The Penguins and Flyers kick off their playoff series tonight at seven, but it's not the first time these intrastate rivals have met in the playoffs. In fact, they've played three times in the post-season in the past and the Flyers have won all three series. What better way to get in the mood for round four than to check out some YouTubes of the Flyers and the Penguins playoff past?
1989 Patrick Division Finals In 1989, Mario Lemieux and finally reached the playoffs in his fifth season. After a first round sweep over the Rangers, the Pens ran smack into the Flyers, who took them out in seven games. I'm honestly not sure what game in the series this brawl is from but it's awesome.
So it looks like Elisha Cuthbert gets passed around the NHL more than a hockey puck. Here she is with Dion Phaneuf from the Calgary Flames. Now I'm not 100% sure that's him since his face looks like it's taken more beatings than Lindsay Lohan's ...
Yowch, feel the snark! Hollywood is a rough place.
Though the folks at HT don't seem to be completely sure that it's Phaneuf that they've captured walking beside Cuthbert, the hockey braintrust here at FanHouse is happy to confirm their suspicion -- that's certainly Phaneuf in this blowup.
As other have noted, this would mean that Cuthbert has completed something of an NHL dating hat trick, progressing from Rangers bad boy Sean Avery, through Habs defenseman Mike Komisarek and now to Phaneuf, the highest paid of the three.
As far as I'm concerned, we're very happy that Cuthbert has decided to cut a swath through the NHL. In fact, we're just waiting for the moment she gets hitched to a hockey player and starts dishing to the press much like Willa Ford, aka Mrs. Mike Modano.
Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.
If I was attempting to be as trite as possible, I would follow that title with more of Mick Jagger's words: "I'm a man of wealth and taste." This would be misleading because I am certainly not a man of wealth and most people that know me would argue that I'm a man of questionable tastes (you know the idiot that plays Kid Rock at the bar every Friday? That's me). I am, however, new to the NHL FanHouse and this is my first Ice Sheet, so let this serve as my real introduction to you.
Similarly (WARNING! TENUOUS METAPHOR AHEAD!) eight NHL teams have introduced themselves to us during the first round of these playoffs. That means that after a quick rundown of last night's frenetic Game 7 action, we're going to take an even quicker look at all eight teams that have advanced and what they've done to introduce themselves to us during the first round. Groan. I think that metaphor's all used up and I promise you won't find it again after the jump.
Jeremy Roenick refuses to play his last game. The veteran center scored two goals and two assists in the climactic Game Seven finale between the San Jose Sharks and the Calgary Flames to secure a 5-3 win and advance to Round Two of the NHL playoffs.
Just like the first six games of the series, Game Seven started as a back-and-forth affair. Joe Thornton and Jarome Igilna exchanged power play goals in the first period before Owen Nolan, the former Shark, took a breakaway puck and charged in on net. The puck managed to go off Nolan's stick, goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, Nolan's leg, and into the net. Shark fans across the nation took a collective gulp.
Shockingly, the Sharks did not choke. Roenick scored consecutive goals to quickly put the Sharks back in the lead, and center Joe Pavelski added to that when he snapped a loose puck over Mikka Kiprusoff just after a power play had expired. Iron Mike Keenan, recalling his earlier success in Game Three, ended Kipper's season with a hasty goalie change, and two shots later, rookie Devin Setoguchi had put the fourth Shark goal of the period past Curtis Joseph. It was Teal domination - through two periods the Sharks had outshot the Flames 35-13.
Most of the talk and hype tonight is focusing on the Flyers and Capitals. There are certainly a number of reasons for that, ranging from their prime east coast locations that lend an early start time to Alexander Ovechkin. It's probably true that the Flyers and Caps will put on a good show tonight. They are, however certainly not the only game tonight.
Really, once you move past Ovechkin, the star power in the Western game dwarfs the game from the Eastern Conference. Jarome Iginla, Joe Thorton, Miikka Kiprusoff, and Evegeni Nabokov are just the tip of the iceberg. No game in the series has been decided by more than two goals, with only Games 2 and 6 being decided by that much. In terms of well-played, close series, it's hard to ask for more than the Sharks and Flames have given us.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't watch the Caps and Flyers. By all means, tune it. Any Game 7 is worth it, even when Ovechkin and the Flyers aren't involved. Just do yourself a favor and don't change the channel when they're done, because if you do, you're going to be missing out.
As it turns out, the kid has a name. He's Brendan Peters of Calgary, and both TSN and CityTV have recently profiled him and discovered the why behind his routine:
For more on "The Kipper Kid," click here. And for his recent ride on the Zamboni between periods, click here. I'm guessing somebody is probably going to be staying up late to watch Game Seven against San Jose.
Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.
Well, I was going to recap the thrilling third period heroics of Alexander Ovechkin in Game Six between the Caps and Flyers, but Eric's got that one more than covered. I was also going to talk about Montreal's dominant Game Seven victory over the pesky Bruins, but Pat already told that story. Go ahead and read them; they've done a better job than I was going to do.
Instead, for today's Ice Sheet I'll offer a preview for tonight's games, the importance of which can be expressed with the two most exciting words in hockey: Game Seven. For a hockey fan, there's nothing like the agonizing thrill of the do-or-die Game Seven, when two teams go head to head with their seasons squarely on the line. It's sixty minutes (and maybe more) where destinies collide, where every play matters, and even the bit player can forever earn a place in hockey lore.
Tonight the NHL features two Game Sevens, one in each of the conferences to close out the first round. First the Washington Capitals will host the Philadelphia Flyers at 7 pm, and then the San Jose Sharks will host the Calgary Flames at 10 pm. These games will not only be huge for fans of these four teams, but thanks to the league's playoff re-seeding, all remaining teams will be watching with interest to see who their next opponent will be.
(After the break, a quick look at each series thus far, a run-through of round two scenarios, and a glimpse from last year of Game Seven hysteria.)
Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.
Friday night, the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks had a great performance in Game Five against the Dallas Stars. Two nights later, that performance stands irrelevant. Last night in Game Six the Ducks were bounced from the playoffs by the Stars after a 4-1 defeat in Dallas. In one of the more unlikely of scenarios of the playoffs thus far, the Stars won their first playoff series in five years and shook off a horrific stretch run, showing the league that they mean business. Three of their four wins in the series came by three or more goals and they all came within a span of 10 days. That's twice the amount of wins the team had during the entire month of March. I'm not sure where this turnaround came from, but it sure is impressive.
But it was a big night in the Western Conference. While the defending champs were getting knocked out, a popular Stanley Cup pick was getting put to the test. In Calgary, the Sharks and Flames took the ice for Game Six of their quarterfinal series. Down 3-2 in the series, the Flames' season was on the line in this one -- and they came up big. Miikka Kiprusoff needed to make only 21 saves to earn the shutout victory as the Flames downed the Sharks 2-0 up north. Owen Nolan and Daymond Langkow had the tallies for Calgary, and now the series shifts back to San Jose for a pivotal, super ultra mega important, Game Seven on Tuesday night.
Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.
When you take a look back at the FanHouse Western Conference Roundtable, there was a lot of disagreement. However, there was at least one point of unanimity, and that was the contention that the Dallas Stars weren't long for this world, especially as they were set to face the defending Stanley Cup Champs, the Anaheim Ducks, in the first round of the playoffs.
For us, the calculus was pretty simple: Dallas had lost 10 of its last 14 games and was going against an Anaheim team that seemed designed specifically for playoff success. Toss in an injury to superstar defenseman Sergei Zubov, and it seemed as if the Ducks were set to steamroll the Stars out of the playoffs.
Which I guess is why they play the games. With a 3-1 home win in Game Four last night, Dallas took a rather commanding 3-1 series lead over the Ducks. Anaheim threw 28 shots on Marty Turco last night, but didn't get a puck past him until only 7.6 seconds were left in the game. Heck, even Teemu Selanne ran Turco in the third period, but it wasn't enough.
Every Thursday, Earl Sleek will conspire with his pen and scanner to bring you another installment of PuckToons. Hopefully you will find these amusing, relevant, well-drawn, or you're a person who is tolerant towards mediocrity.
I don't know if there's been a better series this first round than the Sharks and the Flames, especially the last two games played in Calgary.
In Game Three, the Sharks scored 3 goals in the first 3:33 of regulation, only to see the Flames fight back and win the game 4-3 late in the third period. In Game Four, the Flames scored first and brought a 2-1 lead into the third, before the Sharks got their comeback in order and won 3-2, with Joe Thornton's game-winner scored with less than 10 seconds left.
Tonight is Game Five in San Jose, and Flames blogger MetroGnome at Five Hole Fanatics mockingly offers this advice: "New, prevailing strategy for both clubs going forward: avoid scoring the first goal of the game. Seriously."
I doubt that's the strategy that either team will be adopting, but I will definitely be tuned in until the final whistle.
For the past couple of months now we've been reading rumors of 
Most of the talk and hype tonight is focusing on the Flyers and Capitals. There are certainly a number of reasons for that, ranging from their prime east coast locations that lend an early start time to 
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