MVN - Most Valuable Network

Boston and New Jersey Got a Much Needed Win

Sunday was a pivotal day for the Boston Bruins and the New Jersey Devils. They were already two games down and couldn’t afford to go down three games. The Flyers didn’t want to be in the same situation as the Bruins and the Devils. They took care of business. In Western Canada, the San Jose Sharks quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Gary Bettman was wandering if he chose the right game to attend. In the end he saw a dandy of a game.

In Boston it was do or die for the Boston Bruins. Out of the teams that are or were down two games they are the least likely to comeback from a three game deficit. Well it’s a series as they defeated the hated Canadiens 2-1 in overtime. What a confident boost for them. The night before they were on the other side of an overtime loss. I wanted to cry when Marc Savard got the goal. I had the opportunity to be at the game tonight. So when the goal light went on, the first thing that came in my mind was I should be there right now. As for the game, Milan Lucic likes Carey Price in net. Both played in the WHL and Lucic got his first career hat trick when Price was in net. Tonight Lucic got his 1st career playoff goal with Price in net. Tim Thomas can give me a heart attack. His play in the overtime had me about to call the for the medics. If I was at the TD Banknorth Garden tonight, I would be at Mass General right now.

Down I-95 in New York City the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers also went to overtime. The Devils puled out the 4-3 victory at Madison Square Garden. The story of the game will be Martin Brodeur and Sean Avery. During the game Sean Avery literally went out of his way to screen Brodeur. What’s wrong with that? He faced Brodeur in front the net and followed him. It looked like Chris Drury shrugged Avery to stop during the play. At the end of the play Brodeur gave a nice punch to the face to Avery. What Avery did wasn’t against the rules but it was annoying. What he did was poor gamesmanship is the best way to put it.

Will the Jaromir Jagr controversy ever go away? In a recent Newsday article he said:

Although general manager Glen Sather said months ago that he wanted to re-sign Jagr, the brass is divided and reportedly anxious to turn the reins over to Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, the two free-agent centers who were signed to long-term deals last summer.

Jagr jokes that if the Rangers don’t want him, maybe 29 other teams would. Some former teammates have suggested privately that Jagr has been unhappy .because he has lost some clout with management (he was disappointed that the club didn’t re-sign former playmaking center Michael Nylander, for example).

And he has raised the possibility of playing in Omsk, Russia, where he played during the NHL lockout, playing in Europe, or returning to his native Czech .Republic. “If my father asked me to come home, I would,” he told Newsday last week.

Can’t this wait until the off-season?

Further down I-95 in Washington, the Flyers had more energy then the Capitals. I thinks the Capitals threw all there energy into Game 1 because it was their first playoff series since 2003. They wanted to show the world that they were for real. Well they are but the Capitals were emotionally exhausted. It didn’t help that Martin Biron played unbelievable. Now the series will move to Philadelphia. Lets see if Ovechkin can handle the Philadelphia crowd. He probably doesn’t care and will say something before hand to get them going.

Out in Calgary where goaltending was suppose to dominate the series; it was anything but that Sunday. Miikka Kiprusoff let in three goals in three and a half minutes. Three different goal scorers for the Sharks. We had a Curtis Joseph sighting as he came in to back up Kiprusoff. The Flames came back to tie it. With three minutes left the Flames completed the comeback.

Jason Spezza could miss Game 3 with a leg injury that he suffered in Game 2. If he can’t go, you can put the nail in the coffin for the Senators. No one will be able to feed Dany Heatley. Their big three will just be one. Heatley hasn’t been ripping up lately. CBC reported it during the intermission of the San Jose Sharks and Flames game. Owen Nolan scored the game winning goal against his former team.

That’s My Take

(Nathan also writes for the Lewiston Maineiacs of the QMJHL. You follow the Lewiston Maineiacs and news around the QMJHL here at The Asylum. Become a fan of The NHL Source on Facebook. To join the MVN Hockey Staff Nathan can be reached at fbbhgfan@aol.com)

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 13th, 2008 at 8:41 pm and is filed under Dion Phaneuf, Evgeny Nabokov, Alexander Ovechkin, Washingon Capials, Jason Spezza, NHL Playoffs, Russian Super League, Overtime Thriller, Marc Savard, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers, Dany Heatley, Calgary Flames, Carey Price, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.