Category: Hockey History 1917-2023

Non-turnover ruins Texas effort

SC 4 – DAL 3 OT The murkiness surrounding goaltender interference is maddening, up until last night interference on the goalie was not called if the offensive player was not in the blue ice, clearly, there was blue ice occupation for the Knights on their third tally.

It should not have counted, the Knights player deliberately skated toward the blue ice and slid into the goaltender without assistance from the two defending Stars, and remained prone on the blue ice until his teammate shot the puck and scored.

The rest of the game was very entertaining, all even strength goals, 30 SOG combined in the first period, outstanding play by both goaltenders, with golden opportunities missed, and as expected by these two evenly matched teams, a close game.

Perhaps I was the only one who cheered here along the Lake when Jackie Vegas did not score on a breakaway I did not intend to, it just popped out.

Game Two pressure to win is squarely on the Hurricanes at home to split their series with the Panthers tonight at eight o’clock and after literally playing over two games during the first game both teams look to end this one in regulation.

GM 1 F/4OT

FLA 3 – CAR 2 OT Both teams were undefeated when scoring first, and both teams were undefeated in overtime, last night one team scored all their goals on the power play, and the other could not score on the power play, throw in some sketchy officiating and viola one the most entertaining games to date.

The Florida Panthers and Mr. Bobrovsky continue their torrid pace through the playoffs by winning against all odds placed against them in Raleigh with a well-earned game-one road victory that took seven periods to decide.

The Panthers had earned penalties in the game but not the one that gave the Hurricanes a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:22 which Carolina failed to capitalize on but with seconds remaining in the period and still on the power play the Hurricanes did score the game’s first goal.

Florida silenced the crowd by scoring twice in two minutes and 15 seconds late in the second period but Carolina poured it on early in the third period scoring again on the power play and outshooting the Panthers 14 to 2 for the period.

Less than three minutes into the first overtime Florida’s winning goal is negated by a determination of interference, the Carolina player causing the Florida player to clash skates with the goaltender is overlooked and the game continues, and continues, and continues.

Florida is tagged for a hooking penalty in the fourth overtime but Carolina does not score and with seconds remaining in the period the Panthers score the winning tally to capture game one.

Game 1 between the Stars and Knights begins at 8:30pm EST tonight in sin city, you will not be able to escape the constant barrage of gambling adverts, but at least they put some “gamblers anonymous” information as well, so all is good.

Then there were four

Florida Panthers The darlings of the NHL after dispatching the “greatest regular season team in NHL history” in the first round are matched up against the Metropolitan Division Champions a team that if you took Boston out of the equation would have been the number one team in the NHL.

As long as Mr. Bobrovsky keeps playing at a high level and with Misters Tkachuk, Barkov, Verhaeghe, Reinhart, and Montour managing the offense, the Cats might win it all.

Carolina Hurricanes North Carolina hosts game one tonight to start off the semi-finals versus Florida led by Captain Staal as he gets his team ready to battle his two brothers assisting the Panthers.

The Hurricanes can smother a team with their defensive style of play and although other teams score more than them no one lets in fewer goals than Carolina and that spells shutouts and one goal low scoring games this series with Florida that can go either way.

Dallas Stars The Stars begin their series in the single most distraction-filled city imaginable against a team similar in statistics across the board with Dallas scoring just a bit more and letting in just a few less.

A “hot” goalie, a sensational rookie center, with goal scoring from Mr. Hintz and Mr. Pavelski could be a winning combination this series for Texas.

Vegas Golden Knights The NHL in all its glory gets to have a semi-finals series in sin city where gambling is first and foremost which compliments the NHL’s advertising of gambling with unabashed indulgence from announcers, former players, and adverts splattered all over the dasherboards and ice.

The Knights are counting on Mr. Hill to keep his play at a high level and the continued scoring from Mr. Stephenson, Mr. Stone, Mr. Barbashev, and Hat Trick Marchessalt to create an opportunity to defeat Dallas.

The final team for Conference Finals

DAL 2 – SEA 1 there were two penalties in the first period with neither team scoring, afterward the officials kept their whistles to themselves in a tightly played affair with low SOG and iron-clanging shots, with the first goal not scored until four minutes left in the second period.

In a series where the winner scored 4 to 7 goals each of the first six games this game seven was an entertaining defensive display with one silky steal at the blue line for a breakaway goal and a rookie sensation beating out an offsides call to score the game-winner.

It was not controversial, it was not a bloodbath, it was not a barn burner and last night was straight up an NHL playoff game seven where no side could claim victory until moments left in the third period, of the last game of this series.

The Conference Finals begin this Thursday with the surprising Panthers visiting a solid Hurricanes team in Carolina with the opening faceoff scheduled for eight o’clock pm EST.

Oilers stay home as Knights advance

SC 5 – EDM 2 Offense began quickly as both teams scored on their first SOG in under the first 60 seconds of the game then the Oilers took the 2-1 lead a couple of minutes later on their second shot of the game.

The second period belonged to the Knights and Mr. Marchessault’s Natural Hat Trick as Edmonton allowed three goals on 10 SOG prompting a goaltender switch to start the third period which worked as Mr. Campbell stopped all 4 SOG he faced.

Not one of the 12 SOG by Edmonton in the third period found twine and one Happy Net goal to finish the scoring by the Knights to win the game and series.

Dallas hosts Seattle in game seven of their series tonight at 8pm EST.