Playoff hockey? ...Oh yeah, that's still going on. :D

So. I'm not dead, honestly. Just have been kind of blah lately, but figured I'd give my predictions/thoughts/whatever on the next round.

Eastern Conference

(1)Buffalo v. (6)New York Rangers
Well, I have an affection for both teams, but I want Buffalo to advance. A goal from Petr Prucha for NYR would not be discouraged though.

My Prediction: Buffalo in 6.

(2)New Jersey v. (4)Ottawa
...Can I say neither? No? Ok. Uh. Damn this one is really hard.

My Prediction: New Jersey in 7.

Western Conference

(1)Detroit v. (5)San Jose
So, as much as I love San Jose lately, I still have to go with Detroit, because of the rookies. That and I'm a horrible Ohio girl. *sigh*

My Prediction: Detroit in 5.

(2)Anaheim v. (3)Vancouver
This one's harder. Anaheim has been a good team all year. But, I'd love to see Vancouver go forward, soooo. (No mid-series breakdown, this time, ok, Canucks? Ok. Awesome.)

My Prediction: Vancouver in 6.
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So, right, I think that's it from me for now.

It's like a triathalon...

...except instead of simply passing on the magic wand at the end you have to wrestle some other jerk at the end of the line for it. Unless you are the magic wands. Better luck next decade?

No I'm not sure where I'm going with this metaphor or if it even makes sense but with each pass it gets a little harder on them and a little easier for me to ramble about them. I suppose I should have made another post after those last two slugs games since it seems like all I really do is rag on the team. But seriously. I was proud of the team. I was happy to see them doing well again. Game four I thought they showed up in a way that hadn't since the plague of injuries struck. Minus a captain going down here, a goalie brawl there and a trade deadline to top it all off. Which is more than I can say about a certain coach who we have the misfortune of being associated prior to Ruff's tenure. (Seriously though, I don't dislike Nolan but geez could he whine about every thing OUT of his control a little more? How about owning up to the fact that you're stuck with two of the real slugs in the league. Still cleaning up the mess you started with aren't ya Ted.)

That said this was just the begining and everyone better know that. The Rangers are not the Islanders. But bias aside I'd be hard pressed to ever doubt (at least for quite a while) that upset can't over come the challenge of long island (I'm seriously thrilled about this whole mini battle of New York State we've got going on okay?) So what makes this one so much harder? Jagr and Nylander? Yeah sure they can throw a bit more offense at us than the Isles but they're only running two... three lines at best and I hear they plan to put them through the blender to take ours on. When Buffalo shows up they have four solid competant lines. Do the math. Avery? Ha. Ha. Ha. And I'll have you know each one of those exclamations was written with emphatic deliberance (IT'S A WORD) Avery thinks he can get under our skin as do a couple comments from the coachin staff that I've seen. Not going to happen. Tom of Sabres Rattling points out that Buffalo faces guys like Chris Neil and Darcy Tucker eight times a season. We know what to expect. We know how to take advantage of it and we've got our far share to throw back just in case. Defense? I don't think it's any secret that this is probably the weakest point of both teams. That said Buffalo's D is very different in that they regularly perform offensively. We wouldn't have made it out of round one without them and I think that could make a huge difference in the long run.

So that pretty much leaves. The goalie. I think the hardest wall to over come is without a doubt the better half of the lesser known pair of swedish twins. Lundqvist is hot right now and he knows it and that's a dangerous combination. I could make plenty of arguements that he's in far better form than Miller and I think round one already offered us a glimpse at what can happen when a lesser team has a superior goaltender. Does that mean it's over? Of course not! If Buffalo keeps playing the way they have it'll be a long painful series. I could see it going to seven rounds like that. But they keep improving and if they're in top form for this series I could see it getting done in 5 but lets just say 6 to be on the safe side.

As for the rest of the league. Ottawa faces New Jersey and nothing will make me happier than to see one of those two teams get knocked out. Now who do I prefer? Well our record against both isn't too different. 3-5-0 for the Sens and 2-2-0 for the Devils this season. That said I think Ottawa tends to get under Buffalo's skin more. Imo the most annoying team in our division but we know them. I'd still prefer the devils as if the first series was any indication Ottawa is playing some of their best hockey all season. Not to discredit the Devils as it seems like they've found a perfect medium to play their trap while still carrying some effective offense which makes them just as dangerous but it doesn't look like they're as together as the Sens. A point for the Sens also lies in the brawl of the season which could make for a fantastically good series and added rivalry. Either way it'll be hard but should be good.

In the west I think I'll be paying the most attention to the Ducks and the Canucks (oh snap it even rhymes). Not to discredit the Wings or San Jose who are both looking great but I think the conference winner is going to come out of the other series. Calgary's out (and I won't defend what they did nor speak ill of it but I do feel that series ended in the best way possible as Steph so cleverly pointed out) so that pretty much leaves me with Jan Bulis Vancouver to cheer for from the great white north. My pool has the Ducks taking it but that doesn't mean I don't still have faith in Canada and if I end up having to cheer for the Sens over Anaheim I may as well just take up golf early like the 22 not so successful teams of the season have already. And I loath golf. Maybe I'll just eat this glass bottle sitting next to me. I'll save it should the need arise.

Buffalo and Vancouver to play tonight and I'll be stuck at school being lured in by free sushi. There in spirit. Go Slugs.

We hope you enjoyed theTour de Franzen

Irony.

Here comes round 2.
Courtesy of Let's Go Wings Forums

So. I had playoff hockey to talk about.

Really I did.

But now, all I have to say is this.

DOUG MACLEAN FIRED? omgyespleasekthxbai.

Words cannot express how seriously and phenomanally HAPPY I am about this news. Though, what does this mean for my emotastic little (ok, not so little) Ukrainian wunderkind who doesn't like to listen? I shudder to think of it.

In other news, Wings/Flames game 4 tonight. Please don't make me cry, Wings. Please?

Now. I'm off to go patrol Youtube a little more Martin Biron stuff. Steph, where'd you find those commentaries you were talking about yesterday before I went out to die while driving?

As a Pens fan I feel like this right about now...

As a Sabres fan I don't feel much better. Granted the Sabres are 2-1 in their series while the Pens are 1-3 but I'm going to blame that entirely on luck or lack thereof. No one said the playoffs were going to be easy and if they did they were high. Or in Anaheim (for the record I'm really pissed they didn't sweep I just want that series to be over, dead and done :b). But to follow a team that seems to play like they don't even care about it being the playoffs and that's about a hundred times more painful. Especially when said team fought so hard during regular season to accomplish what they did.

In fact I'm almost a little pissed that the those numbers aren't reversed because Pittsburgh may have been slow to come out of the box but they're trying. They're still together and they're still fighting but Ottawa has just been scary good from the start. The Pens are struggling but they're still trying! I can't say the same about Buffalo. At every turn they are disgusting me. They are suppose to be a high scoring puck moving team and what are they're forewards doing? They're on vacation in key west already. Especially our CAPTAIN. Our fourth line is performing better than our top and it's a good thing fans aren't allowed near the plays or I think more than a few would be tearing one, Daniel Briere, a new one. I am just waiting for Lindy to bump him for it and I have noticed that he hasn't been sporting a C lately.

I've always felt that Dru was the true captain of the team though while Danny was our star and boy everything bad you can say about star players has been ringing true with him lately. He's failing to make plays, follow through on plays, he's afraid or just unwilling to take and make hits and don't give me the size excuse cause than man can be obnoxious and rough when he wants to (and often is). He doesn't have the third highest pims on the team for nothing. Speaking of penalty minutes, generally I can be okay with those when you can back them up with some valuable points but since the end of regular season I have seen him do little more than take ridiculous hooking and slashing penalties and he even got himself thrown out of the game at one point. And no I am not giving him even the slightest ounce of credit for that goal he just got last game until he can start performing consistently. He's not the only one though just the one that infuriates me the most. It would be nice if Pominville and Vanek could step up too and Roy while making some great plays that I'm glad for is offsetting them with horribly costly ones. Of course like I said Dru is in top form and that's very important and somehow the D is keeping it together and even performing in place of the forewards while they flounder like fish.

I hear rumours that the team is falling apart in the locker room. That they're at each others throats and calling each other out some of them doing so publicly. I'm looking at you Ryan Miller, it wasn't cute or appropriate the first time and it sure as hell ain't helping anyone now. Not to mention bitching about the D when they are the only ones that are performing just because you haven't been in top form between the posts all series is not acceptable. It is your problem. Even if it is theirs it is your problem to address with them. Either way. FIX IT. And don't go crying to the media anymore because it is doing nothing to endear anyone to your cause.

I don't want to sound like I'm kissing monsieur Biron's ass right now but I think this is the hardest I've ever missed him right now. Off the rink, this was his forte. I'm not saying he was a some messiah that could solve all these problems oh of course not but he could still draw a group together inspite of them. I look at last years team and compared to this year and I don't know why we're falling apart now, when it made us so much stronger then but I'm truly sad to see it happening.

Speaking of the team last year we lost so many treasured players in the off season who are doing fantastic in their respective playoffs this year. JP Dumont for Nashville (Why JP? Why?) is having a spectacular post season with something like 7 points already. In spite of the fact that they will probably (hopefully) get trounced by San Jose. Which brings me to Mike Grier who is always a pleasure to watch and makes me feel not so terrible about cheering for the Sharks. And over in the Vancouver Dallas match up the Taylor Pyatt score a game winner on top of gaining some other key points while for the stars we have Stu Barnes netting a point or two himself. It's impossible to want them all to succeed but if it were!

In conclusion, I still have complete blinding faith in the Pens, want to have faith in Buffalo and Calgary, hope Anaheim would just hurry up and get their series over with, have a strange affection for Tampa shutting down NJ's game (and essentially kicking their fourth line out of the game in a brilliantly retarded ploy that I love them for), and am just so ridiculously glad that Vancouver is keeping me in the orange.

Playoff hockey...Round TWO!

So, while I'm waiting for the Isles/Sabres game on Versus to appear, instead of bull riding, I figured I'd ramble a bit.

-Watched the Flames/Wings game 1, and was SO happy. Valtteri Filppula's first playoff goal, right off the bat. Amazing. The Wings played very well, and earned that win wholly.

-I then got the end of the Sabres game 1, which Drea was at, and I talked to her on the phone for the entire third period. Drury and Briere amused me.

-Today, I've watched the Pens/Sens game, and was much more happy with the results. Sidney game winner, so I was quite a bit more happy.

So, since I have now run out of things to say, I will leave you with this.

Skye: Guess what gonna's be happening on my stove soon? :D
Drea: uhhh... cheese?
Skye: It involves cheese! :D
Drea: AND MCLENNAN!?
Skye: YES! XD

There's your daily dose of dorky-ness, from yours truly, and Drea. ♥

Oh playoff hockey, how I love thee.

So, after the EIGHT AND A HALF FUCKING HOURS of absolute GLEE last night that was playoff hockey (barring the rememberances of the Pens getting absolutely SLAUGHTERED, and of VERSUS saying, "Oh, nope, no more hockey for you! Here, have an INFOMERCIAL before OT4 happens! :D"), I have a feeling that the playoffs are going to kill me.

Calgary vs Wings tonight, and I am a horrible Ohio-born-and-bred girl for saying I want the Wings to win. Want them to win like I want the Jackets to make the playoffs at some point in my lifetime next year. Want it more than I wish Bertuzzi could run Phaneuf over for me. Want it more than I want pocky.

Though I really want the Islanders/Sabres game more than all that, because, hello, Martin Biron in booth? Do they KNOW what they've gotten themselves INTO? Oh God, I hope someone YouTubes some of that, because it will be AMAZING, hands down. And Drea, I expect periodly-updates on cute things that happen, and the like. XD Still distressed over the lack of Rick DiPietro, but hey, what can ya do?

I also found out that my brother is going to the Rangers/Thrashers game in Atlanta on Saturday, and I am not a happy little sister. But, since I am apparently moving to Atlanta in the near future (as in, within six months), I forsee a lot of Thrashers-hockey (and Kari-stalking) in my future. Though, with that happening, there will be a serious and distinct lack of Blue Jackets, and that is not ok. I will find a way to remedy this, however. I'm not staying in Atlanta forever, I know that. Oh God, big city = dead Skye-chan.

So, I think that's it for now. I would bother with predictions for the playoffs, but that kind of requires effort, and as I'm still wore out from yesterday's 8-and-a-half-orgasmic-hours of hockey, I'm just way too lazy to do that. XD So right. Go Wings! ...I can't believe I just said that. x_X

Fantastic Finale VI? Maybe...Maybe Not.

Well, folks, the Jackets play their last game of the season tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. We have a chance to win the season series tonight, and further our all-time record against them.

I don't know what my feelings towards tonight's game are. I'm excited that we could win the season series, but at the same time...I don't know. Maybe I'm just tired after the 5 AM wake up call that my body decided would be fun this morning. Eh, who knows.

So, I think I will just leave you with this, and go on my way.

NHL.com PREVIEW

Go Blue Jackets!

Hay guys, guess what?

We lost to Detroit again.

And it was our 16th shutout of the season. :D

...Can I just shoot myself now and get it over with? *sigh*

Hmm.

I just have one question.

Why am I still blogging for the Blue Jackets? Ugh.

We lost to the 'Hawks, and then got murdered by the Wings. Thank you, Jason Chimera and Rick Nash for being our saviors, in each game respectively, and not making our "shutouts against" record get worse. *sigh*

Dear Columbus Blue Jackets,

Winning is good, 'kay?

Love, Skye