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The Playoff Hits

Blog: The Malik Report By Paul

04/16/14 at 02:53 PM ET | Comments (10)

23 minutes and 23 seconds of hits, all playoff hits.

23, that number keeps coming up.

Watch the video below, presented by awood40 again...

Filed in: | The Malik Report | Permalink

Three Teams That Can Make A Splash In The Playoffs

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

04/16/14 at 02:34 PM ET | Comments (2)

from Scott Burnside of ESPN,

Columbus Blue Jackets

When you're making just your second playoff appearance in franchise history, "dark horse" is a label that applies. If they are somehow able to take down the Metropolitan Division-winning Pittsburgh Penguins, we'll upgrade them to Cinderella status. Could it happen? When you have the defending Vezina Trophy-winning netminder in Sergei Bobrovsky, that's a good place to start....

Detroit Red Wings

When was the last time you heard "Detroit Red Wings" and "dark horse" in the same breath? Still, that's what they are, as they will face the NHL's top regular-season team, the Boston Bruins, in the first round. This has been a difficult season for the Red Wings, who have gone long stretches without top players Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen and Jimmy Howard. But a new generation of Red Wings has emerged, led by scoring sensation Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, Tomas Jurco and Riley Sheahan, which has more than picked up the slack. With Datsyuk back in the lineup and Howard back to form after a rocky season, the Wings don't look like a wild-card team....

Minnesota Wild

We're going to start charging Wild GM Chuck Fletcher for our services. The team has been on a tear since we wrote that the common belief was the Wild would boast the NHL's worst playoff goaltending and certainly the worst goaltending of the eight Western Conference playoff teams. The goaltending remains a potentially fatal flaw for a Wild team that has shaken off late-season stutters to play some of its best hockey of the season....

Around The Wings World

Blog: The Malik Report By Paul

04/16/14 at 02:23 PM ET | Comments (3)

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

“It was a lot of specialty teams today, that was our plan,” Babcock said. “We knew coming in we were going to grind yesterday and do a lot of team stuff and then the heavy lifting yesterday, the specialty teams today, and we’ll have a little more tempo and special teams tomorrow.”

He’s glad the series starts later the other seven first-round matchups.

“We needed the time, we need to freshen up some people,” Babcock said. “We had ground hard to get in. When (the Bruins) were in here (April 2) they gave guys days off and we couldn’t give anybody days off.

“The other thing about it is when you’re the lower seed, the more detailed you can be, the better off you can be. And so preparation time has been great for us. Ideally it will be an equalizer and give us an opportunity to really compete.”

from Chuck Pleiness of Red Wings Front,

Jonathan Ericsson will skate on his own Thursday for the first time since having successful surgery to stabilize his fractured finger and repair a partially torn tendon on March 19.

“We’ll see how that goes,” Ericsson said. “It’s been almost four weeks now.”

He still won’t be able to handle the puck due to the splint on his left hand.

“I think it’s too early to tell,” Ericsson said when asked if he could return sometime in the first round of the playoffs.

Dana Wakiji with some tweets,

Filed in: | The Malik Report | Permalink

Buffalo Sabres Make Some Coaching Changes

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

04/16/14 at 02:12 PM ET | Comments (0)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (April 16, 2014) --- The Buffalo Sabres today announced several changes to the team’s coaching staff, effective immediately: Assistant coaches Joe Sacco and Jerry Forton have been offered reassignment within the organization’s hockey department; the contract of assistant coach Teppo Numminen will not be renewed; goaltending coach Jim Corsi will not return as part of the team’s staff next season.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres, | KK Hockey | Permalink

Keep McPhee And Oates

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

04/16/14 at 01:36 PM ET | Comments (5)

from John Feinstein of the Washington Post,

If Leonsis is going to jettison McPhee and Oates — or just McPhee, as seems possible — he should have done it Monday. It isn’t as if he hasn’t had plenty of time to look at his dysfunctional team this season and make decisions about who should — or should not — lead it into the future.

Instead, Leonsis met with McPhee on Monday, slapped a gag order on him, refused to speak to anyone in the media himself and said he might take up to two weeks to decide what to do.

Talk about leaving people twisting in the wind. The Caps haven’t won the Stanley Cup, but McPhee built a team that has sold out virtually every game in Verizon Center the past five seasons. He has earned the right to not be left wondering what his future holds.

But beyond common decency, he and Oates deserve to keep their jobs.

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, Washington Capitals, | KK Hockey | Permalink

Quick Picks Round One

Blog: KK Hockey By Monica McAlister

04/16/14 at 12:11 PM ET | Comments (1)

Alright with the Stanley Cup finals kicking off (okay facing off) tonight figured it was time I post my picks for the first round so that I can either say “I told you so” or you can say it to me in about week and a half – two weeks schedule and series length TBD.

Filed in: | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: monica+mcalister

“The Rules Do Not Change During The Playoffs”

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

04/16/14 at 12:11 PM ET | Comments (11)

from Kerry Fraser of TSN,

The margin for victory between all the teams is very slim and mistakes made by players and officials are magnified at this time of year. Simply put, mistakes can be the difference between a team and an official from going on in the playoffs or going home!

Last night I joined James Duthie for a brief segment in the playoff preview show shot in Studio 9 at TSN where I will be monitoring games and officials' calls on a nightly basis throughout the first round. James asked me what I will be looking for from the Officials the moment the playoffs begin. My response was for strict adherence to the letter of the law. The rules do not change during the playoffs and neither should the expected standard of enforcement! The referees have often been accused of putting their whistles away during the playoffs. Far too many times we have seen the score and time of a game factored into the refs' judgment as to what constitutes an obvious penalty.

Filed in: NHL Teams, NHL Talk, NHL Officiating, | KK Hockey | Permalink

Morning Line

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

04/16/14 at 11:48 AM ET | Comments (2)

It isn't Philly hockey if there isn't some kind of goalie situation, even when there isn't a controversy or a carousel or anything.
— Sarah Baicker (@sbaickerCSN) April 16, 2014

Steve Mason was not at practice today.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Philadelphia Flyers, | KK Hockey | Permalink

I NOW Consider Damien Cox A Hall of Fame Writer

Blog: Abel to Yzerman By IwoCPO

04/16/14 at 11:37 AM ET | Comments (21)

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Paul pointed it out in a comment over on KK Hockey and it's got me conflicted and a little teary.

But what’s really interesting is that the Wings beat the Bruins three times this year. Henrik Zetterberg might show up partway through the series, but if Gustav Nyqvist keeps scoring (18 goals since Feb. 2) Detroit might have enough scoring. Jimmy Howard against Tuukka Rask is a compelling goalie matchup.

AND THE WINNER IS: Wings in seven

Quirky.

Filed in: | Abel to Yzerman | Permalink

A New Look At Detroit’s Practice Today

Blog: The Malik Report By Paul

04/16/14 at 11:26 AM ET | Comments (22)

via Ansar Khan tweet,

Lines juggled: Nyquist-Datsyuk-Abdelkader, Franzen-Helm-Alfredsson, Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco, Miller-Glendening-Legwand.

added 11:33am, via Chuck Pleiness tweet,

PP units: Franzen, Datsyuk, Legwand, Nyquist and Kronwall. Sheahan, Alfredsson, Tatar, Jurco and DeKeyser.

added 12:25pm, via Bill Roose tweet,

Jonathan Ericsson says tendon isn't healing as fast as the bone in his finger.

Filed in: | The Malik Report | Permalink

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