities. Using his skills to beat another hot goaltender.
When it comes to the Stanley Cup finals, the talented forward just loves to put on a show.
Kane scored two goals, Corey Crawford made 24 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins 3-1 on Saturday night to move within one victory of their second championship in four years.
"This is what you work for all year, all summer, when you're training throughout the year, at training camp, whatever it may be," Kane said. "This is what you work for, this opportunity. We've got to seize the moment and take advantage of it."
Kane had a terrific postseason when Blackhawks won it all in 2010, including the winning score in a 4-3 overtime victory in Philadelphia that secured Chicago's first title in 49 years. Now he's picking up steam with the Blackhawks set to play for another Stanley Cup on Monday night in Boston, collecting seven goals in the last seven games.
Dave Bolland added an empty-net score, Toews had two assists and Bryan Bickell was credited with a team-high six hits and an assist. Toews also won nine of his 12 faceoffs before leaving with an upper-body injury.
"We're hopeful he'll be ready next game," said coach Joel Quenneville, providing the usual vague description of injuries that's so common in the NHL playoffs.
The Bruins also lost one of their key players when Patrice Bergeron was hurt in the second. It was unclear what happened to the star center, but the team said he was taken to a hospital for observation.
"As far as we're concerned, he's just getting evaluated right now," coach Claude Julien said. "Not much I can say on his situation."
Zdeno Chara scored in the third period for the Bruins, who lost consecutive games for the first time since the first round against Toronto. Tuukka Rask made 29 saves, keeping the Bruins close while they scrambled to generate quality chances.
"We just ran out of time," Rask said.
Chara got a nice pass from David Krejci from behind the net and beat Crawford on the glove side to make it 2-1 at 3:40 in the third period. The whistling slap shot by the big defenseman came after he was on the ice for five of Chicago's goals in the Blackhawks' 6-5 overtime victory Wednesday night.
The location of Chara's third postseason goal brought to mind the glove-side difficulties for Crawford in Game 4. But he held up just fine coming off the worst postseason game of his career.
"I think it was a big effort by everyone to come back, play defensively, block shots, sacrifice our bodies to block those pucks and quickly get on to offense," he said.
Crawford gloved Daniel Paille's slap shot early in the third, and the Blackhawks helped their embattled goaltender by turning up the pressure on Rask after the Bruins cut it to one. Kane forced Rask to make a couple of nice stops, and Michael Frolik also made a run to the net.
The Blackhawks survived one last push by the Bruins after they pulled Rask, and the crowd of 22,274 roared when the overhead videoboard showed the No. 1 and the Stanley Cup on the screen, signifying the team is one victory away from its fifth title.
"We understand the situation and what's at stake, but our mindset is going in there and trying to have the best game possible," defenseman Duncan Keith said. "It's no different from tonight's game."
Not so for Boston.
"It's do or die," Julien said. "We've been there before, and we've done well in that situation."
Boston and Chicago returned to the ice three days after they played the highest-scoring game in this year's NHL playoffs.
It was a marked departure from the first three games of the finals, and raised questions about what the play would be like in the last part of the series. The answer, at least in Game 5, was a return to the strong team defense and disciplined play. It meant little room to maneuver in both offensive zones, especially for the series' biggest stars - except Kane.
"Guys that have that kind of innate skill of scoring and being a top player, they anticipate like the rest of us would like to," Quenneville said.
With 2 1/2 minutes left in the first, Johnny Oduya's long slap shot broke the stick of Boston defenseman Dennis Seidenberg and trickled to the left side of the net where Kane poked it in for eighth playoff goal.
The line of Kane, Toews and Bickell, which Quenneville put back together before Game 4, struck again in the second. Bickell was stopped by Rask on a rush along the left side, but skated behind the net and threw it back in front.
The puck went off the right side of the goal as Rask got his blocker to the post. Kane then deftly backhanded the bouncing puck into the top of the net to make it 2-0 at 5:13.
"You're not going to get those chances often, so it was good to bury them," he said.
That proved to be enough for Crawford, who has allowed one goal or less in nine games this postseason. But this one had to be particularly satisfying after facing a barrage of questions about his glove over the past two days.
"I have a job to do," said Crawford, who watched from the stands when the Blackhawks won it all in 2010. "Whatever is being said doesn't really affect what I'm going to do on the ice."
Since the NHL went to a best-of-seven format for the Stanley Cup in 1939, the winner of Game 5 in a deadlocked series has gone on to win the title 15 times in 22 occasions.
Those numbers likely don't scare Boston very much. The Bruins faced the same situation against Vancouver in 2011 and came back to win the championship.
"We're going to fight," center David Krejci said. "We're going to fight with everything we have and force Game 7."
NOTES: Bruins rookie Carl Soderberg made his first career playoff appearance when Julien decided to scratch Kaspars Daugavins. The 27-year-old Soderberg played a little more than 14 mi
The Toronto Maple Leafs started the offseason in earnest over the weekend, trading for goalie Jonathan Bernier and having rumors pop up about other potential trades, including Dion Phaneuf. All that was missing was a potential amnesty buyout.
Now we have that talk, too. Per Darren Dreger of TSN, the Maple Leafs are expected to use one of their two buyouts on defenseman Mike Komisarek.
This would qualify as a non-surprise. Perhaps it would be more surprising if the Leafs had decided not to use their get-out-of-jail-free card on Komisarek. He only has one season remaining on his contract, but it carries a $3.575 million cap hit. While the Leafs aren't in apparent danger with the cap, they do have a lot of players to get under contract for next season yet so all the room helps.
Besides, it's not as if the Leafs would find Komisarek indisposable or anything. He played only four games with the Leafs this season and seven down with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL. He doesn't fit into the big club's plans, and he has a pretty big cap hit. So why not go down this road?
Perhaps the only surprise might be that it is Komisarek who is the candidate instead of John-Michael Liles. He has three more seasons at $3.875 million. Tt is possible that could happen yet, too; the Leafs have two amnesty buyouts.
Komisarek played in 45 games in 2011-12 and had just one goal and four assists. He was never a huge points guy -- his career high was 19 with the Canadiens in 2006-07 -- but his defense had become a sore spot. With his cap hit, he was an easy target for wrath. Add in some injury issues as well, and a buyout seems like the best end for everybody at this point.
NHL rumors: Mike Komisarek expected to be bought out by Leafs - CBSSports-com
Facing the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Semifinals gave the Chicago Blackhawks the chance to beat the team that has been the gold standard in the NHL for the better part of two decades.
When the 2013-14 season begins in October, a lot of other franchises may be looking at Chicago as the NHL's new model franchise.
The Blackhawks became the first franchise to win the Stanley Cup twice in the salary cap era Monday night by beating the Boston Bruins 3-2 at TD Garden in Game 6 of the Final. Given the construction of their roster, they might not be done.
"Two times. Two times in four years. There is something about this core," Conn Smythe Trophy winner Patrick Kane said. "We've got to stay together, because I think we can do some special things in the future."
There have been several new contenders for the title of top organization in the NHL since 2005, when the salary-cap era began. Other clubs have tried to build a consistent contender in the mold of the Red Wings, who won their fourth Cup in an 11-year span in 2008. The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Red Wings to win the Cup in 2009, but haven't been back to the same level in the postseason since. The Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings and Bruins each had a chance to become the first team to win twice in the past eight seasons, but all of those teams' seasons ended at the hands of the Blackhawks.
Instead, it is the Blackhawks who have won twice in four seasons and look poise to contend for years to come.
"We're as good as it gets from our perspective that we're so lucky to be in Chicago experiencing the crowd, the enthusiasm," coach Joel Quenneville said. "The city is going to go bananas again. It's a special place to play and work and coach and be a part of because the enthusiasm in the city is a different level of excitement and just feel privileged to be a part of it. It's tough to win, even though it's not back-to-back. We had two learning curves the last two years, but I thought they applied it very well this year."
When the Blackhawks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in six games in 2010, they became the poster child for the NHL's new financial climate. Cost reasons forced Chicago to jettison several key role players during the summer after the championship. Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Kris Versteeg and Antti Niemi were among those who were gone before Chicago could begin mounting a title defense.
Two transition seasons followed. The Blackhawks were able to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2011 and pushed the Vancouver Canucks to a seventh game after falling behind 3-0 in the series. They lost an overtime-filled six-game series to the Phoenix Coyotes in 2012.
However, the team's core remained intact, even as general manager Stan Bowman kept tinkering everywhere else. What transpired in 2012-13 -- from a record 24 games without a regulation loss to start the season to claiming the Presidents' Trophy and then defeating the rival Red Wings, the defending champion Kings and the 2011 champion Bruins -- was nothing short of incredible.
"It is tough to do it; 2010 was a special team both on and off the ice," veteran forward Patrick Sharp said. "The fact that Stan had to make so many decisions right after we won makes this one even sweeter. He decided to keep myself [and] a couple of other guys around. I feel proud to be part of this organization and to win it again."
If winning twice in four seasons wasn't enough, the Blackhawks have now been to the conference finals three times in the past five years -- something no other organization can say.
Even better, the 2013-14 edition of the Blackhawks won't face nearly as sizable a makeover as the one the 2010 titlists went through. There are six unrestricted free agents -- two restricted, four unrestricted -- and according to capgeek-com, the Blackhawks have a little more than $2 million in cap space. However, that number includes a couple of players -- Steve Montador and Rostislav Olesz -- who are making more than $2 million per season but did not contribute to this Cup run. There is not enough space to sign everyone. Rugged forward Bryan Bickell has earned a rather large raise and might not be back. Forward Viktor Stalberg almost certainly won't be. Backup goalie Ray Emery and veterans Michal Handzus and Michal Rozsival will be interesting decisions.
Beyond Bickell, replacements for the other players could be readily available. There are youngsters such as Jeremy Morin, Brandon Pirri and Jimmy Hayes who want to earn a permanent place on the roster in the fall.
Most important, all of the core players -- Toews, Kane, Sharp, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Corey Crawford -- are signed for next season; all of them, save Crawford, have at least two years left on their current deals.
Kane is going to get his wish, and he might just be onto something.
"I think we can be confident in what we can do as an organization," Sharp said. "That goes for the guys behind the scenes in the front office and to our leadership group. I'm proud to be a Blackhawk."
Blackhawks positioning themselves as NHL's model franchise - Blackhawks vs Bruins - 2013 Stanley Cup Final
At the moment, it looks like a chasm.
Brad Marchand scored twice during a four-goal first period and the Bruins routed the Pittsburgh 6-1 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.
"It doesn't matter what the series is at right now," Marchand said. "If they get the next one, they're right back in it. The next one is the one that's most important." It's a phrase the top-seed Penguins repeated after losing Game 1 on Saturday night to fall behind in a series for the first time in the playoffs. The inspired play they needed never materialized.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were held scoreless for the second straight contest to send the NHL's highest-scoring team slouching to Boston for Game 3 on Wednesday with its season on the line.
"Tonight was terrible, there's no other way to describe it," Crosby said. "A loss is a loss. It's frustrating. You don't like giving one like that. We really didn't do a lot of things to give ourselves a chance to win. This one we have to forget pretty quickly."
It won't be easy.
David Krejci, Nathan Horton, Patrice Bergeron and Johnny Boychuk also scored for Boston while Tuukka Rask stopped 26 shots. Pittsburgh's top-ranked power play went 0 for 2 and the Penguins were never in it after the Bruins scored three times in 17 minutes to chase Tomas Vokoun.
Brandon Sutter netted Pittsburgh's lone goal. Vokoun gave up three first-period goals on 12 shots before being replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury.
"We've gotten away from our game," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "We've gotten off our game plan."
The Bruins had more than a little something to do with it. Pouncing on every mistake -- of which there were plenty to choose -- Boston buried the Penguins early. Not bad for a team that needed an improbable third-period rally in Game 7 of the first round against Toronto to advance. In the span of three weeks, Boston has morphed from a team hanging by a thread into one capable of bookending the Stanley Cup it won two years ago.
"Winning that Toronto series created some momentum from that," Bruins forward Milan Lucic said. "We've been able to keep riding that momentum. We need to keep pushing harder."
Another nudge or two would almost certainly send the Penguins toppling over.
Pittsburgh blamed its choppy play in the opener, including a rare fight by Malkin, on an eight-day layoff, stressing there was no need to panic.
Might be time to start now.
The last 16 teams to go up 2-0 in the conference finals have advanced to the Cup Finals. The Penguins managed to escape a 2-0 hole against the Bruins in 1991 on their way to the franchise's first championship.
These days Mario Lemieux is relegated to watching from the owner's box. At the moment, the view isn't pretty.
Marchand took advantage of a sloppy play by Crosby to give Boston the lead just 28 seconds into the game. Crosby attempted to flip a bouncing puck back into Boston's zone. Marchand casually flipped it out of the air, then streaked in on Vokoun before putting a wrist shot over Vokoun's glove.
The Bruins - and Marchand - were just getting started.
Boston poured in two more goals to rattle the Stanley Cup favorites and end Vokoun's run through the postseason. Not that Vokoun had much help from the guys in front of him.
Kris Letang failed to clear the puck at the end of a Boston power play and Torey Krug kept it in and fired a slap shot at the net. Neither Vokoun, Letang or Paul Martin could grab it and Horton reached down and tapped it in between a sea of sticks to make it 2-0. Krejci's eighth goal of the postseason pushed it to 3-0, though his shot was the easy part. Jaromir Jagr and Bergeron took care of the hard part, dismantling Pittsburgh's defense with a series of slick passes that left the NHL's leading playoff scorer all by his lonesome in front of the Pittsburgh net.
"We were playing catch-up right from the start," Crosby said. "It's not a good feeling."
And it only got worse.
The score put an abrupt end to Vokoun's hot streak. The 36-year-old journeyman won six of his first seven starts after replacing a shaky Fleury in the opening series against the New York Islanders. He was hardly to blame for the loss in the opener against Boston, but Bylsma nodded at Fleury after Krejci's goal.
Fleury returned to a warm ovation and for a moment it gave Pittsburgh a jolt. Sutter snapped a wrist shot over Rask's stick with 34 seconds left in the first period and the Penguins appeared to have life.
Marchand quickly snuffed it out, rifling a shot over Fleury's outstretched glove to restore Boston's three-goal edge.
That was more than enough. Way more.
The Bruins allowed five goals in a game only three times all season. The Penguins never even came close to getting two as the NHL's highest-scoring team had trouble getting out of its own way. Players collided, tripped over themselves and seemed unable to generate any kind of energy.
Boston squeezed away all the open ice Pittsburgh enjoyed while racing to the league's second-best record. The Bruins blocked shots, poke-checked and pushed the Penguins all over the ice.
The boos grew to a dull roar when Pittsburgh flubbed a second-period power play. They dissipated late, if only because so many left after Bergeron's goal made it 5-1 only 27 seconds into the third period. There's a chance it may be the last home game of the season. The Penguins need to win at least one of two in Boston to force a Game 5.
Notes
Krejci's 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) lead all scorers in the postseason.
Pittsburgh adjusted its lineup before the game, scratching D Mark Eaton and RW Tyler Kennedy in favor of D Deryk Engelland and C Joe Vitale.
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