Tag Archives: Corey Crawford

Apr 27 2011

NHL Playoffs: Two Down, Two to Go!

By Brian Willwerth 

Two Game 7′s down, two more to go.

The Philadelphia Flyers and Vancouver Canucks are moving on to the conference semifinals. Two more teams will do the same tonight.

In Philadelphia — The Flyers scored first, and never looked back. They beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2. After starting three different goalies in seven games, Philadelphia had no such trouble on this night. Brian Boucher made 25 saves. On the other side, it was Buffalo who had goaltending issues. Ryan Miller was yanked in the third period after the Flyers had built a 4-0 lead and essentially put the game out of reach. The Flyers don’t know who their next opponent will be; it depends on the outcomes of Wednesday’s games.

There was plenty of drama In Vancouver. The Canucks were on the brink of an epic collapse against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, having blown a 3-0 lead in the series. The decisive game went into overtime. But Alex Burrows stole the puck in the Chicago end, and slapped one past Corey Crawford to give the Canucks a 2-1 victory. Chicago was trying to become the fourth team in NHL history to win a series after dropping the first three games. The Canucks will face the Nashville Predators in the second round. The Preds eliminated the Anaheim Ducks for their first ever series win.

The winner-take-all action continues Wednesday evening. The Bruins host the Canadiens at TD Garden, while the Penguins host the Lightning at CONSOL Energy Center.

Apr 12 2011

NHL Playoffs: Western Conference Preview

By Brian Willwerth

We continue our previews of the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with a look at the matchups in the Western Conference:

(1)  Vancouver Canucks vs. (8) Chicago Blackhawks:

This is a matchup of the defending Stanley Cup Champs, and the team considered the favorite to hoist the Cup this year.  The Canucks have never won it all, but they put themselves in a prime position by capturing the Presidents’ Trophy for the first time.  Vancouver is loaded offensively, starting with the Sedin brothers, Daniel and Henrik, (198 total points between them.)  Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford will be tested. Chicago is the champ until someone proves otherwise. But the ‘Hawks face a tall task by starting out as the #8 seed.

(2)  San Jose Sharks vs. (7) Los Angeles Kings:

It’s an all-California matchup, as these two Pacific Division foes meet in the playoffs for the first time. Antti Niemi has been sensational between the pipes for the Sharks.  This is the same goaltender who played against San Jose in the Western Conference Finals last year as a member of the Blackhawks.  The Kings will be without leading scorer Anze Kopitar for the duration of the playoffs.  So, L.A. will be a defensive-minded team for sure.  The Kings are solid in that department; only the Canucks and Bruins allowed fewer goals this season.

(3)  Detroit Red Wings vs. (6) Phoenix Coyotes:

These two teams face off against each other in the opening round for the second year in a row.  The Wings won last year in seven games.  In Hockeytown, they don’t settle for anything less than a championship, so the pressure is always on Detroit from the get-go.  Keep an eye on the goaltenders in this series: Detroit’s Jimmy Howard and the Coyotes’ Ilya Bryzgalov. Phoenix has not won a playoff series since moving to Arizona from Canada (remember the Winnipeg Jets?)

(4)  Anaheim Ducks vs. (5) Nashville Predators:

This is a classic matchup of contrasting styles.  The Ducks have a great offense; the Predators are a defensive-minded team.  Anaheim has the NHL’s leading scorer, Corey Perry, who netted 50 goals this season. Add veteran Teemu Selanne to the mix, and the Ducks are loaded.  But Nashville has one of the best goaltenders in the league in Pekka Rinne. He was second in the league this season in goals against average and save percentage, (Boston’s Tim Thomas is #1.)

So the matchups are set.  Let’s drop the puck and get the intensity level boiling.

Mar 30 2011

Thomas Leads the Bruins past the Blackhawks, 3-0

Tim Thomas stopped 32 shots on net, as he and the Bruins earned a big win against Chicago.

By Dan Libon

BOSTON, MA – Tim Thomas has been under a great deal of pressure for a majority of the entire season. It’s the kind of pressure that comes with being the best goaltender in the league, but also, with high expectations to succeed during the teams final regular season games. Thomas went out on Tuesday and extended his current winning steak to four games between the pipes, as the Bruins knocked off the defending Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks, 3-0.

“This was a good challenge for us,” said Thomas. “I know they’re battling for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, but that’s a good thing because you know they’re going to bring their A-game [every night].”

Both teams showed off their strength, as well as flexed their muscles during an intense first period.The opening period featured a tremendous dual between both goaltenders and while Thomas was able to record multiple saves, Corey Crawford relied on those “lucky bounces” to keep the puck out of the net and allow Chicago to challenge Boston.

The Bruins gained an early edge with better chances on goal and they were able to keep the Blackhawks on their heels for a majority of the period. Yet, while the Blackhawks settled for slap shots, the Bruins instead fought hard for any possible goal scoring opportunity.

“They were on us pretty good in the first period,” said Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell. “You know we didn’t get rolling, if at all, until later on in the game.”

Once the second period started, fans watched the aggressive play and physicality begin, as Shawn Thornton became the victim of a rough play, which resulted in a gash near his right eye. Thornton suffered the serious injury by colliding with the skate of Blackhawks forward Fernando Pisani, which resulted in him leaving the game and having to get 40 stitches above his eye.

Besides the physical and rough play, Zdeno Chara would eventually get the Bruins on the scoreboard, as Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand set him up for the first score of the evening.

“I was trying to shoot for Rex’s, (Mark Recchi) stick who was up from. When I did it a little tipped by the defenseman and it kind of dove a little bit in and went in,” said Chara

The next goal would come roughly two minutes later, as Johnny Boychuk gave the Bruins a comfortable, 2-0 lead and then later in the third period, Nathan Horton would record goal number 24 on the season, which officially sealed the deal for Boston.

“It dropped like three feet. It was a weird one. I’ve never seen one like that. It was just a tough one to pick up. It started high and just finished like right over the pad. It sank. It sank quite a big,” said Blackhawks goaltender Crawford.

With another win under his belt, Tim Thomas picked up his 33rd victory of the season, as well as his ninth shutout and Mark Recchi reached an important milestone when he recorded his first assist of the game, which makes him now 12th on the NHL all time list with 1,532 points. He is now one place behind former Bruins great, Ray Bourque.

“Obviously, right now it’s, these guys probably get more excited that I do right now, but at the end of my career I’ll look back and be proud of what I did,” said Recchi.

The Bruins are now three points behind the Washington Capitals, who currently are ranked in second place in the Eastern Conference standings and despite the small points deficit between the two squads, head coach Claude Julien explained that he certainly isn’t too concerned about who Boston would face during the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“I don’t believe in picking and choosing because a lot of times it comes back to haunt you….At the end of the year, teams sometimes that are at seventh, eighth spot,   [pick] up their games and are actually doing well.”