B’s Send five To Worlds

Despite a game seven loss to the Canadiens some of the Bruins are not finished playing hockey for the season. Boston sent five of its members to the 2008 IIHF World Championships. Although not playing, the championship game will be played in Patrice Bergeron’s home town of Quebec City. Representing USA, are Phil Kessel, Mark Stuart, and Tim Thomas while David Krejci skates for Czech Republic and Marco Sturm for Germany.

Phil Kessel, United States

Inconsistency has been the knock on Kessel thus far in his early career but in the Worlds, this Bruins sniper started out strong. Kessel recorded a hat trick in USA’s second game against Slovenia. Kessel is making his third straight IIHF World Championship appearance for Team USA.

Tim Thomas, United States

Thomas has played well in the tournament posting a shutout in his first game. He has only given up one Slovenia goal. Thomas, buoyed by strong defense in front, faced only 12 shots against Slovenia. The Bruins’ backstopper posts a 97.22 save percentage and a stellar .50 goals against average.

Mark Stuart, United States

Stuart, who had been named alternate captain, has played well. Stuart is a +1 and is averaging about 15 minutes of ice time for USA. Stuart is one of the backbones for USA who has only given up 1 goal thus far in the tournament.

David Krejci, Czech Republic

Krecji has yet to record a point in his first two games and is only averaging 11 minutes of ice time. His plus/minus is even as the Czech Republic stands with a record of 1-1.

Marco Sturm, Germany

Sturm recorded a goal in a win against Slovakia last game. He has one goal in two games and is a minus 1. Sturm is a veteran leader for a 1-1 Germany team.

Team USA USA is 2-0 with a 4-0 win over Latvia and a 5-1 win over Slovenia. They now prepare for their pivotal contest against Canada on Tuesday. With all Canadian teams now eliminated from the NHL playoffs, there should be significant interest in this game.

Baby B’s Push For The Calder Cup

In case you haven’t heard the Providence Bruins, Boston’s AHL affiliate, is currently the top seed in the AHL playoffs and is in a 2-2 series tie with the Portland Pirates. Providence finish with the AHL’s best record at 55-18-3-4. The Bruin’s future prize goalie Tuukka Rask is backstopping the Baby B’s in hopes to pull off a Carey Price and win the Calder Cup and then lead a NHL team into the playoffs the following year. The first step of that goal looks promising for the netminder. Rask is posting a 1.68 goals against average and is 6-2 in the playoffs.

Pascal Pelletier leads Providence with 9 playoff points. Pelletier also lead the P. Bruins in the regular season with 75 points (37 goals, 38 assist). Former UNH star Jason Krog lead the AHL in scoring with 112 points (39 goals, 73 assist). Boston Bruins’ 2007 first round draft pick, Zach Hamill recorded his first playoffs goal in a 3-2 OT lost to the Portland Pirates. Petteri Nokelainen and Vladimir Sobotka, who saw significant time in the NHL playoffs, are now helping out the Providence Bruins and their playoff run.

Assist To Boston

The Philadelphia Flyers did what Boston failed to do and beat the top seeded Montreal Canadiens, as well as the refs. I’ll give credit to the Flyers for beating the Habs, because I had thought the Canadiens had the edge in goal. However, Flyers fans should be sending the Bruins thank you cards for developing a formula on how to beat Montreal. Philadelphia went 0-4 and was out scored 15-6 during the regular season, then went on to beat Montreal 4 games to one in the playoffs. Philadelphia played to the same game plan that Boston displayed vs. the Habs. The only difference was that the Flyers can put the puck in the net. Philadelphia hit Montreal skaters at every opportunity, focused on shutting down Alexei Kovalev, and kept the Habs’ potent powerplay in check. Sound familiar? It should. That is the exact formula that Boston had success with in playing Montreal.

The Quest For The Cup Continues

If you followed my predictions about the last round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, I sincerely apologize. After going 8-8 in the opening round, I went 0-4 in the second round. With Pittsburg’s and Detroit’s dominence over my Stanley Cup finals predicted teams (New York Rangers and Colorado Avalanche), I wouldn’t pick against them this round.

(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers

Too many things need to happen for Philadelphia to pull off a series upset. Pittsburgh is rolling on all cylinders. The Penguins have the best young talent in the game and are now proving it in the playoffs. They are almost unstoppable on the powerplay. Philadelphia needs to stay out of the box. The line of Sidney Crosby, Marian Hossa, and Pascal Dupruis are finally playing with great chemistry after the trade that brought Hossa and Dupruis to Pittsburgh. And Oh yeah, Pittsburgh still has the Evegni Malkin line playing its best hockey. Crosby and Malkin have combined for 28 points in nine playoff games. This illustrates the enormous task the Flyers will face in trying to shut down both lines.

Prediction-Penguins in five, and I reluctantly give the Flyers one game.

Series MVP-Its hard to go against Crosby or Malkin but I’ll say Marian Hossa proves his worth.

(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (5) Dallas Stars

This series will be a lot closer than you might expect. The Wings rolled through Colorado in a four game sweep, looking like the team posting the NHL’s best record. The “in your face” style that the Avalanche was supposed to display never materialized. Combine that with the disappearance of Jose Theodore and the Red Wings’ Johan Franzen being a red hot scoring machine (11 goals in the playoffs), and the result was Detroit making quick work in eliminating the Avs. That wont happen with the Stars. Dallas may be the only team that is deeper down the middle than the Red Wings with Mike Modano occupying the third line center role. The “in your face” style that Colorado was missing, is something that the Stars have been doing all playoffs and doing it well. I like the way they have been playing. They never seem to be out of games and enjoy playing in close quarters. Stars goalie, Marty Turco, has been phenomenal between the pipes. Detroit will need to match Dallas’ intensity to win this series. That will be a difficult task in that there isn’t a single team that works harder than the Stars.

Prediction- Its hard to pick against the Stars again but I will cautiously take the Red Wings in seven.

Series MVP- Nicklas Lindstrom because he is always Detroit’s MVP.

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