Welcome back sports fans. Analysis for the 2nd round of the playoffs.
Could you believe it? The NHL playoffs continue to have stories that just baffle you. The eight seed L.A Kings went on to sweep the St. Louis Blues in very convincing fashion. The Kings are skating harder, faster, and quicker than most teams competing for the Stanley Cup his year. The stars of the Kings are lead by their captain Dustin Brown who scored the game winning goal in Game 4 against the Blues to complete the sweep. The pulse of this team though was been with Jonathan Quick who has answered the bell at every call. The St. Louis Blues though had a tremendous amount of trouble in really testing Quick as their offense seem to stall out at the wrong time.
The team brave enough to battle the Kings have already been chosen. The Western Conference Final is going to be hot his summer as to join the Kings will be the Phoenix Coyotes. An incredible story as a franchise that has been threatened to being relocated multiple times, then bought out by the NHL, and finally finding ownership. The Coyotes use a style of hockey that did not give the skilled players of the Nashville Predators much room to create offense. The goalie Mike Smith calls it Coyote Ugly, to go along with his creative handshake with back up goalie and his defense, this team is a force to be reckoned with.
Back East its a much different story. A tight series between the N.Y Rangers and the Washington Capitals have allowed us to witness a tying goal in the dying seconds to then win it in OT a minute later; a triple OT winner; and more with Game 6 & possible Game 7 in the works. Dale Hunter has coached this Capitals team almost perfectly. He uses his star players with optimal and efficient ice-time then plays his third and fourth line guys hard for a strong defensive front. Braden Holtby has been a beast in net but he can only stop so many, in order for the Caps to have success in Game 6 & 7.
The N.Y Rangers are playing sound, tough defensive hockey which contributes to their success. Led by strong offense, special teams and king Henrik the Rangers seem to be the team to beat. This style of hockey is also shown by the L.A Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes, so those could be some very interesting matchups in a potential Stanley Cup Final.
Across the way, the New Jersey Devils have their star players shinning at the right time. After a hard fought series with the Florida Panthers, the Devils players began to take nothing for granted and other players began to step up and play much better than their own potential. That is really what it means to be in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Using a strong defensive trap and Martin Brodeur playing ten years younger, the Devils have shown a way to take a 3-1 series lead on the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers will be without Claude Giroux for tonight’s elimination game which means the rest of the Flyers must step up their game and Bryz must be better. The Devils have not poured shots in Bryz so he must be better and the Flyers defense must be tighter.
Right now the success for teams in the playoffs have been using a defensive trap, blocking shots and playing tight defense and then using a counter attack with a strong fore-check to create those chances for just enough goals to win. A possible recipe to hoist the coveted Stanley Cup, only time will tell.
El Puckster 