Did you see some of the cheap shots the Penguins put on Timonen? Anyway, I think players sometimes take advantage of what a clean hit is. Guys are getting hit close to, but still out of the play/off the puck. The refs just aren't calling those.

Anyway, looks like chicago evened the series with a 6-3 win. Maybe they are that good. All I know, is that taking a road game early really helps when you're the lower seed.

Did you see some of Varlamov's saves in the Caps-Pens game? The dude is absolutely on fire. He had a .944 save percentage that game and this is against a very good scoring team. Both teams in this series have significant firepower, but the Caps have the edge at goalie.

I noticed a lot of dirty hits during the last round, it seems to just be a part of the playoffs. I wasn't able to catch any of the games because of other stuff... saw the first few minutes of the Canucks v Blackhawks game but nothing happened then. I'm just happy Red Wings beat the Ducks, even if it was close.

yeah.... quite a bit of dirty hitting.... and it is somewhat something of the playoffs - more intense playing and such - but it's really not anything new. There are plenty of injuries related to head shots in the league.

I'm of the opinion that if they really want to clamp down on dirty hits then the suspension shouldn't be so short.

If you get someone taking a dirty hit that is suspension worthy then I think there should be a provision that allows the league to suspend the player until the other teams player is medically cleared to play. Although there would probably be some room for abuse of this I don't think it would happen very often.

Either way I think the intentional hits to the head need to be dealt with more severely.

And yeah, Chicao beat the Canucks.... which was too bad. Although now I hope the Nucks fans that were giving Calgary a hard time for losing to this team can shut up now. Chicago is a good team with lots of young talent that seems to only get better as the playoffs go on.

I honestly thought Washington and Pittsburgh had already played before the Washington win the other day and I was convinced that the series was tied 1-1.... I must have been tired when I was thinking that.

The Devils need to win the cup again.. I haven't followed hockey in a long time, but next season I plan 2 go checkout a game..

yea, the Devils are already out. Carolina beat them

"Either way I think the intentional hits to the head need to be dealt with more severely." YES, so true. The penalties for intentional hits to the head should be one-game suspensions or ejection.

and kimbo, the devils have been gone for a few days. you obviously don't follow hockey even the slightest if you didn't know that.

So.... the way things look as of -right now-!!!!!

Washington is up 2-0 over Pittsburgh. More than likely the Pens will rally at home and win the next 2. Although if Ovechkin takes over another game like he did offensively then Pittsburgh is in trouble. I still see that series going to 7....

Boston and Carolina are all tied up. Good effort by Carolina to get the win in spite of that second period goal not being counted. I agree with the call though. It wasn't 100% clear if the puck crossed the line and thankfull Carolina still won the game so it didn't become a decisive factor. Still a big deal for Carolina to take one of the game in Boston. This series might have more to it than I previously thought.

Anaheim and Detroit are playing as I type this out (2nd intermission) and Anaheim is winning this game 2-1. The series is tied 1-1 after an amazing triple overtime game which I got to watch. Wow! Both goalies did fantastic. Hiller made 55+ saves for the win. Both teams must be tired from that though. I bet there was no practice on Monday to let them rest up from that. Although it was a day game so they weren't up until midnight playing. We might see Anaheim go up 2-1 by the end of the night!!!!! Part of me wants to see the last years champs get taken out so we know we'll have a new champ this year.

Canucks and Blackhawks played tonight.... Canucks retook home ice advantage with a win in Chicago. Glad to see it. It seems like the Canucks started playing defence first and worried about offence as opportunities presented themselves. Solid performance by Luongo in net which is also a good. 5 straight goals in game 2 was brutal. Still I think this series will also last the 7 I predicted. Chicago will rebound and take game 4 I think.

Penguins need to step up. I know they are planning a White Out for the next game... I get updates on Facebook. Hopefully the fan enthusiasm will help them get back on track.

While I would like to see the Red Wings go down, I don't want the Ducks to be the ones to do it.

Sorry, but the Pens are just outmatched. The Caps are on fire and Varlamov has been dominant. I think back at home, the Pens will take one of two, but I just can't see more than a 6 game series.

Now I need to know...what is up with the giant-killer Ducks? They're up 2-1 on the RED WINGS now!

The Canucks pulled off a big win on the road to go up 2-1 in the series. They will win in 5 or 6 I figure, depending on the result of the next game

Boston, despite their first loss, will bounce back...and strongly. They're the best team in the East right now and they can probably still win in 5.

maybe they've been outmatched by 2 players (ovechkin and varlamov).... but if Malkin had actually shown up for either of the first 2 games this series would be different. Hopefully he picks up his effort in game 3 and we can see a more overall performace from Pittsburgh.

The rest of Washington hasn't been outplaying Pittsburgh. Game 1 was close and while game 2 was only a 1 goal difference the real difference maker in that game was Ovechkin who won't score 3 goals every game for the rest of this series. Pittsburgh will make changes to deal with him. And it's not like they can't score on Varlamov. They have scored 5 goals on him in 2 games. That's probably not enough to win but it's not like he's getting shut outs either.

Yeah, go Ducks!!!! They're not actually an 8th place team though. Look at their top 4 defenceman and their top offensive line. They should has ended the season a little higher in the standings but they didn't.

Yeah, Boston will come back with a strong effort. Their top players were blanked in that second game and they will come back looking for goals. Although I also see going home to be a big boost for Carolina.

And Canucks are hopefully going to go up 3-1 in their next game. They managed to beat Chicago at home which is promising. And they managed to shut down the offence of Chicago which is even better. Canucks in 5!!!

Crosby won't score 3 goals every game either. Game 2 had 2 hat tricks ya know. Also, maybe a reason Malkin is underperforming is that they're playing him well. And by the way, there are 3 players with 10 or more points this playoffs on the Caps.

And look at Varlamov's saves. So far, he has 67 on 72 shots, a .931 save percentage.

EDIT: 1-0 Caps so far. Go figure, Ovechkin scored
1-1 after 2. Varlamov is amazing, with 22 saves on 23 shots so far. The Caps had a weak period with only a couple shots. They'll come out strong in the 3rd

Oh look at that... Malkin showed up and had a good game and Pittsburgh won! I guess I called it.

And that Ovechkin goal could have been scored by anyone he was just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time on that one.

I agree that Varlamov is doing really well.... him and ovechkin are the reason why Washington is up 2-1. He deserves most of the credit for their success.

[edit] uh oh! Carolina won.... now they're up 2-1 on Boston. It's by no means over yet though.... Boston is good enough that they'll come back but it's still gonna be tough to win 3 out of 4 games....

It's just so weird that a guy who only played 6 games in the regular season could be such a beast in the playoffs. And did you see the last goal? It went off a Caps defender and Varlamov even got a piece of it.

Wow, Boston really isn't doing so well. I'm starting to think they can't pull it off. I just don't think they have the offense to win.

Well, it's actually not a surprise to me.... Hiller is doing the same thing. It's because they haven't had to play 82 games in the regular season so they are both fresh and rested.

The same thing happened in Calgary with Kiprusoff in 2004. They picked him up at the trade deadline and he played the rest of the season for Calgary but that was all that he had done all season basically. He was freash for the entire playoffs and basically stole games for that team. I really think that in order to be successful in the playoffs that you need 2 solid goalies or a solid fresh goalie.

And yeah, Boston is having trouble.... sweeping a series isn't all it's cracked up to be. I don't think they are as mentally tough as Carolina is. Carolina fought hard to beat the Devils and so they've got the grit to win tough games. Boston breezed through Montreal and now they've got an opponent that is pushing back and they're not dealing with it well.


Opinions on the possibility of the Coyotes moving to Canada? It's mostly rumor right now because it's only been offered by someone to purchase and move them but it's possible. I personally would love to see another 2-3 Canadian teams. With an equal dollar a Canadian city can support a team just as well as an American one especially with the salary cap in effect. I wouldn't mind seeing a Winnipeg team come back too. Not sure where else a team could be supported right now but I wouldn't mind seeing more of Canada in the NHL.

Yay, Penguins are getting their s*** together!

You know, it did surprise me to learn just how few Canadian teams are actually in the NHL. I mean, the stereotype of the typical Canadian is all about beer and hockey (no offense) so why are their so few teams? I mean, both Phoenix and Dallas have teams and those cities are in the middle of f***ing deserts!

Canada had 2 more teams than it does now but when the dollar went to .63 cents against the US it bankrupted 2 of the teams and they moved south of the border (into the US )

Now that the dollar is closer to par and has been for a while I don't see why another canadian team or 2 instead of how many there are in southern states wouldn't be bad.

Get rid of Tampa Bay lightning or Florida Panthers.... and move Phoenix already! I don't know why the NHL is trying so hard to force teams into markets that don't want them.

Florida was pretty good this year; they barely missed the playoffs. However, they should move the teams rather than get rid of them. You are correct about the NHL forcing teams into the wrong areas. They would fit better in other places and generate higher revenue

yeah.... I honestly can say that I didn't get a single game from the SE division on TV this year. I got games from every other team except that division.

Now I get a lot of games in Canada, I have 5 different stations that regularly show games because they get an audience.... but I didn't watch any SE division games played in the home city.

Florida did do pretty well, but that doesn't mean that moving them would be bad.... if the team is good in Florida they'll probably be even better in a stronger market. I just hope to see a few more Canadian teams.

Oh, I said we should move them, just not get rid of them. I wasn't sure what you meant before so I assumed the wrong thing.

But there really should be more Canadian teams, because you guys watch a lot of hockey, probably more than we do.

oh easily more than you do.... I watch games involving teams that have no bearing on the West for the sake of watching a hockey game.

and yeah, I meant move for sure. You can't add expansion teams and then get rid of them 15 years later.... that's just bad.... at least move them to more profitable areas. Winnipeg or Hamilton could support a team. Probably even a team in Quebec City again would be doable. There are even more people now than there were back when there were teams in Winnipeg or Quebec City so it might be even easier to have those teams back.