Tag: Pavel Datsyuk

And that’s D-Town for ya!!!!

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So Detroit did EXACTLY what I called. I predicted a Detroit Red Wings first round 7-game series win against a top seed. I was just about as close as possible.

I predicted that Detroit would take down the Blackhawks in the first round. That didn’t quite happen.

Instead, Detroit did one better and made it into the playoffs as the 7th seed, dealing with the Anaheim Ducks. They just took them down in 7 games.

I watched the last couple minutes of the game, and I was in awe as to how well-disciplined that Detroit team is.

I’m gonna dissect it all this week. I haven’t really researched all of the game tape yet. I only saw the last period.

One thing is for sure. Despite him not having a goal or an assist, there’s gonna be plenty of Pavel.

My new predictions-In round 2, I expect the Kings to deal with the Sharks after maybe 6 games. The Sharks get very tired very quickly. As for Detroit, after what they did against the Ducks, the sky is the limit for them. However, Chicago is a completely different story. I think Chicago will take that series. We will see.

Why the Red Wings?-Let’s Discuss

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So why do I think the Red Wings spell disaster for the Chicago Blackhawks (the Western Conference’s projected number 1 seed)?

The Detroit Red Wings are an incredibly storied franchise not only in the NHL but in all of sports. This season’s Red Wing team is equally as dangerous as in years past. This team is simply flawless. They are much younger than they have been in the past, being right in the middle of the league’s average roster age.

For those that are interested, the link for NHL ages is right here. Really just had to google it.

And for those interested, the NHL’s oldest roster is my New Jersey Devils. That might have something to do with the fact that our goalies are Martin Broduer (40) and Johan Hedberg (39).

Back to the Wings, though. Detroit has a few stars on their roster that while a little older, have superb conditioning. They are the most fundamentally sound team I’ve probably ever watched.

Let’s take roll call. We have the captain, Henrik Zetterberg, who has 8 goals but 27 assists. So whose scoring the goals?

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King Without A Crown

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No, I am not going to write a blog about Matisyahu’s song, but it is good, no I am talking about my beloved Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings.

What happened?

They came back after the break which was way too long might I add, and the first game back the Blackhawks destroyed them.

How does a team go from best 8 seed in the western conference to #1 in the NHL one season and then come back to be 28th in the league and last in their division.

So far this season they have a record of 3-5-2 and only a total of 8 points from a possible 20, a 14 point gap between the #1 Chicago Blackhawks.

This is how last season started out and they came back to win the whole shabang, but keep in mind this is a shortened season.

The teams are playing pretty much half of a season, so there isn’t really room for anyone to mess up, but especially not for the reigning cup champions.

This past weekend the Kings played the Detroit Red Wings.

Despite defenseman Drew Doughty setting the tone early  with a monster hit on Pavel Datsyuk about 5 minutes after the puck dropped, the Kings were trailing 2-1 going into the second, and remained that way well into the 3rd.

The Kings picked up their play and were connecting on passes and shots, but nothing was getting past Jimmy Howard, and so I thought Jonathan Quick.

With 52.8 seconds left in the 3rd period Alec Martinez fired one past Howard just after Quick had skated to the bench to get an extra attacker out on the ice.

But with 4.5 seconds left Detroit Red Wings’ Jonathan Ericcson got one right through the pads of Quick, and it seemed to just slowly trickle past the goal line making it impossible for the Kings to come back, leaving them with yet another loss.