Some INKTIME here on RINKTIME!
By Chris Madsen
May 1, 2013
Toronto at Boston 7:00 PM EST
NY Islanders at Pittsburgh 7:30 PM EST
San Jose at Vancouver 10:30 PM EST
It is Day-2 of the March to Lord Stanley’s Cup and how fitting is it that we have a match-up of two of the Original 6 franchises with 5th-seeded Toronto meeting the #4-seed, Boston. Kudos to Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle–no doubt a Coach of the Year candidate–for getting his club into the post-season. But these are the Bruins and they are simply better built for the day-in, day-out grind that is part and parcel of Playoff hockey. And that is precisely what the B’s game plan should be…grind it out and use your physical advantage to wear down and inflict pain on the Leafs. If Boston can get into the heads of the Leafs line-up, that should make life so much easier for goaltender Tuukka Rask and put the pressure squarely on the shoulders of his counterpart James Reimer. Reimer is a big reason why the Maple Leafs made it to the Playoffs, but he showed signs of what I like to call “fatigue goals against” down the stretch and if the Bruins can sneak a couple of goals past him relatively early, you know the faithful fans of TD Garden will relentlessly remind Reimer that he is “no longer in Kansas” ( I mean, Toronto) anymore! Your prediction: Bruins in 6 games.
*****
The 8th-seeded Islanders open at top-seeded Pittsburgh, and although it is great to see the Isles back in the post-season this is going to be a hard-knocks lesson that will benefit a good, young hockey team in seasons to come. The Pens are so stacked, so creative and so well coached, that they could easily let Sidney Crosby continue to mend his broken jaw and delay his Post-season debut until Round-2. But Crosby is a hockey player, so we all know that he is (pardon the pun) “chomping at the bit” and Coach Danny Bylsma most likely will leave Sid’s possible return up to “the Kid” and the Pens medical staff. As for Islanders, they could be in need of medical assistance early on because if there is one things the Penguins do better than just about any team in the league is adjust. You want to play a hitting game–they’ll hit you back. You want to play a finesse game–C’mon, who can play that game better than the Pens? You want to play an opportunistic brand of hockey–“fine” say the Penguins because that will just give us the opportunity to make your life miserable. All I can say is, whatever NY goalie Evgeni Nabokov is earning this season, he’s about to earn every penny of it– because you have to believe the Pens mindset is that if we can dispatch of these guys quickly, the sooner we can rest-up and get healthier for Round-2. Your prediction: Penguins in 5 games.
*****
And that brings us to tonight’s night-cap on the schedule between 6th-seed San Jose and 3rd seeded Vancouver. Whenever I think of the Canucks in the Playoffs, I am reminded of that classic line from the timeless movie, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”…you know, the one along the lines of (and I am making this more palatable for print) “I swear, if you stuck a lump of coal up his ***, in two weeks you’d have a diamond”. The problem for the ‘Nucks is that getting them to stick around in the Playoffs for two weeks would be a vast improvement. Unfortunately though, the same can be said for the Sharks who have re-written the premise of “Great Expectations” and following season-after-season of failing to payoff in the Playoffs have reduced the mindset of their fanatical fans to “Managed Expectations”. Regardless, the “Pressure-O-Meter” has the needle buried into the red on both benches and whoever fails to make it out of this opening round is destined to pay a heavy price during the off-season. So what I’m saying, is that if you are short on time and high on pressure, DeBeers should consider investing in both of these franchises because Vancouver and San Jose could soon become known as the new Diamond Capitals of the World! San Jose Center Joe Thornton recently declared that teammate and goaltender Antti Niemi is the “best goaltender in the world”. Wasn’t Roberto Luongo once thought to be the same? And he (Luongo) doesn’t even stand to get the start if Cory Schneider is deemed healthy enough to start…although what exactly is ailing Schneider remains a mystery. However, “ailing” may be the best way to describe both offenses–where the Sharks are averaging less than 3 goals per game and the once high-powered Canucks ranked 19th in the NHL in offense. In comparison to everything else on the docket, this series could turn out to be as exciting as watching a chess match…or…desperation could give way to high-drama.
Your prediction: Canucks in 7 games.
*****
UNTIL THE NEXT TIME WE LACE ‘EM UP AND HIT THE ICE!–Chris Madsen
*****
