Cup Favorites Early Exit

Sunday was a great day for a lot of hockey fans, particularly fans who don't like the Vancouver Canucks and or the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both the Penguins and Canucks were eliminated from Stanley Cup contention after losing their first round series'. It's not every day the 2 teams picked by so many to face off for hockey's ultimate prize get eliminated in the first round!

Flyers win the series 4-2 over the Penguins
It's really weird knowing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, arguably 2 of the 3 best players in the world are no longer in playoffs. I didn't think the Penguins would be able to beat the Flyers, but I thought they would be able to put up more of a fight, they really made the Flyers job pretty easy. Malkin decided to take the first round of the playoffs off and it cost his team. As soon as the opponents realize that Malkin wasn't doing anything they turned all their attention to Crosby, and 99% of the time not even Crosby can beat 5 opposing players. It was a rough series for the Penguins and they just couldn't bounce back after some shaky goaltending. Bottom line though is key players for the Flyers stepped up while key players for the Penguins did not!

3 reasons the Penguins lost


1. Goaltending: I don't know what happened to Fleury but he was not the goaltender he was all season or in past seasons, he let in suspect goals, goals at the worst times and he just looked shaky. The Pens  scored a few key goals to take the lead, but a couple minutes later the refs were fishing the puck out of the back of the Pens net. For whatever reason the Penguins didn't get the goaltending they needed to advance in the playoffs. The only thing that keeps the Pens in the series at all was, Ilya Bryzgalov didn't play that much better than Fleury.

2. Star Players: The Penguins star players really didn't step up and help the Pens. Malkin, Crosby and Neal were all pretty much absent during the series, the three combined for just 8 goals in 6 games, heck the Flyers Claude Giroux had 6 goals and 14 points in the 6 games! Giroux and Daniel Briere carried the Flyers offensively during the season and showed some great leadership. What everyone forgets is the Flyers are doing all this without their Captain Chris Pronger who has been out for the majority of the season!
People talk about Crosby being the best player in the world, but right now the best player in the league/world is Claude Giroux. He was a clutch player for the Flyers and contributed in every game.

3. Discipline: The Flyers were able to get under the Penguins skin and bait them into taking stupid penalties. It was most evident in game 3. The Pens lost their composure, and tried to out tough their opponents which was never going to happen! Philly was able to get into their heads and throw them off their game.

LA Kings win the series 4-1 over the Vancouver Canucks
Most of Canada rejoices with me as the Vancouver Canucks are eliminated from the playoffs and may have just wasted their last chance to dominate the league and win a Stanley Cup.
You have to believe with this loss there will be some major changes coming in Vancouver; first of all they need decide if they're keeping Loungo or shipping him out of town, right now all signs point to him leaving, especially after the Canucks virtually told him they have more faith in Schnieder (after game 4 and 5 starts), there are also rumblings of a coaching change in Vancouver, and who knows if the free agents will stay or go! This was probably the Canucks last chance to make it far with their current roster. Just goes to show that 2 presidents trophies don't mean anything, as the Canucks still have not won a cup. I saw an interesting tweet earlier: "Giving a team the Presidents Trophy, is like giving a student an award for having the highest mark in the class before the exam!" Seems like the Canucks can't seem to pass the biggest test!

3 reasons the Canucks lost

1. The absence of Daniel Sedin: One thing fans noticed is that 1 Sedin without the other is pretty much useless. Henrik did nothing during the first 3 games while his brother was injured. It was obvious he didn't have the good chemistry with his line mates! As soon as Daniel was back he started to score again, and compete harder. Without his brother Henrik looked lost out on the ice, seems like Daniel may be the anchor between the twins. Without Daniel and Henrik scoring the rest of the Canucks weren't able to pick up the slack and ultimately the Canucks got outplayed.

2. Didn't win at home: The Canucks lost all 3 games at the Rogers Centre in Vancouver, during last seasons playoff run the Canucks won every single game 1 at home which put them in a nice spot. But Vancouver was not able to win a single home game this series.

3. Started the wrong goalie: Now this isn't a criticism towards Roberto Loungo, as he surprisingly played really well, his team just couldn't score. But we've seen for the last little while that the Canucks are a different and arguably better team when Cory Schnieder is net, which is why I believe the Canucks will keep Schnieder. But neither goalie got any support from the team, so the goalies are not to fault for this early exit!

The Canucks are not the same team that went to the Stanley Cup playoffs last season, They seemed weaker and not as ready to battle this season, and got outplayed by the Kings.

It's a tough break for the two Stanley Cup favorites, but perhaps a lesson well learned for both teams. The regular season (Presidents trophy) means nothing come playoff time and reputation means even less. Teams must stick to their true identities and not change their game to play like their opponents, for some reason the Pens weren't confident playing with their own style and tried to play the Flyers type of hockey!

Now let's see how the Bruins do...

Penguins and Canucks in a hole

View this article on The Hockey Writers ----> Penguins and Canucks in a hole!

It's the best time of the year, or at least the best time of the NHL season, the playoffs! Sixteen teams battle it out for a chance to lift the Stanley Cup-- it's the NHL's second season. We're roughly 3 games into the playoffs and Stanley Cup favorites Pittsburgh and Vancouver find themselves in a rough spot, down 3 games to their opponents and on the verge of elimination. What the heck happened?

Pittsburgh vs Philadelphia: 3-0 series lead for the Flyers
This series has been by far the most physical series, anytime you get two teams who really don't like each other as much as these two you know stuff is going to happen. Even though it's a team effort during the playoffs, a lot of the blame for the Penguins mess falls squarely on the shoulders of Marc-Andre Fleury. In each of the first 3 games the Penguins came out and grabbed an early lead. In game 1 they were up 3-0, game 2 3-1, and game 3, 3-1 yet in each game they let the Flyers storm back and come out with the victory. The majority of the goals the Flyers have scored are not goals that should go in on a elite level goalie like Fleury, if the Penguins want to get back into this series they need their goalie to stop a puck and keep them in the game. Acquiring a lead but then losing it does no good, especially in the playoffs and against a team like the Flyers who never give up!
The other reasons the Pens find themselves in this hole is the Flyers have been dictating the play of this series. After seeing the WWE type of game Sunday it looked like the Penguins were trying to out tough the Flyers and that's not going to happen. What happened instead was the Penguins completely lost control and took far too many stupid penalties and shot themselves in the foot, the game yesterday quickly spiraled out of control and the game itself was lost.


Key players


Evgeni Malkin- Has anyone even noticed Malkin out there?
The Flyers have done an amazing job of shutting down the Penguins star player and have held him to just 4 assists in the 3 games. Malkin has yet to score and really get his game going in this series, he has not been benefiting the Pens, he's been hurting them and is a -4 through this series. He doesn't look like he wants to win.
If the Penguins want to claw their way back into the series and move on they need Malkin to score some goals and be a difference maker!
Claude Giroux and Daniel Briere- Talk about clutch, Briere has been putting the puck in the net and really breaking the back of the Penguins, he's proving that he is an amazing playoff player. Briere's scored 4 goals and lead or fuelled the Flyers comebacks.
Giroux has been another amazing player for the Flyers. Before the playoffs he said "I don't just want to be another player, I want to make a difference". Boy has he made a difference for the Flyers; hits, fights, and goals great leadership from such a young player! He's racked up 4 goals and 8 points and leads all players in points, goals and assists in the playoffs, the Flyers have a real gem in this kid.

If the Penguins want back in this series they will need Malkin to score a few goals and be more physical and get Fleury to stop some pucks and make key saves at the right time. But at the same time Flyers fans shouldn't just rest their hat on this series and with Bryzgalov, he too has not been anywhere near as good as the Flyers need him to be! Both these goalies have been off this series and really need to star playing like they should, the one that does make the key saves and steals a game for their team will be the winner.
For the Penguins sake I hope it's not too late!

Vancouver Canucks vs Los Angeles Kings: 3-0 series leads for the Kings

Oddly enough the problem with the Canucks has not been the goaltending, Luongo has actually been playing fairly well. It's the rest of the Canucks who haven't been playing well, it appears that not having Daniel Sedin in the lineup is taking a bigger effect on the Canucks than most expected. Henrik Sedin looks lost out there without his twin, there must have been a reason why they wanted to go to the same team! The rest of the Canucks forwards have not been able to pick up the play missing from their top player, because of the lack of production the Canucks are on the verge of elimination! Even putting Cody Schnieder in wasn't enough to spark the Canucks, he played extremely well in game 3 but his teammates didn't score a goal for him! The worst part for the Canucks is they aren't going to score a lot of goals on Kings goalie Jonathan Quick, this could be the beginning of the end for the Canucks. The proverbial window is closing!
If the Canucks are swept in 4 games, they will become the first team to win a President's trophy and then get swept in the first round of the playoffs.

Key Players


Henrik Sedin and Roberto Luongo- Even though Henrik is badly missing his brother out there, he needs to get over it and start producing for the Canucks. If he plays better his brother can get a chance to get back out there with him. If he doesn't start scoring he won't have the opportunity to win a cup or have his brother back with him. He's got some great line mates replacing his brother they are more than capable of scoring goals, it's about time to start scoring again!
Luongo had been great for the Canucks in the start of this series and is not the reason for them being behind the 8 ball. Luongo needs to keep playing like he is and the Canucks will have a chance to climb back into their series and make history.
Jonathan Quick- Quick is a major reason why the Kings have manhandled the Canucks in the first 3 games. He's a great goalie and has been shutting down the door, not allowing rebounds and limiting his opponents to just 2 goals. In the third game he faced 41 shots and stopped all of them earning his first career playoff shutout. If the Kings manage to eliminate the Canucks, the next team they face should be fearful of Quick and be able to score.

Bottom line is the Canucks and Penguins have been out played and out smarted by their opponents, the two teams most fans picked to come out of their respective conferences and face off for the Stanley Cup are on the verge of being eliminated after just 4 games. This proves that the playoffs are a different ball game whatever happened during the season is gone, no matter where teams ranked going into the playoffs it seriously no longer matters. It now comes down to what you do night in and night out. You can't get by on reputation alone!