Good morning, afternoon, or evening ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages! Would your weekends be complete without the infamous, the legendary, the often misunderstood Saturday Night Wrap-Up!? I doubt it, I very much doubt it. Well, my fellow bi-peds, as we say in the old country, let's make like a Jewish person and head off!
 |
Courtesy SFMaggie
Editor - Excuse me?!?!? |
New York Rangers 5 vs. Vancouver Canucks 2
I absolutely hate afternoon games. I don't like getting up early on Saturdays to watch two teams who are equally upset to be playing hockey at that time in the day, but that is exactly what Rangers and Canucks fans were "treated" to Saturday morning. With so much attention being devoted to the coaches for this one, it was easy to forget that there was actually a hockey game that had to be played. Much was made of the offseason head coach-swap between the Rangers and Canucks last summer. Each team receiving the other's head coach, and let's be honest, you cannot get two guys more polar opposite than Alain Vigneault and Tortorella.
When all was said and done, it was Vigneault and co. that had the last laugh while Dirty Torts and the boys were the second best team in this one. Chris "I before E except after" Kreider had a hat trick and Cam Talbot made 35 saves to pick up the win. This is the third weekend in a row I've written about the efforts of Cam Talbot, who seems to be drawing the weekend assignment regularly now. I smell a trilogy! The good news for Canucks fans, as my good friend said after the Canucks lost in game 7 to the Bruins, "You can't have 'second best' without the 'best.' Am I right?!" Am I? Please tell me I'm right.
Boston Bruins 3 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets 1
Former Portland Winterhawk Ryan Johansen potted his tenth of the year, but it was all for naught as the Bruins proved too bruin-y (yeah, that's a thing now) for the visiting Blue Jackets. Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara helped set the physical tone and never relinquished. Chara, who recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick Friday night, recorded four hits, Chad "Treinta" Johnson made 13 saves and Milan Lucic had six hits to go along with his two toals on the evening, much to the joy of Bruins play-by-play man Jack Edwards...
 |
Courtesy The Pixar Wiki
I want to play a game! |
Pittsburgh Penguins 5 vs. Florida Panthers 1
At last, the marquee match-up hockey fans have had circled on their calendars the moment the NHL schedule was announced! The beautiful, luscious and well-groomed Sidney Crosby and his band of hockey-playing Penguins faced off in Florida to face the average at best Florida Panthers! A colossal collision of titans unlike anything since Kratos got really mad in the God of War series. And boy did this game not disappoint... if you understand the sarcasm of the previously mentioned sentences. Evgeni Malkin had a goal and three assists, James Neal chipped in with a goal and an assist and Jeff Zatkoff made a case for the starting job for the United States hockey team with 39 saves to pick up the win, seven weeks after his less-than-memorable debut. Tim Thomas, who allowed four goals on 13 shots, was unavailable for comment as he was too busy talking about how he was not going to talk about politics.
Montreal Canadiens 4 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs 2
Hockey Poem #6 by Zak Griffin (Dedicated to the Toronto Maple Leafs)
How do I suck? Let me count the ways.
Mark Fraser
Dion Phaneuf
Jay McClement
Mason Raymond
Paul Ranger
James van Riemsdyk
Jerred Smithson
Trevor Smith
Colton Orr
Carl Gunnarsson
Carter Ashton
Nikolai Kulemin
Tyler Bozak
Nazeem Kadri
Morgan Rielly
Jonathan Bernier
Jake Gardiner
David Clarkson
Phil Kessel
The End
Washington Capitals 3 vs. New York Islanders 2 (OT)
Hey guys, have you heard of this guy, I don't know how to pronounce it, Alex... Ov... Ovech... Oven Chicken? No, that's not it... Ovechkin! That's it! Alex Ovechkin! In case you haven't heard, he's really, really good at hockey. The Oven Chicken himself came to the rescue Saturday night, as he scored his league leading 21st goal of the season to take the game in overtime for the Caps. The Islanders looked to have the game in hand, leading by one with under a minute to play, but it was Nicklas Backstrom's sixth tally of the season that tied the contest with 49 seconds remaining in regulation allowing Ovechkin to come in and play hero. Brayden Holtby made 37 saves also, but this night was about Oven Chicken... as most nights are when it comes to the Capitals.
New Jersey Devils 1 vs. Buffalo Sabres 0 (OT)
After scoring what I consider to be the luckiest goal I've ever seen to beat the Maple Leafs Friday night, the Sabres could not follow up their historic performance with another strong effort against the hapless Devils. NHL.com says that if they Devils are to be successful they need to find some secondary scoring, which I would disagree with... since they have no primary scoring! The lone goal of the evening was scored by former Vancouver Canuck Steve Bernier with just over 40 seconds left remaining in the extra frame, allowing Corey Schneider to pick up the shutout. But to be fair he only had to make 15 saves to pick up his second shutout of the season. That's the Sabres we all know and love.
 |
Courtesy Top Shelf Cookies
Just looking out for you guys |
Philadelphia Flyers 3 vs. Nashville Predators 2 (SO)
This game went to a shootout... EVERYBODY DRANK!! Claude Giroux scored... EVERYBODY DRANK!!! But hey, he only has three more goals than Mike Smith, am I right? A back and forth contest was not solved in regulation or overtime, so the game headed to a shootout, where Vincent Lecavalier scored the lone goal for the Flyers. It was more than enough for the wall that is Steve Mason. With the injury to Shea Weber, the Preds will be relying a whole lot more on former Portland Winterhawk (and my choice for the Calder trophy winner), Seth Jones. Jones was a -1 and had 30:43 of ice time in the contest! Pardon me, I need to catch my breath just thinking about that!
Chicago Blackhawks 5 vs. Phoenix Coyotes 2
It was truly a great day for Blackhawks fans last night. The first every sellout in Glendale was not what the hometown would coin as a success as the 'Yotes came out flat and the defending champs capitalized with three in the first. Although the Coyotes would score twice in the second period, it would not be enough, as the 'Hawks returned the favour, scoring twice in the third period to put the game... on ice! *Cue The Who* YEAHHH!!! Oh, and Patrick Kane scored, so that's good, and the team finally completed its annual "circus road trip" picking up six wins over the stretch.
 |
Courtesy Jamilah Med Khan
This is what I think about when I hear "Circus road trip" |
Colorado Avalanche 3 vs. Minnesota Wild 2 (SO)
Shootout, EVERYBODY DRAAAAANK!!!!! When you look back at the stats of this one, you see how truly ridiculous the game was. First of all, there were absolutely no penalties! What is this, the playoffs?! Could you ever imagine a game in which Matt Cooke was playing where there would be zero penalties?! Seems bizarre to me. Add to that the actual game itself; the young Avalanche squandered a two-goal lead in the third period to allow the Wild to steal a point in Denver. Goals by youngsters Gabriel Landeskog and rookie sensation Nathan McKinnon put the Avalanche up two going into the third. Speaking of Matt Cooke, he scored at the 16:33 mark of the third to give the Wild hope, and then Mikko Koivu came in and broke the hearts of all the Avalanche fans. Koivu's sixth of the season came with six seconds remaining in regulation to grab the point for the Wild. However, it was Ryan O'Reilly who scored the only goal in the shootout to put the Avalanche back on top for good in this one.
Calgary Flames 2 vs. Los Angeles Kings 1
Speaking of late finishes! The Calgary Flames learned something from their debacle that was their Wednesday collapse against the defending Stanley Cup champions the Chicago Blackhawks. The team got together and channeled their inner Annie Get Your Gun and said, "Anything you can do, I can do better." But it really wasn't all that much better. Again the team squandered a lead in the third period as Justin Williams scored with four and a half minutes remaining to knot the game up. But it was Mike Cammalleri who showed you can teach an old dog a new trick. Cammalleri's tenth of the season with 23 seconds remaining was a dagger in the hearts of the five people in Los Angeles who care about the Kings. Shame on you Cammalleri, shame on you!
San Jose Sharks 4 vs. Anaheim Ducks 3 (SO)
SHOOTOUT!!! DRANK!!!!!!!! The Sharks used three goals in the second period to go up 3-1 going into the third period. But, as has been the theme on this night, you cannot keep a good team down (or in the case of the Ducks a really good team that has been rendered into an okay team due to injuries). Goals by Alex Grant and Ben Lovejoy in the third period made the quack attack stronger than ever, as the Ducks pulled the game even and the game headed to a shootout. And once again, only one goal was scored between the two teams and, luckily for the Sharks, that man just happened to be Joe Pavelski.
 |
Courtesy of Jobspapa
An artist's rendition of the incident |
* * *
Zak Griffin really really love Daffy Duck. Follow him on Twitter at @ZakGriffin13
No comments:
Post a Comment