Home team has last change. Obviously not applicable for icing, but all other faceoffs home team has the last change. That's why you'll see the ref come up to the dot and put his hand up to the visiting bench to stop them from changing, then look at the home bench to make sure they don't want to switch a player/line/d set, then drop the puck like the tard he is.
HAHAHAHA, who else is enjoying the Canucks/Kings 3rd period? This is fucking awesome! EDIT: 9 minutes left... 5 goal lead... It's basically impossible, but if the Kings do win somehow I will accept full responsibility for jinxing it.
Oooh, for stoppages. So they get to match up how they want, after the visitors pick their lines? Or am I missing something else? Regarding the Hawks/Preds game today: I don't think Hossa deserved a 5 minute major for his boarding call. To me, it looked like Hossa's arms were pretty much all the way extended and he just kind of skated into the Predator, who was only on one skate and looked to be off balance to begin with. One of the announcers was saying how it was nastier than Ovechkin's hit a couple of weeks ago. I disagree adamantly with that assessment. Ovie was right next to Campbell and pushed him hard into the boards. Looked way worse than Hossa's hit to me. Thoughts? Here are the videos for your comparing pleasures Also, this is pretty intense. What a ba.
One of the announcers was saying shortly after the "push" by Hossa that (paraphrasing here) Hossa's hit could be deemed not as bad as Ovechkin's because of the difference in injury. The Predator guy was understandably shaken up, while Ovechkin's hit ended with Campbell fucked up. The announcer was talking about how the NHL wouldn't care about the difference in injury, but why the fuck not? If Hossa wanted to hurt the guy, it seems like he certainly could have.
I thought during the VS pregame they had a statement from Colin Campbell saying that because Hamhuis wasn't as badly injured. I may have misheard that and combined the VS announcer's opinion with the Chara announcement. In my opinion, injury aside, this was dramatically different. Ovie gave Campbell a pretty hard shove. Hossa just seemed to have his hands on Hamhuis. I think people wouldn't even be talking about it had it not been for the OT goal, but it's something for people to bitch about. Also, the Penguins are pissing me off to no end right now. First, Eaton and Letang are fucking minus 3 through two periods. They need to get their heads out of their asses. I miss Scudieri. Not only is Letang playing like crap on defense right now, but he can't even hit the net when he takes a shot. He might as well put a folding chair on the ice and read a book. For him, I would recommend Little Women. Also, how tough does the ref in this game look with that huge gash on his face? Speaking of bitching, what do people think about Mike Greene being a finalist for the Norris trophy? This guy, seems pretty pissed. I'm pretty certain Greene won't win, and I kind have to agree. I probably would have put down Pronger instead if I had a ballot. And as much as I hate the Caps, Belanger, you are one tough son of a bitch. He took a stick to the face and lost half a dozen teeth. You actually see him pull one out here. He later said he felt them "shatter." He got some work done which included getting exposed tooth roots trimmed before returning for the third period. Jesus. To 95% of the guys on the MLB DL, you're wimps.
Wouldn't be surprised if Hossa magically doesn't get suspended the game for taking a major. Also, I really hate watching games on NBC. Hockey as a whole is fine and entertaining, but the show NBC puts on makes it seem like a joke. The commentating is annoying, and I can understand why someone who doesn't really know hockey or has no interest in the game would have no interest watching NBC programming. The way they describe the plays and the situation surrounding the game is fucking retarded.
I get the feeling the NHL is just making up rules as they go on a day-to-day basis. I had no idea what the penalty would be when he first made that hit. It could have been 2, 5, 10, a game misconduct, a day in the stocks, who knows. I don't really like that injury has so much effect on the penalty. If pushing a guy from behind into the boards is a 5 minute penalty, it should be called that way every time. If it's a suspension every time, fine. Hossa gets suspended. And speaking of bending the rules as it pleases them, why is the NHL just rescinding Chara's instigator penalty? He gets called at the end of the game because he started swinging at everyone at the end of Game 5. An instigator at that point in the game is an automatic suspension. BUT it's Boston so let's just pretend it never happened! Ridiculous. If that were anyone on the Sabres they'd suspend him for at least a game, but it's fucking Chara so he gets the kid gloves. This is what happens when you have someone with the reasoning capacity of Mike Milbury or slightly worse, a brick, doling out the suspensions in hockey. The precedent the NHL sets if Hossa and Chara don't miss time is that if you're a star, you can do whatever you like come playoff time. I understand and support leniency on run-of-the-mill minor penalties in games in the playoffs, but in these situations where precedents have already been set, don't you draw a line?
Here's the highlight. Paul Gaustad gives him a dirty two hander across the ankles, and when he turned around it was him versus Gaustad, McArthur and Rivet. He didn't do it to get act out a vendetta in a blown away game, he got hacked from behind, went to fight the guy and was jumped by two other clowns. If you're going to bitch, bitch about the right things.
NBC's hockey coverage is a JOKE. Edzo used his favorite term "active stick" at least 3 times before the end of the second period of the Yotes/Wings game. As for Hossa, he's not being suspended, with the official statement from Campbell and the NHL being Frankly, I pretty much agree with all of that. Finally, Phoenix forces a game 7. Pretty amazing. I had my doubts that this series would get past even 5 when I picked Detroit to win it.
Everyone knows the Sabres announcers are ridiculous, but I really dislike them after that comment when Chara is down. Putting the whole situation aside, stating "Now's when you pop him in the nose" is unprofessional in my mind and from a rulebook standpoint along the lines of intent to injure. Bruins over the Sabres in my book. Should be a good one Monday night.
Wow, so I guess you can win a game by only playing 20 minutes. Glad they eked out that win but 11 shots through the first 2 periods is not going to do it most nights in playoff hockey. Props to Luongo for looking about as good as he has in months. Ryan Smyth is going to have nightmares about that one for months. And for Burrows, pointless all series to get an empty netter to seal the deal, I'm still laughing about that. Hopefully he can pick it up and be a little more visible next series. This is setting up for Chicago-Vancouver rematch. I don't know whether to be excited or terrified.
Harry Neale is one of the classiest announcers in the game and is known for making jokes when bru-ha-ha's come together. Chara just got the cage off because of the injury he suffered, Neale was saying it in jest because they couldn't exactly do anything to him in a fight with a salad bowl on now, could they?
Neale and Jeanerette loooove the old school hockey japes and that's exactly what that was. I highly doubt either of them wanted to see Chara's nose actually rebroken or anything. Well, not highly doubt, but doubt... Everyone in Buffalo seems to think this one's going back to Game 7. I'm not as optimistic. I have work until 9 and my roommate is baffled that I wouldn't want to record the game and go on information lockdown so I can see the whole thing. I know what a Cup contender looks like and frankly neither of these teams are Cup contenders. They're second round cannon fodder. If we come back and beat Boston, great. I'm all for sticking daggers in division rivals. But Boston has pushed the Sabres around for the majority of this series and if it weren't for Miller they probably would have won the series in five. So how can we expect them to beat anyone else if they can't even beat a team with the worst offense in the playoffs? Either you win the Cup or you don't. Anything else is just losing with flair. Not worth the space on my DVR. I hope they win tonight, but something tells me Boston takes this one en route to getting spanked by the Pens in round 2. I know it will result in a media apocalypse that ignores all things not Crosby or Ovechkin, but if the Sabres lose I will probably root for a Caps/Pens Eastern Finals. It would be the most fun to watch and having that series result in a trip to the Cup Finals would be intense.
Watching Caps & Habs here in DC. Big offense-fest so far. Montreal is playing like a team possessed. And I'm not a Habs fan by any means, but there's something about playoff hockey in Montreal that is just something else. I want to see a game there so badly.
Well it worked for Chicago in game 5. And they had a man in the penalty box, so it really just made it like an even strength matchup (but without them having a goaltender). I was having this debate with someone the other day after the Avs pulled their goalie. One way to look at it is to analogize it with a powerplay where you have one more skater than the opposing team. The average there is around 20%. I'm not saying it's that high, but it gives you a starting point. Certainly that figure will be smaller since your chances for success are mitigated by the other team's potential to score. I looked it up and the business journals at Harvard and Columbia have articles detailing the effectiveness of pulling the goalie. Unfortunately I am off-campus so I can't access them but I may try later this week. I am actually in favor of pulling the goalie. I suppose I've just seen it succeed enough times that in my mind, it seems worth it.
It does work. It's just a big risk-reward situation. Half the fun of a close game, especially in the playoffs. If you want the statistics side of pulling your goalie, here it is:
Earlier in the season Phoenix got two goals with their goalie pulled against Detroit, and went on to win in OT.
Jesus Christ, Halak was incredible last night. On the 53rd (I think. Maybe 52nd) shot one finally went in, and it was a deflection, not even a clean shot. As a Caps fan, this seriously pissed me off. As a hockey fan, I couldn't help but marvel at the fact that the painting of a brick wall on the bottom of his mask was unbelievably literal last night. Well played, goalie. The Caps looked like they did in Game 1. They weren't hustling until it was too late and their command of the neutral zone was essentially non-existent. Our passing was sloppy and most of the time behind the intended receiver. Semin can't put a shot on net, and Poti seems to be confused about what jersey he should be passing to. Also, our powerplay is, well...shit. Something like 1 for 26. The whole team just seemed lackluster, like they didn't care about the series going to Game 7. On another note, there were a bunch of diving calls last night. I honestly don't remember watching a game when more than one of those was handed out.
Halack's performance was one of greatness last night. It made me want to rip out Celine Deon's spine and beat Tony Kornheiser to death with it. Seriously, the caps pretty much dominated that game, but when the habs goalie is not human there's not much you can do. Tomorrow night, albeit only round one, may be shaping up to be the most exciting (or disappointing) sporting event I've ever attended. Edit: the caps did not come out flat imo. They had 7 shots and 4 opportunities in the first 3 or so minutes of play. They were attacking. If anything, it could have been new line compositions that resulted on breakdowns early in their own zone: