A Guest Blog By Fanspeak Contributing Writer Brian Murphy:

Devils Trying to Put This Season on Backburner with Their Hot Streak:

The Devils have the least amount of points (as of January 26, 2011) in the NHL.  But if you have been following the NHL the past two weeks you would find it hard to believe.  In their past 7, the Devils are 6-0-1, including wins over the Lightning (twice), Penguins, and Flyers.  I think they may have dug themselves into too far a hole to make the playoffs if they keep this up after the All-Star Break.  An interesting debate in New Jersey is if soon-to-be restricted free agent Zach Parise will return to the Devils.  Parise, one of the best LW in the game, has been out injured nearly all year.  Is seeing a happy, productive Ilya Kovalchuk and rejuvenated Brodeur enough to get Parise to sign a contract extension?  Only time, and the Devils second half, will tell!

The Eastern Conference Race is Heating Up Heading Into Break:

The Philadelphia Flyers have been playing great hockey as of late, and will head into the All-Star break at the top of the Eastern Conference standings.  The Flyers have won 10 of their last 12 and have 71 points.  Not far behind are the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning (67 points) who have won their last 5 heading into the break.  Led  by Steven Stamkos and the always-studly Martin St. Louis, the Lightning will pose a big threat to reach the Eastern Conference Finals this playoffs.  The Flyers and Lightning will play in Tampa the first game after the break on February 1st.

A team that can’t wait for the All-Star Break to get here is the Washington Capitals.  The Caps have dropped to 5th in the Eastern Conference standings and have only won 4 games in their past 11 games.  The first half of the season was a very streaky one for this squad.  In December, they lost 8 games in a row after looking like the best team in the NHL in the beginning of the season.  In order for the Caps to gain some steam heading into the playoffs, they need to make sure they are on a hot streak and not a cold one.

By Guest Blogger Brian Murphy:

Some of you may not of heard of the format of this year’s NHL All-Star game which will be played in Raleigh, NC (home of the Hurricanes) on January 30th.  Next week, two captains will be chosen and have to pick their team like it is a fantasy draft at elementary school recess.  This is the first time the league will try this, as they do away with the traditional Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference format.  Each team will be comprised of 3 goalies, 6 defensemen, and 12 forwards.

Now as to who will be the two captains?  Many believe it will be Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals.  This would further heat the rivalry of two of the NHL’s best, as they were just featured on an HBO series that depicted them leading up to the Winter Classic.  The Eastern vs. Western match-up would have been great considering how good the top of both leagues are this year.  However, the new format will make for some entertaining television.  There are actually two sets of brothers that are All-Stars who could either be on the same team or playing against each other!  Henrik and Daniel Sedin from the league-leading Canucks is one pair and the other is Eric Stall, of the hosting Carolina Panthers, and brother Marc of the New York Rangers.

The Eastern Conference standings coming into the break is led by the Philadelphia Flyers (59 points) with the Penguins a close second place with 56 points, both in the Atlantic Division.  The Boston Bruins sit atop the Northeast Division (53 points) with the Montreal Canadiens right behind with 53 points.  The Southeast Division is a tight one with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals tied at 55 points.*

In the Western Conference, there is not as much parity in the division races.  The Detroit Red Wings are atop the Central Division with 59 points, the Canucks have an NHL-leading 62 points in the Northwest Division, and the Dallas Stars are leading the Pacific with 57 points.*

After attending two exciting Devils games (great atmosphere despite their nightmare of a season) in the past week or so, it really is a shame that the NHL doesn’t get more love from sports in the U.S.  It is a great game and I’m looking forward to the All-Star Break, especially when the two captains pick their squads and if they favor maybe players from their home-country or conference.  It should be an interesting watch, eh?

*Standings as of January 12, 2011

Here’s the All-Star Roster by position:

A Guest Blog by Fanspeak Contributing Writer Jason Mullen:

To me, a lifelong Pittsburgh sports fan, October just can’t arrive fast enough. This is, perhaps, the pinnacle of the sports year. Especially after disappointing seasons or early playoff exits, the summer months are agonizing. But even when the Steelers win the Super Bowl or the Penguins claim Lord Stanley’s Cup, the summer feels a little empty. Until the Pirates can step up and make the summer somewhat interesting, the earliest relief arrives when the Steelers are back on the field. Once the Penguins hit the ice, everything is right again in the sports world. Expectations are high. Optimism abounds. This is “our” year. Pontification and predictions, playing the game on paper, creating mental depth charts, being the GM on the couch – these are the makings of a true sports fanatic. But, in the end, the games have to be played, players will get hurt, mistakes will be made, and sometimes the difference between winning and losing is a half inch or so.

Coming off a forgettable season, the Steelers were going to be challenged early this year. Could they survive the early part of the season without Big Ben for up to six games? Of course, Ben’s replacements, Leftwich and Dixon fell to injury, leaving the consummate professional, Charlie Batch, at the helm. You couldn’t ask much more from your longtime backup quarterback. If not for a few untimely penalties and breakdowns at the end of the Raven’s game, the Steelers were one first down away from a perfect 4 – 0 start. The defense is looking very strong, with Polamalu, Harrison, and Farrior, wreaking havoc as usual. If Ben can focus on football and play like he is capable, the Steelers should be among the strongest contenders this year.

As great as football is, my favorite sport has always been hockey. I suspect this is mostly due to watching Mario Lemieux in the prime of his career, leading the Penguins to back to back Stanley Cups. The Penguins were a dominant team for much of the 90’s, with names like Francis, Stevens, Jagr, Barrasso, Samuelsson, Murphy, Straka, Kovalev, Nedved, and more. In the early 2000’s, the Penguins fell into a funk, on and off the ice. The team was bankrupt and the lack of a salary cap meant the Penguins could not compete with big market teams. They had some dismal years, with relocation becoming a serious consideration. However, through the draft and with a salary cap in place, they were able to rebuild around players like Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, and Staal and for the first time in 17 years, the Penguins won the Stanley Cup for the third time in their history. Now, after closing out the oldest NHL arena with a disappointing loss to Montreal in the second round, the Penguins have their long awaited new home, Consol Energy Center.

Before getting in to my take on their chances for this season, it’s important to look at what went wrong last season. They, like any team, had to battle injuries. At one point early in the season, they had 5 of their 6 regular defensemen out of the lineup. In addition, injuries to some key forwards like Malkin, Talbot, and Kunitz took away from their scoring punch. The powerplay struggled without Sergei Gonchar, who missed considerable time with a shoulder injury. But, once the playoffs arrive, the regular season standings and point totals simply don’t matter. You just have to get in, and then, anything can happen. In the East, this notion proved true as three of the top seeded teams fell in the first round. In the end, the Penguins seemed to be doomed by their lack of shutdown defensemen (the loss of Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi hurt), some inconsistent play from Fleury, and the lack of secondary scoring. The Canadiens keyed on Crosby and Malkin effectively, and none of the other forwards were able to produce much in the way of offense.

This offseason, the Penguins lost a few players to free agency, most notably Gonchar. Gonchar, an excellent powerplay quarterback, was a confident leader and well respected by the team. His absence will be felt, especially on the powerplay. However, Gonchar was also slowing down and given his age, the Penguins decided not to commit to the three year deal that he was after. General manager Ray Shero wasted no time in acquiring some defensemen to fill the gap. Zbynek Michalek and Paul Martin were signed to 5 year deals and will help shore up the Penguins defense. Their top four of Orpik, Michalek, Letang, and Martin is solid. If Alex Goligoski can stabilize his game, along with the development of Ben Lovejoy or Deryk Engelland as the number 6, the Penguins defense is much improved over last year’s squad.

With most of their available cap space used on Martin and Michalek, the Penguins didn’t have a lot to work with to land a scoring winger. Ponikarovsky and Fedetenko were ineffective here and have signed elsewhere. Veteran winger Bill Guerin was not resigned. With only a small amount of money at his disposal, Shero was still able to sign some quality players at bargain prices in Mike Comrie and Arron Asham. These signings, along with some of the AHL players getting a shot to crack the NHL roster, provide some much needed depth, especially with Jordan Staal out indefinitely. Eric Tangradi is a good prospect who is poised to become the power forward the Pens haven’t had since Ryan Malone. When Staal returns, they will have the option of making him the number two center, moving Malkin to wing. The Pens have plenty of quality third and fourth line players in Talbot, Adams, Rupp, Asham, Cooke, and Kennedy. If Kunitz and Dupuis can keep up with Crosby, the Pens shouldn’t have any trouble finding the back of the net.

Ultimately, for the Penguins to succeed, they need Fleury to be at the top of his game, like he was during their run to the Cup in 2009. Last season, he seemed to lack the confidence he had during those playoffs. If he can regain his focus and mental toughness, he can be one of the best in the game.

On paper, it all looks good. The Penguins should once again, be considered among the strongest contenders for the Cup. But, now it’s time to drop the puck and play for real and to that, I can only say… FINALLY!!!

LET’S GO PENS!!!

Up 2-0 in the series, I think most Flyers fans assumed they had their ticket punched to the Stanley Cup. Well the Canadiens had other things in mind. Last night Montreal came back with a vengeance, beating the Flyers 5-1, and cutting that once insurmountable lead in half.

The Flyers goalie Michael Leighton reverted back to his former self after not allowing a single goal in the first two games of this series. With a solid defense in front of him, Leighton stymied the Canadiens offense. An offense that while not the highest scoring, had gotten past both the Capitals and Penguins in the first two rounds. The other shoe dropped on Leighton and Flyers in a big way last night as the Canadiens offense came alive.

Leighton had never really been a starter, and in fact had played just 12 NHL games before this season. He was always considered a solid emergency goalie, in case one of your top 2-3 went down, but was never deemed a top prospect. Leighton ended up getting his chance mid-way this season when injuries opened up a spot on the Flyers. He responded by posting a 16-5-2 mark, helping Philadelphia secure a playoff spot. Leighton too went down with an injury in the last month of the season, so he started the playoffs on the bench. He ended up saving the Flyers in the Bruins series and then followed that up by the two straight shutouts against the Canadiens, but the magic ended last night.

While Leighton did get touched for 5 goals, I don’t think all the blame can be laid at his stakes. While the Canadiens had been out shooting the Flyers, they really stepped it up a notch at home and had plenty of offensive opportunities. Also, the defense failed to clear out in front of the net like they had in the previous games. That combined with a few other lapses on defense, left Leighton more or less on his own. While no one expected Leighton to be perfect throughout the series, the Flyers will have to work with their defense to help protect their journeyman goaltender.

The Habs goaltender also reverted back to his previous form as Jaroslav Halak was dominate last night, allowing one goal late in the third period. After back to back series of stonewalling the best scorers in the league, Jaroslav Halak not only looked human in the first two games of this series, but he looked down right awful. Allowing 7 goals in the two games, and even getting pulled in Game 1. Halak silenced the Flyers offense last night, and helped bring momentum back to the Canadiens side.

While it might be improbable, and seemed impossible after Game 2, I really think the Canadiens will take this series. Halak has shown how dominate he can be, and I think he will pick up his game for the rest of the series and I don’t see the Flyers offense capable of putting up 3-4 goals against him, like they did in the first two games. The Canadiens offense also found somethings that worked last night and I see them having the veteran presence to exploit those for the rest of the series. The fact of the matter is, as much as Michael Leighton is a great story of working his way up, he is not a Stanley Cup goalie. I think Montreal will figure him out and take this series.

As if playing a Game 7 in Boston wasn’t tough enough, the Flyers got themselves in an early 3 goal deficit. Yet, somehow someway they are the ones heading to the Eastern Conference Finals. Philly had already surpassed a 3-0 series deficit to force a Game 7, but to also comeback from being down 3 goals has to make this one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.

Flyers replacement goalie Michael Leighton allowed three goals in a ten minute span in the first period, but didn’t allow another goal for the rest of the game. The Bruins on the other hand, didn’t allow their first goal until after the 17 minute mark in the first period, but couldn’t hold on to a two goal lead. By the time 9 minutes had gone by in the 2nd period the Flyers had tied the game up, and the air was out of the Bruins sails. A too many men on the ice penalty in third period broke the tie for the Flyers, and will send them to the next round. As Simon Gagne scored a power play goal with 12 minutes remaining.

Everyone knows that penalties can be killers, but there are such a thing as good an bad penalties. Good penalties can be those that stop a great scoring opportunity, and can still be considered good penalties even if the opponent scores on the resulting power play. Bad penalties are those usually taken in the offensive zone because they waste your own scoring chance. But even bad penalties while frustrating are part of the game and the natural course of play. That is why a too many men on the ice penalty falls into a third category ‘stupid penalties’. There is no such thing as a ‘good’ too many men on the ice penalty, and it really isn’t a part of the game as say cross-checking or high sticking. All it involves is the inability to count, and there is no excuse for that. Especially when you are at home in Game 7 of the Playoffs. The Bruins shot themselves in the foot, and while it is possible the Flyers would have won it anyways, they handed it to them on a silver platter.

Now 7th seeded Philadelphia can celebrate with home ice advantage over the 8th seeded Montreal Canadiens (not having home ice hasn’t slowed them down yet), a tremendous comeback. Unfortunately for Philly fans, I think their stage coach is about to turn back into a pumpkin, because they are facing an 8th seeded team that knocked off the President’s Cup winning Washington Capitals and the defending Stanley Cup Champions Pittsburgh Penguins. I don’t think the Flyers magic will scare the Canadiens easily. And it will take more than luck or magic to get enough goals past Jaroslav Halak, who is playing incredible hockey right now. Although I don’t like Philadelphia’s odds in this series, today though they can be proud for what they accomplished.

It has taken a couple of years but the San Jose Sharks finally have advanced to the conference finals, and did so by going through their biggest rival. Since hockey returned from the lockout the Sharks have been one of the best young teams in the NHL during the regular season, but have yet to live up to the hype in the postseason. San Jose’s ineptness in the postseason reached new heights last year, when as the President’s Cup winner they couldn’t advance past the first round. While the top seeded Sharks had already made it past round one they faced a long time foe in the Detroit Red Wings.

Detroit had been the Western Conference representative in the Stanley Cup Finals the past two seasons, and posed a dangerous threat to the Sharks this year. Despite being just a 5th seed the Red Wings had the talent and experience to beat the Sharks and even return to the Stanley Cup Finals. Given the Sharks recent history of disappointment in the playoffs, it seemed as though the Red Wings could have had a chance if they could win early in the series.

The Sharks ensured their victory over the Red Wings by taking a 3-0 lead in the series. But it wasn’t as easy as it looks on paper. San Jose won each game by the score of 4-3, including being taken into overtime in the third game. It is a good thing San Jose won that third game, because they got embarrassed in Game Four. As they were outscored 7-1, and allowed 4 first period goals to Johan Franzen. Had the Sharks not won the 3rd game in overtime, this would have been a completely different series. Luckily for them the 3-1 series lead was pretty insurmountable, and they were able to close it out last night at home with a 2-1 win.

Now the Sharks are heading to the Conference Finals with a likely match-up against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks won’t be an easy match-up, but the Sharks have the talent and experience to beat them, and finally make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. This could be the year where their luck changes.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been in a brutal struggle with the 8th seeded Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens knocked off the Presidents Cup winning Washington Capitals in the first round, and have given the defending Stanley Cup Champions all they can handle in this series. The Pens have yet to be down in this series, and stayed ahead of the curve last night at home with a 2-1 victory. But after Thursday’s tough 3rd period loss to the Canadiens, the Penguins know they can’t take the Habs for granted, and will look to close out the series in Montreal on Monday.

The Canadiens have relied on their goalie Jaroslav Halak to carry them this postseason against two of the best scoring teams in the NHL. Pittsburgh has had a little bit more success than the Capitals so far, but not by much. Halak has been out of this world in these playoffs, and has put together a performance that rivals Ryan Miller’s during the Olympics. For the Habs to win the Halak wall will need to stay intact for two more games, otherwise the Penguins will advance to the next round.

With the way the Pens and Habs are playing, I believe the winner of this series ends up representing the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Pens are the defending champs, but went into this postseason as underdogs (quite similar to last year). So far they have shown the playoff drive, and against any other team would have already had this series wrapped up. But as the Capitals learned first had, beware of the Canadiens, and especially Halak. Pittsburgh needs just one more win to return to the Conference Finals, but against this team they will need to play their best hockey to advance.

It’s a good day in sports in your city if all three teams playing win. It’s an even better day when two of those teams win playoff games, and the third snap a losing streak. Beantown had a lot to celebrate last night as the Red Sox offense finally erupted, the Celtics evened the series and the Bruins took a 2-0 lead.

The Red Sox came into this year as one of the prohibitive favorites to win the World Series, but haven’t shown themselves of being a contender so far this season. Boston is in 4th place in the A.L. East and had just dropped three games in a row to the fifth place Baltimore Orioles. The Red Sox had been banking on a more defensive approach this season, but that hasn’t worked out too well as they have given up the 4th most runs in baseball. Their offense has been pretty much middle of the road, but erupted last night for 17 runs on 20 hits. While it is just one game, it could be a good sign for Boston if a couple of their everyday guys start hitting. They will still need to work on run prevention, since even in last night’s victory they gave up 8 runs, but May could be a new month for the Red Sox.

The Celtics meanwhile forced a split in Cleveland with their impressive 104-86 victory over the Cavs last night. Evening the series was key for Boston since their next two games are at home. If they can win both of those they will head back to Cleveland with a commanding 3-1 lead. The Celtics were able to somewhat slow down LeBron James, and pretty much shut down the rest of the Cavaliers offense. It was also a statement game for Boston, since most people thought they didn’t have what it takes to beat Cleveland again on their way to the Finals. While you still have to like the Cavs in the series, Boston showed that they will fight for this one, and to not count them out just yet.

The Bruins did exactly what the Celtics were trying to avoid, with their 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Bruins are now up 2-0 in the series and in a commanding position. They now head to Philly, where if they can split the two games (I think a sweep might be pushing it) they can close out the series next Monday at home. So far the Bruins have just outplayed and outhustled the Flyers. Right now I don’t really see Philadelphia coming back to win this series. Putting Boston into the Eastern Conference Finals.

It might be a bad day in some other sports cities, but for Boston fans they have plenty to cheer about right now. Maybe none of these teams will win their respective championships (If I had to pick one of these teams to do it, I’d still pick the Red Sox despite their 4th place record), but they are all at least competitive and give their fans the chance to hope and dream of winning the title.

Chicago-Washington was a series I would have bet on for the Stanley Cup, but right now it looks as though I could be wrong at both ends. The Blackhawks were anything but impressive yesterday in their 5-1 shellacking by the Canucks. The Blackhawks are still a great team, but they got embarrassed on their home ice last night, and have some serious defensive/goaltender questions to answer. There could still be 6 games left, but if Chicago doesn’t figure out what went wrong, there will only be 3 more. This series is now one I’m worried about if I’m a Chicago fan.

The Washington Capitals showed last night why they are the top team in the Eastern Conference, and the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. They did so in a 4-3 shootout win over the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Capitals improved their record to 49-14-10 and have an amazing 17 point lead in the Eastern Conference. Despite their advantage in the East, Washington is still playing their best hockey and last night showed why this could be their year in a big way.

The Capitals tallied first last night, just a minute into the 2nd period. Their lead was short lived though, as the Penguins tied the score just over a minute later. Pittsburgh then took the lead late in the 2nd period with a power play goal by winger Bill Guerin, and it looked as though Pittsburgh might get their first win against the Capitals this season. But Washington wasn’t about to disappoint their fans, by laying down against their biggest rivals at home.

As the third period began, Pittsburgh was still in control with a 2-1 lead. With about 5 minutes gone by the Pens were on a power play and threatening to score again, when Alexander Semin literally took the game over single-handedly. Semin stole the puck deep in the defensive zone, and staked the length of the ice before putting his wrister in the back on the net, past Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fluery. With the exception of the fact that there were about 14 minutes left in the game, Semin’s play could have been something out of a movie. He went through the Pens power play unit, like a hot knife through butter, and you just knew when he took that shot that it would find net. Semin’s Hollywood goal would get upstaged later, but it brought the Caps back to life.

The momentum factor began to swing the Caps way. And Washington took full advantage two minutes later when Eric Fehr knocked in a Mike Green shot to put the Capitals up. Pittsburgh came back to tie it in the final minutes of regulation, sending the game into overtime. Neither team was able to score in the overtime period, leaving the game decided the High Noon, old fashion way, a shootout. What could be more appropriate to decide the winner, then a shootout between the teams with the best offensive stars in the game? Luckily for the Caps they still had some ‘Hollywood’ magic left in the tank.

The Penguins first two shooters both scored, and the Caps first shooter (Backstrom) was stopped cold. Any goal or save by Pittsburgh, and the Penguins would win, but it was Alex Ovechkin’s turn and he made up for his quite night in a big way. Fluery didn’t have a chance on Ovechkin’s goal, and still was probably looking for his puck when he had to face Semin a few minutes later. With the shootout score favoring Pittsburgh 2-1, Semin had to find the net if the Caps were to win. Again it seemed like destiny (and great for television ratings) for Semin to be the hero and keep the game alive. After Jose Theodore stopped Chris Kunitz, the Capitals turned to the veteran Mike Knuble to bring them home the win. The only problem with that is that Mike Knuble had never scored a shootout goal, much less a game winner. There is apparently a first time for everything, as his shot sailed past Fluery to give the Caps perhaps their biggest win all season.

Washington has now answered all questions about their team, and whether or not they can beat the other top teams in the league. While this series usually gets broken down into a match-up between the stars, Washington showed they have too many weapons for another team to focus solely on Ovechkin.

As for Pittsburgh, this loss raises serious questions about their ability to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions. They are now 0 for the season against both the Devils and Capitals. The two other teams with Stanley Cup caliber teams in the East. Although last night’s game can be somewhat forgiven since they were without two of their top players, Malkin and Gonchar, they still haven’t won when those two were in the lineup. Yes they were able to take Washington to overtime in their two losses in DC, but they still didn’t come away with a W. There are no bonus points for losing in overtime when the playoffs start. Once again the Capitals proved that the road to the Stanley Cup goes through our nation’s capital, and they will defend their home ice from anyone. I think we will likely see a playoff match-up between these two teams again, but this year looks to be Washington’s year.

It seemed like destiny was on the side of Team USA in these Olympic games. No one believed this team would even compete for the Gold medal, particularly with a preliminary matchup against the prohibitive favorites, Canada. But none of what the pundits and prognosticators thought mattered, as Team USA quickly showed they were the team to beat in the Olympic games.

While Canada might have had home ice last night, Team USA knew that they could slay Goliath and come home with the Gold. Although the Canadians took an early two goal lead, the Americans were never out of the game. As the third period wound down, it just seemed like somehow someway the USA would tie it and send the game into overtime. While it took longer than most would have liked for Team USA to get their second tally (those last two minutes were insane), it seemed like they had the momentum on their side and we were witnessing Miracle on Ice 2.0.

Alas though it was not to be, and to be honest I can’t say, I was shocked when it happened. As they started getting deeper and deeper into the overtime period, that was only going to favor Team Canada. Even with the amazing Ryan Miller in goal, you can only expect to contain team Canada for so long. Team USA had held Canada scoreless for the previous 33 minutes of the game, they weren’t going to keep them at bay for much longer.

Like it or not, Team Canada was quite possibly one of the best hockey teams ever assembled, if not the very best. Their offensive talent was incredible, and the fact that the USA was able to hold them in check for over two full games is extremely impressive. Miller showed not that he is one of the best goalies in the world, but that he is the top goalie. No other goalie could have faced the offense he did for 67 minutes and give up only 3 goals.

Moral victories might not mean much on paper, but they should mean something to this team and country. With the odds stacked against them and no one behind them, the Americans played a brilliant tournament. They went into Canada and demanded respect, because of their play on the ice. Four years after finishing 8th in Italy, Team USA showed that they can play any team, anywhere.