Well, the time has come to dust off the ol' 8-Ball again and this time it's the Sharks who have to rest behind it. This team is in tough going into Game Four in Chicago, having only a few bright spots to carry them through this series, but no wins to show for those efforts.The Sharks are up against elimination on Sunday afternoon, but not only elimination, the possibility of getting swept in these Conference Finals, by a team that was coming into this series as a lower seed. You could say that the Blackhawks were coming into this series playing much better hockey and looking like the better team, but for statistical purposes, the Sharks were the favourites in the standings coming in.
If the Sharks are going to pull this game out of the fire, they are going to need one of those solid road games that everyone keeps talking about. They have to pay no attention to the ruckus in the crowd, they have to remain composed and diciplined, while keeping their mistakes to a minimum. We all know that Evgeni Nabokov is a good goaltender and can make timely saves, but there are very few goalies of the past and present that can save a team on a regular basis when said team makes mistakes in front. The Sharks can score, they have plenty of talent, but they are going to have to generate their offense from playing defense and that will be the key to Game Four. If that doesn't come about, then all is lost.
For the Blackhawks, the game plan is simple. Keep doing what you've been doing. You have to be impressed with what the Blackhawks have been doing in this series and there should be no reason to quit or even let the Sharks back into the series. That would just be absurd!
| Team | Scott G. | Neil B. | Myles D. | Kalenab G. | Leo M. | Stuart G. | Derek B. | Russ D. |
| Points | 236 | -2 | -8 | -11 | -12 | -13 | -13 | -15 |
| Patrick Sharp | x | x | x | x | ||||
| Dustin Byfuglien | x | |||||||
| Brian Campbell | x | |||||||
| Patrick Kane | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Jonathan Toews | x | x | x | x | ||||
| Marian Hossa | x | x | x | x | ||||
| Duncan Keith | x | x | x | |||||
| Brent Seabrook | x | |||||||
| Joe Pavelski | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Manny Malhotra | x | |||||||
| Ryane Clowe | x | x | ||||||
| Dan Boyle | x | |||||||
| Joe Thornton | x | |||||||
| Dany Heatley | x | x | x | |||||
| Evgeni Nabokov | x | |||||||
| Jason Demers | x | |||||||
| Mac-Eduoard Vlasic | x | |||||||
| Rob Blake | x | x | ||||||
| Patrick Marleau | x |
As you can see from the table, the Flyers and Canadiens game did good things for Scott G., who will now have to face the onslaught of offense again in Game Four of this series. I believe I've said it before, Scott would be awfully happy if this series was to end sooner rather than later.
I think one of the more interestiing bits going into Game Four was the addition of Derek B. to the table above. He managed to destroy the Joe Pavelski domination that was going on and he added Patrick Marleau, who was discussed when pointing out players who wasn't on this table. Very interesting. Of course, these are all moot points when the Sharks are eliminated, but Marleau's scoring in Game Three was enough to lift Derek onto the table, so we can celebrate that at least.
I think we all sort of know the score for this series in the pool, if the top guns of the Blackhawks keep scoring at the pace that they are, everyone gets a little bit closer to Scott (if not passing him) and for the most part, if the Sharks can get their top guns to score (ie. Joe Thornton and Marleau), that's just more points that Scott won't get and people could catch him that way.
I'm looking forward to watching this game and personally hoping that it's over and done with so the possibility of getting to the Cup Finals is a little faster.
The Flyers were definitely good enough in Montreal on Saturday afternoon, as they came through the 60 minutes with three good road periods to upset the Canadiens chances of making it a closer series. I think the panelists between CBC and TSN had it right, the Flyers had to withstand the speed of the Canadiens early on, but they worked hard to then keep it all to the outside and away from Michael Leighton, making his job easier. The defense was absolutely excellent for the Flyers, blocking shots, creating turnovers and making it really hard on the Canadiens own defense. A 3-0 win was a perfect statement game for the Flyers, who now head home to the Wachovia Center on Monday to try and close out this series.
The confirmations are coming in this morning that both Jeff Carter and Ian Laperriere are going to be in for the Flyers for Game Four, which makes the Flyers a better team, in theory. Carter hasn't played for the Flyers in a month with a broken foot and Laperriere has been out for a few weeks after blocking a shot with his head and suffering some bruising in and around his brain. This could be a pretty good lift for the Flyers, but is it enough to sway the home-ice advantage away from Montreal?
The Chicago Blackhawks did indeed prove that this series is far from comparison with the Eastern Conference battle, as there isn't as much fight between the two teams in the West as there is in the East. The Sharks did show up a bit in Game Three, but it would have been an absolute crime if they didn't. The Blackhawks were ready for them, however, forcing the momentum back in their favour most times the Sharks would have a good push or a power play in their favour. It was almost as if the Blackhawks were toying with them a little bit.
Making good use of your opportunities... that's what the Montreal Canadiens were able to do against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, as they climbed back into the series with a home victory, beating their Eastern Conference Final opponents, 5-1. The Canadiens obviously got a lift from the home crowd and likely some home cooking to beat the Flyers at their own game and the Canadiens were able to beat a team when outshooting them in the game. 
More news of going under the knife on Thursday morning, as Buffalo Sabres defenseman, Craig Rivet, will undergo surgery this week to repair a nagging shoulder injury. There isn't a great deal of details surrounding this injury or the surgery itself, but the Sabres do seem confident that Rivet will be at camp and ready to go, possibly a week or two late at the worst case scenario.
The Detroit Red Wings announced on Wednesday that they have re-signed Mattias Ritola to a 3-year deal, just outside of his entry-level deal. Ritola, 23, has been toiling around in the Red Wings system for the past couple of seasons putting up some okay numbers. The real kicker for Ritola is that he'll get a good opportunity to make the Red Wings starting line-up, because at his age and being signed on for over three years with the team, he has to clear waivers in order to be sent back dwn to the minors. If this kid has the talent to warrant a 3-year deal, he might be worth while to be picked up, especially at the low cap hit of $516,666 per season. 
It's primarily a polar opposite from the East in this Western Conference Final, as the road team has now won the first two games of this series and now has full home-ice advantage, instead of needing their home-ice advantage to stay alive. The Chicago Blackhawks forced a fairly heavy (and pesky) hand in Game Two in San Jose. They not only frustrated the Sharks with a somewhat lopsided score on the board, but managed to have the Sharks superstars boil their tempers over.
Again, it has been a little while since I've posted the Game-Winning Goals logo, so I thought I would here today, just to bring back some fond memories and tell you about Russ D., who stormed out into the lead in the race. Russ has got himself a firm grasp of things in the bonus points race, thanks to being the only team to pick Daniel Briere, especially down the stretch of the Philadelphia/Boston series. Russ now leads the way with 17 GWGs in the pool, which is 4 better than his nearest competitor, Chris M.. These bonus points have also lifted Russ into 5th place in the pool, only 10 points out of 1st place.
With back-to-back shutouts, I'm sure there are a few teams wishing that a couple of teams had some injury replacements in net and then have them post back-to-back shutouts. Well, Michael Leighton has come in for the Flyers in Brian Boucher's stead and has done well to open the series against the Montreal Canadiens, taking the first two games at home in Philadelphia. Unfortunately for the Playoff Pool, Boucher was the goalie of record for the Flyers, so all of these shutout points are getting lost in pool oblivion. 
The Boston Bruins had all sorts of changes up front and on the defense and really lacked some consistency throughout their line-up, except for in goal. You would think it was going to be the 2009 Vezina Trophy winner taking the reins in 2010, but no, it was his younger protege taking over in Tuukka Rask. Rask and Thomas pretty well split the time in the net through the whole season, but it was Rask leading the team in minutes and wins by the dust settled. Rask appeared in 45 games for the Bruins, picking up a record of 22-12-5 with 5 shutouts and 3 assists, which totals 57 points for the pool. Those 57 points were good enough to be the best Bruins player in the pool, 22nd best goalie, 89th overall.
As you can see, the bar was set pretty low for the team's best players, so why did the forwards drop the ball in 2010? Injuries to some key players kept scoring down from the team's forwards all year. Those who did lead, managed to play in 70+ games, but they were not good enough as a team to put up more scoring than they did. Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci led the way with 52 points each, but Bergeron had the edge in goals for his picture to be posted. Mark Recchi ranked 3rd in forward scoring with 43 points in 81 games, while Blake Wheeler had 38 points in 82 games. Injuries to Marc Savard and Milan Lucic can be looked towards as big turning points in the team's scoring in 2010, so take that into account when you are thinking about their 2011 numbers.
The Bruins blueline had a better showing in terms of their rankings, with three defensemen finishing in the top 100 of the positional scoring. Zdeno Chara finished 16th among all blueliners, which is down for the big man, with 44 points in 80 games, but you may be able to chalk that up to the lack of power play punch the Bruins had from all of their injuries. The Bruins acquired Dennis Seidenberg at the trade deadline and he was good enough between Florida and Boston for 32 points in 79 games, which ranked him 44th among all defensemen. Dennis Wideman had a bit of a down year in 2010, with only 30 points in 76 games, but he still finished in 49th among defensemen, so it wasn't a write-off year. If some of the Bruins talent up front can stay healthy enough and work that power play into some better shape, I would think that their numbers would be much better in 2011.
Repeating as the reigning Vezina Trophy winner is harder to do than it looks nowadays. A 17-18-8 record in 43 appearances with the Bruins will likely do that to a guy, but adding 5 shutouts to that total makes his record a little easier to stomach. Tim Thomas finished the season with 44 points, ranking him tied for 4th in points on the team, 168th in the league and 28th among goalies. That means the Bruins had two goalies in the top 30, which was a nice insurance policy for the team that had to really battle for their playoff spot at the end of the year. I'll be curious to see how the Bruins approach their goaltending in 2011.
Unrestricted free agency is going to play a large part in the Bruins Summer, with names like Mark Recchi, Dennis Seidenberg, Johnny Boychuk, Miroslav Satan, Steve Begin, Shawn Thornton and Mark Stuart all heading that way for July 1st. Most of those names were very important to the Bruins in 2010 and it will be interesting to see what kind of numbers the team would drum up for some of these pending UFAs. Recchi, Begin, Satan and Thornton all made $1 million or less in 2010, so there may be some minor raises there, thanks to their successes in 2010, but all could be wrapped back up in Bruins colours before too long. Boychuk may warrant a nice pay raise after a very good year in Boston, gaining some respect for his tough style of play.
I think I was at one point saying that there may have been a few players that overachieved in 2009 could have been somewhat correct, as there were a few players that did drop down in their production, but in most of those cases, you could attribute that to injuries for the most part. The Bruins did have some turnaround in their roster and still managed to pull off a decent position in 2010, but overall, it would have been wise to be skeptical about picking them in your 2010 fantasy team. 
The Buffalo Sabres re-signed gritty forward Mike Grier to another 1-year deal on Monday afternoon. His cap hit was not immediately disclosed, but his numbers and rankings have stayed the same over the past few seasons, so I believe it would be fair to assume that he will have a cap hit of about $1.2 million again in 2011.
Much like the Red Wings, who were looked at a couple of days ago, the Penguins received an early finish to their Summer, but not before playing a whole lot of hockey over the past few seasons. With the amount of hockey and the number of commitments these players have nowadays, the ability of making it to the Stanley Cup Finals in back-to-back years, winning it once, is a marvel, in my opinion. Dropping out in the second round for the Penguins is not necessarily a step back, rather a step towards getting some well-deserved rest. The Penguins have only been out of the playoffs for a couple of days, but the critique of their departure seems rather harsh, seeing as though they have done a lot more than 28 teams in the league, the Red Wings being the only one who draws comparisons.
Unlike the Red Wings, the best player on the Penguins had himself a banner year and didn't have to leave it up to a team effort to carry them along in 2010. Sidney Crosby was by far the Penguins' best player in the year and he put up a good banner year, even by his own high standards. Crosby had himself a share of the Rocket Richard Trophy for the league title in goals with 51 and finished in a tie for 3rd in pool scoring with 109 points, 2nd among all forwards, thanks to his goal total. Remarkably, in the five seasons he's played in the NHL, he's never finished on top of pool scoring, finishing 2nd or 3rd a combined three times. Nevertheless, Crosby is a pretty good lock for a top three pick in anyone's draft and it can never be a surprise to suggest him being a 1st pick overall, because of his all-around game. 
Depth of scoring at the forward position did have some issues to overcome, especially with injuries. Evgeni Malkin was one of those players that were hit with injuries, playing in only 67 games and registering a mere 77 points. Malkin was the top dog in 2009, but only managed to finish 30th in pool scoring in 2010, but I would imagine he'll still be a top draw for the draft this Fall. The Penguins scoring depth does drop down dramatically after Malkin though. The Penguins acquired Alex Ponikarovsky from the Leafs and he finished 3rd among Penguins forwards with 50 points in 77 games, while Jordan Staal had 49 points in 82 games, Bill Guerin dropped a little to 45 points in 78 games, but Pascal Dupuis moved up to 38 points in 81 games. With so much money tied up in superstars, the Penguins will have to work hard to find some good scoring depth to play wing for their great centres. Once you start picking and choosing your centres from this team, be very wary of who else you pick up, especially after free agency hits this team in the Summer.
Defensive was a little bit better in 2010 for the Penguins, as Sergei Gonchar managed pick up some of his form, but an injury did sideline him for a little too long. Gonchar finished 6th in blueline scoring with 50 points in 62 games, but that is now back-to-back years with hurtful injuries, especially to hockey pool teams. Finishing 6th in defense scoring does help his argument to be picked high again, but he is becoming an injury concern. Alex Goligoski had a good 2010, jumping up the rankings thanks to a 37-point season in 69 games. Goligoski was ranked 32nd among defensemen, up from being 93rd in 2009. He is definitely developing well. Kristopher Letang had a down year with only 27 points in 73 games, but I would expect those totals to bounce back. 2010 rental player, Jordan Leopold added some good depth down the stretch, but a concussion hurt him in the playoffs. Leopold will enter free agency with a season of 26 points in 81 games under his belt.
The Penguins got some more excellent goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury in 2010, but it wasn't his best numbers of his career. Fleury did manage to win 37 games this past season, with only 1 shutout and 1 assist to go with them, picking up 77 points for the pool. That put Fleury in 12th among all goalies in the pool, down from being 9th in 2009. I don't think there should be too much concern, as he has seen a lot of hockey in the past couple seasons and now he'll know what he has to do for conditioning in the off-season. Brent Johnson had a good season as the team's back-up in 2010, picking up 21 points and ranking 44th among all goalies. He's definitely in the conversation about top back-ups in the pool, for whatever that's worth. 
Unrestricted free agency should be the biggest concern of the Penguins, but only in some cases. Of course there were rentals at the Trade Deadline like Alex Ponikarovsky and Jordan Leopold, both of whom will likely be taken to market on July 1st, while Sergei Gonchar, Bill Guerin, Matt Cooke, Ruslan Fedotenko, Mark Eaton and Jay McKee will all have to have some consideration, some more than others. It's a pretty long list of UFA's with only $11 or $12 million left in the budget and we haven't even listed the RFAs that will require new deals in July.