Habs Stay Alive in a Wild One

What a game to bloody well miss to go play slow pitch!

The Canadiens, in the fight for their playoff lives, down 3-1 in the series going into Game Five, took their home-ice advantage and ran with it.  Well, to a point, I guess.

Four goals on 19 shots in the first 27 minutes of the game chased Henrik Lundqvist when the score was 4-1.  The Habs then took their foot off the gas pedal, it seemed, and a couple of bad bounces went the way of the Rangers, as they stormed back to tie the game in just over seven minutes from the 4-1 goal.

But wait, there was more!  Less than a minute later, Rene Bourque scored to put the Canadiens back in the lead and they never looked back from there.  A couple more goals in the 3rd, including a hat-trick goal for Bourque and the Canadiens escaped elimination again, with a 7-4 win.

With 11 goals in the game, you would have thought that the pool would have been overflowing with points, but there were a lot of points lost in limbo, thanks to players not in the 24 selected to be on the sheet.  The notable pool players in this game were Alex Galchenyuk (goal & assist), Max Pacioretty (goal & assist) and Andrei Markov (3 assists) for the Habs, while Derek Stepan (2 goals), Ryan McDonagh (2 assists) and Rick Nash (goal & assist) were notable for the Rangers.

It also sounds like there are going to be some hearings for players for some supplementary discipline, as John Moore, taken seven times in the pool, will get a call for his blindside hit on Dale Weise in the 3rd period.  They may be some other casualties, but none of them are going to be pool-related.

It wasn't noted in the Game Four notes, but Derek Stepan did miss that game after undergoing surgery on his broken jaw, an injury he suffered from a Brandon Prust hit in Game Three, but he was back in the Rangers line-up for Game Four and played an offensive role in their comeback from 4-1.  Stepan has 5 goals and 8 assists in these playoffs, good for the three teams that had taken him in Box 15.

Hawks Tank On Empty, Down 3-1

There's no question that the road to back-to-back Stanley Cups these days is beyond difficult, but trying to win three in the four years seems like a monumental task and I will give the Chicago Blackhawks credit... they have been giving it a good go here in the 2014 playoffs. But no, it doesn't appear to be the case, as the Los Angeles Kings look like the fresher team and Game Four was a good indication that they won't be derailed from this trip to the Finals.

The Kings were able to man-handle the Blackhawks in the 1st period, putting pressure on the visitors, turning pucks over in the offensive zone and then making them pay.  Jake Muzzin, Marian Gaborik and Dustin Brown all registered goals in the opening frame, taking that 3-0 lead and they never looked back.  The two teams traded goals in the 2nd period for a 4-1 score, then traded another couple goals in the 3rd for a 5-2 final and the Kings made perfect use of home-ice advantage, turning the tables on the Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks didn't have any more than nine shots in any one period in the game, as the Kings played their shutdown hockey to a tee, where Jonathan Quick only had to make 22 saves in the game for the win.

The notable pool players in Game Four for the Kings were Quick, Brown and Muzzin, who were already mentioned in the post, as well as Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams, who each chipped in with a couple of assists.

Game Five will go in Chicago on Wednesday, where I would expect a flurry from the Blackhawks to start the game, but if it looked anything like it did in Game Four, it won't last for very long and shouldn't be all that trying for the Los Angeles goaltending.  I can see the Kings waiting out the storm and then providing the kill shot early.

Good news for Dale B., as his team was able to climb back into 2nd place with the Los Angeles win on Monday night, now sitting only 2 points back of Gus M.'s first team and 2 points up on his second team.  Corey M. continues to hold out in 4th place, extending his gap over 5th place to 3 points.

Travis G., who sits in that 5th position, continues to lead the round with 43 points, through Monday night.

Game-Winning Goals
Credit for the winning goal on Monday went to Dustin Brown, his first bonus point of these 2014 playoffs.  Brown, taken 10 times in the pool, made a few extra friends with his extra point and he got a nice quaint paragraph in this post too.

Former pool leader, Don D., still leads the whole she-bang in bonus points, as his team has collected 19 of them, but his team has dropped down to 7th place, thanks to a lack of players heading into the round.  Unfortunately, his team just couldn't find the points, other than lighting the lamp to win games.

The highest team in the category that sits in a money spot... 4th place Corey M. leads the money leaders with 14 bonus points, which is good for a tie for 5th in the category.

Rangers Win Another Great Game

It was another solid tilt in the Big Apple on Sunday evening, as the New York Rangers played host to the Montreal Canadiens in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Finals. Both teams had their chances, goalies were on the ball, no team really pulled away from the other and we found ourselves in extra time for the winner again. This series has been nothing short of entertaining, at least.

With the way these two teams have been playing, it should come as no surprise that the goals in this series, for the most part, have been coming by way of mistakes, either in coverage, turnovers or on the special teams (maybe even a combination of those mistakes).  Carl Hagelin opened the scoring with a shorthanded breakaway goal, thanks to some blown coverage; Francis Bouillon scored on an odd-man rush in the 2nd period to tie the game; Derrick Brassard exposed a passing lane up the middle and scored on a breakaway slapshot and P.K. Subban scored from the point on the power play to tie up the game in the 3rd period.  When the goaltenders were not hung out to dry, they played exceptionally well.

In the overtime period, play only lasted for about six minutes before Martin St. Louis slapped his second game-winner of the playoffs.  The Rangers finished the game with a 3-2 win and a 3-1 series lead, putting the Habs behind the 8-ball, heading back to Montreal for Game Five on Tuesday.

Notable scoring in Game Four... St. Louis had the winner for 2 points, Hagelin had a goal and an assist, Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves for the win and David Desharnais for the Habs had a pair of assists.

With the Rangers' victory, both of Gus M.'s teams are now on top of the pool standings, thanks in large part to Lundqvist and company.  Dale B. continues to sit in the money, only 1 point out of 2nd place, while Corey M. still holds 4th spot, a couple points back of Dale.  Travis G. appears to be poised to take a money position here soon, only 1 point back of Corey, while John M. is trying to close the gap on the money teams, being one of the better teams in the Conference Finals.

Kings Bend, Then Snap Back

Game Three of the Western Conference Finals has given more proof to what we learned in Game Two and that is that the Los Angeles Kings do not fear trailing the Chicago Blackhawks, rather that their resiliency will always keep them in these games and could very well be what puts them through to another Stanley Cup Final.

The Kings trailed early in Game Three, as Jonathan Toews capitalized on a turnover while shorthanded, breaking in and scoring for the early 1-0 lead.  The Kings answered back on the same power play, as Slava Voynov blasted one through a maze of players, only 50 seconds later.  Toews was the recipient of another fortunate bounce, sending his Hawks to a 2-1 intermission lead, but that wasn't to deter the Kings at all.  2nd period goals from both Jeff Carter and Tyler Toffoli flipped the lead around for the 2nd intermission, as the Kings went to the break up 3-2.  A Drew Doughty marker midway through the 3rd was the insurance they needed, as Patrick Sharp tallied with five seconds left, making it a 4-3 final.

Los Angeles was not rattled with that early flurry of Chicago goals, rather, they stuck to their game plan and played it out well.  By the middle of the 2nd period, they were showing the Blackhawks that they had control of this one, which doesn't bode well for the series.  It may be that Chicago is now starting to show their weary legs from the amount of hockey they've played in the last few years, something that happened to the Boston Bruins in their series against the Montreal Canadiens.

Game Four of the series will now go on Monday night, which goes as a 7pm MT start.  The Kings will look to make perfect use of their home-ice advantage.

The Mallis teams are dominating the Conference Finals in the playoff pool, as John M. leads the round with 34 points, moving up to 8th place in the process, while Gus M.'s teams are 2-3 in the round, with 32 and 31 points, the latter being the pool overall leader, with 212 points.

Dale B. still has some hope of staying in the money, as his team managed to claw a single point back on Gus' first team, sitting with 211 points, but looking at the round totals, Dale hasn't been getting nearly as much production to stay there as he may have wanted.

Corey M. rounds out the top four, tied with Gus' second team with 208 for 3rd place, dropping to 4th on the tie-breakers.  It does look like Travis G. is going to track him down, as Travis is also among the pool leaders in the Conference Finals, with 31 points in the round, so far.

It's a pretty good race out there this year, even if the four pool money spots are dominated by three people.

More Home-Ice Disadvantage

The Montreal Canadiens had their backs up against the wall going into Game Three, heading into enemy territory, but they stayed composed and kept the Rangers in check.  There were some hairy moments, but the Habs got the job done, taking a 3-2 overtime victory out of Madison Square Gardens, climbing back into the series.

Montreal went down in the 1st period to a Carl Hagelin goal, but followed it up, early in the 2nd period, when Andrei Markov scored his first goal of these playoffs, tying up the game.  The game remained tight, looked destined for overtime in the 3rd period, but not before a scrambled play saw Daniel Briere bank one off Ryan McDonagh, giving the Habs a late lead with only three minutes to go.  One good bank deserved another, as Chris Kreider deflected a shot back to the middle of the crease, deflecting of Aleksey Emelin's skate and in behind Dustin Tokarski with only 29 seconds left, ultimately sending the game into overtime.

In the extra frame, it didn't take long for the Habs to strike again, as the overtime only lasted 72 seconds with an Alex Galchenyuk goal, as the puck deflected off his chin and in behind Henrik Lundqvist for the winner.

Galchenyuk, taken once in the pool, was the only notable pool player in the game, scoring the winner and coming away with his first 2 points of the playoffs in only his second game.

Islanders Sign Halak

The New York Islanders have sewn up their goaltender for the 2015 season, as almost three weeks from the day they acquired the rights to Jaroslav Halak, the team was able to sign him to a new 4-year deal, worth $18 million.

In the 2014 season, between St. Louis, Buffalo and Washington, Halak finished 36th overall in pool scoring with 29 wins, 5 shutouts and 1 assist for 69 points.  That placed him 13th overall for goalies in pool scoring, coming ahead of the likes of former teammate Brian Elliott and the guy who replaced him in St. Louis, Ryan Miller.

Halak will also see a raise in his annual cap hit, as his dent was $3.75 million in the 2013 season and it now goes up to $4.5 million for the next four years.

The pool outlooks for each NHL team will be released in the coming days and with the Islanders' look, we'll touch quite a bit on Halak, so stay tuned!

Statement Made: LA Won't Let Chicago Get Away

Boy, when they say that teams don't want to give up those last minute goals in a period, the Los Angeles Kings gave a good example as to why. Those momentum shifts into an intermission can be a killer.

The Chicago Blackhawks were looking to make good use of home-ice advantage on Wednesday night, trying to go up 2-0 in the series before the two teams flew off to Los Angeles to play Game Three this weekend.  With a 2-0 lead in the game, late into the 2nd period, the Kings were able to strike late in the frame, thanks to a Justin Williams marker.  That's where it all went South for Chicago.

To start the 3rd period, Brandon Bollig took an early penalty, putting the Blackhawks down a man and it was Jeff Carter that made him pay with a goal, only 23 seconds into the man-advantage.  The avalanche of offense had begun, as the Kings scored again on another power play, three minutes later, then tacked on another two goals before too long and then Carter completed his hat-trick with an empty-netter with three and a half minutes to go.  Six unanswered goals from the Kings and it was a 6-2 final, tying up the series at one game a piece.

Carter finished the game as the marquee name, scoring the hat-trick and adding an assist for a 4-point night, while Jake Muzzin got credit for scoring the winning goal and Jonathan Quick made 25 saves for the victory.

What does this all mean?  Well, it means we have a new leader in the pool, as Gus M. has made his move to overtake Dale B., thanks to his Kings contingent.  Oh yeah, did I mention that Gus has two teams in the pool?  Right.  Well, they are now both in the money as well.  I'm not sure how this is supposed to work, but it did.  If I had to guess, it looks like he's going to finish 1-2 in the pool, thanks to the Rangers.  What a gamble!  It's paying off... twice.  How crazy is that?

From Holiday Monday, No Holiday For The Habs

You don't think I forgot about Monday night's game, did you?  Nah, I wouldn't do that.  This whole 'going back to work after a long weekend' thing is for the birds, I'll tell you that.  Well, that's have a quick look at what Monday had for us and what it meant to the pool.

The Montreal Canadiens had the chance to tie up their series against the New York Rangers, but being without Carey Price, that task became somewhat mountainous.

The task of backstopping the comeback attempt fell to rookie goaltender Dustin Tokarski, who had his winning ways throughout his career well-documented before the game.

The Canadiens got off to a rocket of a start, pushing the pace in the first 10 minutes of the game, which included the opening goal from Max Pacioretty.  Unfortunately for the Habs, their momentum was short-lived, as 17 seconds later, Ryan McDonagh answered with the tying goal and it was like Montreal just had no answer for the rest of the game.

Rick Nash scored to take a 2-1 lead before the end of the 1st and Martin St. Louis added a 2nd period marker and that's all the Rangers would need, as they ended up taking Game Two, 3-1, as they headed home for Madison Square Gardens with the chance to sweep the Canadiens.

Nash, McDonagh, Derek Stepan and Henrik Lundqvist were your notable players in Game Two, each coming away with 2 points a piece.  Those who were banking somewhat on the Rangers were in luck, as they have been the better team through the first two games and have no sign of letting up either.

There was one positive note for the Canadiens, as Box 17 forward, Alex Galchenyuk, dressed for his first game of these playoffs. He has been out since the regular season with a knee injury, but made a full recovery to play. Sadly, he was deemed ineffective, as a -1 with a minor penalty in 13 minutes of ice-time. Getting his timing back will be key, especially if the Habs are to have any chance at making a return in this series.

Gus M. is now pouring on the pressure on Dale B., thanks to his New York players, as he now sits 3 points back and is taking all the good points away from this series. Don D. has dropped down to 3rd, while Corey M. is in 4th.

John M. currently has the Conference Finals lead in points with 17, but his team currently sits in 13th and will need a bigger push than this to make his move up to any prize position before the Cup Finals.

Elliott Keeps St. Louis As His Home

It may only be the middle of May, but the NHL silly season is rapidly approaching. After the Cup Finals, we'll have the Draft and then the Free Agent Frenzy.  Well, a signing in the middle of May has opened the door for some more questions in the silly season, as the St. Louis Blues have re-signed goaltender Brian Elliott to a 3-year, $7.5 million deal on Monday morning.

In the announcement of the deal, the Blues have made their intentions clear that Elliott and prospect goaltender, Jake Allen, will be the team's goaltending tandem, which means veteran goaltender Ryan Miller will pursue a new deal as an unrestricted free agent, come July 1st, if not sooner, pending a deal to get a deal done with another team.

Before the deal that brought Miller in from Buffalo to St. Louis, Elliott was sharing the goaltending duties with Jaroslav Halak and the team was dynamite, especially Elliott.  The newly re-signed keeper made 31 appearances in the 2014 season, winning 18 games, earning 4 shutouts and adding 2 assists, giving him 46 points on the year.  Given the limited amount of time, 46 points was a pretty good number, as he was good enough for 1.7 points per 60 minutes on the ice he played, a number clearly better than the 23 goalies ahead of him in points had all year.

It seems likely that Elliott should get the longest look in training camp to be the number one guy, but he will see a good push from Allen, who didn't get a chance to show what he has learned in the minors in the 2014 season.  If you're starting your hockey pool homework early, I would be putting a nice early boost on Elliott's projected numbers, likely in the 80-85 point range.

Habs Rolling Back Price From the Series

Although the Canadiens coaching staff suggested that pulling Carey Price in Game One of the series, after the 2nd period had concluded, was not injury related, the news on Monday morning suggests otherwise.

Price appeared to have suffered the injury when Rangers forward Chris Kreider collided with the keeper on a rush, where he lost his footing and took out Price's right leg.  The injury is believed to be the knee, but we'll have to wait and see what more comes of it.

The team announced in the morning skate presser that Price will not only miss tonight's Game Two of the series against the Rangers, but that he is not expected to play in the remainder of the series, leaving the job up to Peter Budaj and/or Dustin Tokarski.  Clearly, a huge loss to the framework of the success of this year's Montreal team.  Of course, there won't be any word on the injury itself until after the playoffs conclude for the Canadiens.

Price has accounted for all 8 wins that the Canadiens have in these playoffs and has included a shutout in this post-season, giving him 18 points in the hockey pool, putting him in a tie for 4th in pool scoring and was in the running for top goalie honours, assuming that Montreal could bounce back from their Game One loss and go on to win the series.

Price was taken seven times in the hockey pool, but none of those picks appear in the top 10 in the pool standings.  Remarkably, Henrik Lundqvist, Price's counterpart in the series, appears once in the top 10, Gus M.'s first team, which could end up being the biggest benefactor of this injury.

Game Two goes tonight (Monday) in Montreal, 6pm MT start on CBC.

Blackhawks Continue To Roll

The Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings opened their Western Conference Finals rematch on Sunday afternoon and it didn't look like the Blackhawks really missed a beat from one year ago, when they beat the Kings in five games. Despite the amount of hockey, players from both teams, had played in the last 12 months, the pace was pretty quick, as they both looked for win number nine in these playoffs.

With the way these two teams operate, there is a solid belief that breaking through a 1-0 lead from the other side could be the more difficult of all situations.  The Kings made the first mistake of the game, taking the only penalty of the opening frame and the Hawks capitalized on it with a blast from the point, tipped in by Brandon Saad.  In the 2nd period, Chicago nearly had a 2-0 lead, but a controversial decision to pull back a Jonathan Toews goal, to which the Kings answered the bell, with a Tyler Toffoli goal, only seconds later, tie game.

The series of events wasn't a let down for the home team, however, with a Duncan Keith point shot making it through traffic to re-take the lead, midway through the 2nd period.  The biggest push from the Kings came in the 2nd period, as they managed to get 17 pucks through to Corey Crawford, only picking up the one goal.  In the 3rd period, the Blackhawks didn't look back, holding their opponents to only four shots on net, while Toews managed to get a goal in the end, making the final score, 3-1.

Marian Hossa, Brandon Saad, Duncan Keith and Corey Crawford are your multiple-point players in the hockey pool on Sunday and with all the Blackhawks players that were taken, I'm sure there were a good number of those in a number of combinations.

Game Two of the series will not go until Wednesday night, a 6pm MT start on TSN.

Between the first two games of the Conference Finals round, Stacey M. has the lead in the round's scoring, with 14 points, but her team sits a ways back in 19th place with 173 points. Six teams in the pool have yet to register a point in the first two games of this series and the highest ranked team of those is in 29th place, Don C.'s team.

Dale B. holds a 5-point lead, as his is the first team to hit the 200-point mark in these playoffs.  Don D. pulled a couple of points upon Corey M., while Gus M. has his first team in a tie with Corey's squad.  195, 193 and 193 points, respectively.

In the 2012 playoff pool, the last time we had one, the top score for the entire pool was 197 points, as players dropped like flies from some serious upsets then.  Who expected the New Jersey Devils in the Finals?  In the 2011 pool, the winning team finished with 313 points, so I am going to wager that this season will finish right in the middle of those two.  The format of the pool hasn't changed since it's first time out in 2007, which had a finish of 226 points in 1st place.

Rangers Open Series With A Case Of Whoop-Ass

Welcome to the Eastern Conference Finals!  The Montreal Canadiens did something that they hadn't done much of in these playoffs in Game One against the New York Rangers and that was making the visitors feel at home in their own building.

The rocking Bell Centre didn't dissuade the visiting Blueshirts from playing some uptempo hockey, taking the game to the hosts, who have been rather inhospitable in the two previous series in these playoffs.

The Rangers hit the scoresheet early on Carey Price and the Canadiens, scoring twice before the 7-minute mark of the game.  They took the 2-0 lead into the 2nd period, where the Habs made it a game at 2-1, but that was as close as they would come.  A couple of late 2nd period goals from Chris Kreider and Brad Richards made it 4-1 and that forced Price from the net, as he didn't come out for the 3rd period.  Peter Budaj came on in relief and that didn't seem to help out the cause, as the Rangers continued to steam roll across the ice, scoring three more times in the first five minutes of the final frame, leading the way to a 7-2 victory.

If you banked on the Rangers at all in these playoffs, you probably came away with a reasonable handful of points.  Ryan McDonagh led the way from the blueline, scoring a goal and adding 3 assists for a 4-point afternoon.  Mats Zuccarello also added a goal and 2 assists, while Martin St. Louis, Rick Nash, Derek Stepan and Henrik Lundqvist all came away with a couple points each.

One injury note from Game One, as Rangers Box 18 forward Derrick Brassard left the game with an upper-body injury and his immediate status was labeled as day-to-day.  Brassard was hit by Montreal's Mike Weaver in the 1st period, forcing him from the game and his status for Game Two is considered to be questionable/doubtful.  Brassard was taken four times in the hockey pool this year, including by our pool leader, Dale B..

Game Two of the series will go on Monday night, 6pm MT on CBC.

The offensive explosion from the Rangers changed the landscape of the money positions a little bit, as the have's and the have not's were separated immediately.  Dale B. increased his lead to 6 points, sitting at 198 points.  Don D.'s second team didn't register a point, but still has a tie-breaker to sit in 2nd place with 192 points, tied with Corey M., who picked up a couple points in this one.  A new team joined the money, as Gus M.'s first team had a big game, moving into 4th with 188 points, 3 points better than Tom H., who fell into 5th, failing to register a point in Game One.

Game-Winning Goals
We haven't really had a look at the bonus points in a little while, so we'll have a quick peek at those right now, shall we?

First of all, the bonus point from Game One between the Rangers and the Canadiens was lifted from the pool, scored by non-pool player, Chris Kreider.  Disappointing, but it happens.

Don D.'s second team continues to lead the pool with 19 bonus points, which has been one of the leading reasons his team has been able to stay near the top of the standings.  Sheldon M. sits in 2nd in the column with 16 and then Don's first team has 14.  Only 14 out of the 47 teams have 10 or more bonus points thus far in the pool, which seems awfully low.

Conference Finals Preview, By the Pool Numbers

In the Eastern Conference, it is another one of those classic Original Six match-ups, as the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens go head-to-head.  This series has the makings of a classic, with a goaltender battle, which lights up the marquee over both buildings.

The Rangers go into the Conference Finals as the underdog in selections for the hockey pool, as there was very little belief that they would have made it as far as they did.

New York has the combined number of 71 selections in the pool, led by Mats Zuccarello in Box 17 with 14 and Marc Staal in Box 22 with 11.

In terms of scoring, Henrik Lundqvist leads the way for the Rangers, with points from his 8 wins, making 16 points, heading into round three.  Brad Richards finished the Division Finals with 11 points, including a couple of bonus points.

Our pool leader, Dale B., has three Rangers on his side: Zuccarello, Derrick Brassard and Staal.

As for the Montreal Canadiens, their 104 selections puts them ahead of their Conference Finals counterpart, giving some hope for a Canadian team to make the finals... if you're into that sort of thinking.

The most popular Montreal players in the pool were Box 18 forward David Desharnais with 21 picks and Box 20 defenseman P.K. Subban with 19 picks.

On the scoresheet, it should come as no surprise that Carey Price led the way with his 8 wins and 1 shutout, good enough for 18 points.  Also in the double-digits was Subban, who finished the second round with 13 points, including a game-winner.

Going back to Dale B.'s team, he has two Habs on his side, defensemen Andrei Markov and Aleksey Emelin.

If matching up the numbers between the boxes is something you're looking for, the Canadiens lead the number of selections in seven out of the 12 boxes, with the Rangers leading in four and there is one even box, as Emelin and John Moore each have seven picks in Box 23.

Scoring by the boxes... the Rangers match-up favourably, leading in seven boxes to four with one draw, Box 21, as both Dan Girardi and Andrei Markov each have 5 points.

In the Western Conference, we have another match-up between the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks, a rematch of the 2013 Western Conference Finals, where the Blackhawks took the series in five games, as they headed for another Stanley Cup win.

The Kings go into the series as the hockey pool underdog, with only 87 picks to their name.  With the number of underdog success stories in these playoffs, this might bode well for Los Angeles.

The most popular players for the Kings this year are Box 8 defenseman Drew Doughty with 14 picks and Box 12 goalie Jonathan Quick, with 13 picks.

The Kings are rocking the best player in the scoring race this year, as Anze Kopitar leads all players in the hockey pool with 20 points, including 1 game-winner.  Quick has 18 points, followed by Justin Williams with 12 points and Jeff Carter has 11 points.

Who is Dale B. watching from Los Angeles?  Kopitar, Doughty and Quick.  That's going to be tough match-up to beat for any pool team.

The Chicago Blackhawks were one of the favourites for the Stanley Cup, as they ranked 3rd among all playoff teams in selections with 125.  They were the favourite in the Western Conference to come out, leading all teams out this way.

Patrick Kane was the most popular Chicago player taken, with 18 picks to his name.  The picks were spread around pretty well for Chicago, as Jonathan Toews finished with 15 picks and four others had 14 picks each.

Goaltender Corey Crawford has the lead in scoring for the pool, with 8 wins and a shutout for his 18 points.  Toews goes in with 14 points, followed by Kane with 13, followed closely by Marian Hossa and Brent Seabrook, each with 11 points.

And just to finish the thought... our pool leader has Patrick Sharp, Hossa and Bryan Bickell from Chicago.  He's probably rooting for the Kings for the money win.

Chicago out boxed Los Angeles, 8-3-1, as Box 8 was the only draw, seeing Duncan Keith and Drew Doughty each had 14 picks each.

And finally, the scoring between boxes, it is 5-5-2 between the two teams, making it a very even match-up in this respect.  Box 3 between Patrick Sharp and Mike Richards are tied with 6 points and the goaltending match-up comes in even.