|
Post by ocelot on Jun 12, 2006 17:43:40 GMT -5
I absolutely agree with you. I hate it when I game is questioned because of one call (I make exceptions for when it's clear that the ref is one-sided). A game is never determined in one play. If you are the better team and take advantage of your chances you will win. But the refs are good refs and aren't corrupted in the NHL so fans need to live with the results (as much as they might not like them).
|
|
|
Post by ocelot on Jun 12, 2006 17:48:31 GMT -5
Oilers Try to Tie Up Series
(TSN.ca/CP) - The Edmonton Oilers aim to even up the Stanley Cup final tonight when they host the Carolina Hurricanes.
Edmonton, who trail 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, scored a disputed goal with less than two minutes left in Saturday's Game 3 on their way to a 2-1 victory.
Ryan Smyth scored the winner after linemate Ales Hemsky fired the puck at Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward. Smyth flew into Ward and somehow managed to bang in the rebound past Ward's right pad. Carolina complained the goal should have been disallowed because Smyth interfered with Ward in the crease, but the officials disagreed.
Edmonton had more hits, won more faceoffs and used a checking line to slow down Carolina's Rod Brind'Amour in the victory. It was a breath of life for an Oilers team that had one foot in the grave after losing the first two games in Carolina.
''We have created another opportunity for ourselves,'' forward Ethan Moreau, who rattled the Hurricanes with four hits, had a couple of takeaways and mustered three shots on net, said Sunday.
''We did a lot of things better than we did in Game 1 and 2. We had a sense that if we continued to play well we were going to capitalize on one of our chances and we did it again.''
The eighth-seeded Oilers have fought back from a 2-0 playoff deficit before during this year's unlikely run to the final. Edmonton lost the opening two matches of the Western Conference semifinal in San Jose but rallied to win the series in six games.
''We seem to be better when our backs are against the wall and nobody gives us any respect,'' said defenceman Chris Pronger.
''We still have to go out and prove everybody wrong and continue to play the way we have throughout the course of the playoffs and make sure that we're doing all the little things that we did right.''
The Hurricanes say they need to fix the game within their game if they want to take back the momentum from the Oilers.
They also know they need offensive go-to guy Eric Staal to get back on track.
The Hurricanes' top-ranked power play short-circuited and the team lost the battle of the faceoff dot in dropping Game 3 to the Oilers Saturday.
''We didn't play well enough to probably win,'' team captain Rod Brind'Amour said after practice Sunday at Rexall Place.
''We had five power plays. We had ample opportunities there to score and we didn't. That's why we didn't win the game.''
''There will be minor changes made, but for the most part I think we can execute a little bit better, show a little more discipline, skate a little more harder,'' said Hurricanes head coach Peter Laviolette.
Winger Eric Staal, who logged the most ice time on the power play Saturday with close to five minutes, said the Oilers gave them a different look.
''They're pressuring a little bit harder than they had been,'' said Staal. ''We've seen that before. We just need to adjust a little bit better and get pucks through and get action on the net.''
''We struggled getting the puck in their zone and didn't make the right decisions when we got in there,'' added winger Cory Stillman.
In the faceoff circle, the Hurricanes dominated the Oilers in Game 1, winning two-thirds of the draws. Brind'Amour led the way, winning 82 per cent.
But the numbers have fallen ever since and dropped below 50 per cent in Game 3.
Stillman said that winning faceoffs is not just up to the centre: ''Our centremen have to get in and bear down and try to win draws, try to tie draws. And on the other side your two wingers better get in and help with anything that's loose.''
|
|
|
Post by achebeautiful on Jun 12, 2006 18:31:24 GMT -5
Leona writes:
"But the refs are good refs and aren't corrupted in the NHL"
Leona, it would be a stretch to believe that the refs are corrupted in ANY major sport! Simply not so! All of the refs in all sports take the games seriously and hold their postions with utmost integrity. Never more so in playoff games, where the leagues pick the veteran and best of them.
It's scandalous to believe that the refs decide these games. It makes the whole thing poilitical, and mysterious.
We have to face up to the fact that every achievement will come with its share of hard work, opportunities seized upon, and a little luck.
Luck being defined as that time when chance and opportunity meet.
|
|
|
Post by achebeautiful on Jun 12, 2006 18:56:03 GMT -5
OH! But, well, but HEY!
It's time for Hockey!
Let's go OILERS!
|
|
|
Post by ocelot on Jun 12, 2006 22:04:24 GMT -5
They lost.
|
|
|
Post by S.C. on Jun 13, 2006 9:42:05 GMT -5
Awwww, sorry Leona!
|
|
|
Post by ocelot on Jun 14, 2006 22:24:25 GMT -5
Edmonton won! Pisani scored a short-handed goal in overtime! ;D
|
|
|
Post by ocelot on Jun 14, 2006 22:56:04 GMT -5
Oilers win in OT; close gap to 3-2 By Phil Coffey | NHL.com | June 14, 2006
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Fernando Pisani broke a lot of hearts in North Carolina Wednesday night, scoring on a shorthanded breakaway at 3:31 of overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final to close the series to 3-2 in Carolina's favor.
Game 6 will be played Saturday night (8 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, RDS, NHL Radio) at Rexall Place in Edmonton.
Moments after Michael Peca rang a shot off the post, the Oilers appeared to be in deep trouble as defenseman Steve Staios was called for tripping at 3:03, to give the Hurricanes a golden chance to win the game and the Stanley Cup.
But Cory Stillman's cross-ice pass was weak and didn't reach Eric Staal, allowing Pisani unfettered access to goalie Cam Ward, beating him for the winning goal and ruining what thousands of "Caniacs had hoped would be a memorable night. The Oilers led 1-0 and 3-2 in the first period, but the 'Canes came back to tie in the second on Staal's second goal and third point of the game tied the game midway through the second period. The goal knotted the score, 3-3, as the 'Canes scored their third power-play goal of the night.
With Oilers defenseman Steve Staios off for hooking Cory Stillman at 8:20, the Hurricanes' connected on their third power-play goal when Staal was in the right place at the right time, jumping on a wide shot off the backboards that caromed to Oilers goalie Jussi Markkanen and jamming it past the goalie and under the net.
Markkanen complained that he had the puck covered up, but the referee didn't blow the whistle, allowing the tying goal to stand at 9:56.
While that was the lone goal of the period, the action remained fast and furious, but not as chaotic as the first 20 minutes.
Moments after Staal's goal, the Oilers nearly tied it when Ryan Smyth roared down the left wing and tried a wrap-around. Smyth has Carolina goalie Cam Ward beat, but Hurricanes forward Kevyn Adams raced to the crease with his stick along the ice and swiped the puck away.
Edmonton had another opportunity to tie the game at 15:32 when Carolina's Rod Brind'Amour was boxed for high sticking, but the best chance was Carolina's as Adams' slap shot on a shorthanded 2-on-1 break sailed wide.
The Hurricanes played with five defensemen in the second period after losing veteran defenseman Aaron Ward to an upper-body injury during the first period.
The scoreless third period opened badly for the Hurricanes as center Doug Weight was sandwiched between Chris Pronger and Raffi Torres and skated slowly off the ice in obvious distress, apparently with an injury to his left arm or shoulder.
Shots were rare in the third, with the Oilers leading 5-2. But while there weren't many shots, there were plenty of near-misses. In Weight's absence, the 'Canes shifted Josef Vasicek to center from the fourth-line wing position he had been playing.
Minus Weight and Ward, the 'Canes appeared nearing exhaustion and Carolina taking two penalties didn't help matters much. Edmonton's Michael Peca scored in the first period to give the Oilers a 3-2 lead. But the 'Canes gutted it out and got a boost when Ward returned to the bench and started taking a shift.
With Ward as an inspiration, the 'Canes nearly won it when Ray Whitney fired a shot off the post at 12:13. The Oilers also had a great chance at 14:20 when Rem Murray tipped a shot that sailed just wide of the net.
Perhaps Edmonton's best chance of the third came at 18:00 when Todd Harvey and Murray both had good chances from in close, but were unable to find pay dirt.
By the closing minutes of the third, Weight had returned to the bench for the Hurricanes, but didn't see any action as the clock wound down to overtime.
The Oilers scored early and late in the first period and added a power-play goal in between to hold a 3-2 lead after a wild first period that saw emotions run up and down like a roller-coaster.
Edmonton had a 1-0 lead before some in the sellout crowd at the RBC Center had even taken their seats, with Pronger taking a blast from the blue line that Fernando Pisani deflected past Cam Ward with the game's first shot just sixteen seconds in.
Carolina countered with a power-play goal at 5:54 with Edmonton defenseman Matt Greene in the box for hooking. The goal was all Staal, who took a nice pass from Bret Hedican and put a shot on goal that was stopped by Markkanen. Staal swooped in and too another shot that was blocked by Markkanen, but the Oiler goalie couldn't stop the third try, that Staal slammed into the net. Staal keyed the entire play, causing a turnover in the Edmonton zone to start the play.
A second penalty to Greene, this time for holding at 9:06, cost the Oilers as the Hurricanes' second power-play unit roared on to the ice with Ray Whitney drilling a shot from the right circle through a double screen set by Mark Recchi and Doug Weight to beat Markkanen on the stick side at 10:16.
A hooking call on Matt Cullen at 11:40 saw the maligned Edmonton power play, 1-for-25 entering the game, with an 0-for-18 streak, come alive. Ales Hemsky scored the goal at 13:25 on a booming one-time from the left circle off a slick pass from defenseman Dick Tarnstrom that found a sliver of room over Ward's shoulder. Staios also picked up an assist on the power-play goal that ended the Edmonton man-advantage skid.
The Oilers took a 3-2 lead with just 17.4 seconds left in the period and both teams skating four players apiece. Michael Peca did the damage after a drive from in close by Hemsky was stopped. The puck came to Peca's feet and he lifted the puck high into the net to give the Oilers a lead after one.
|
|
|
Post by S.C. on Jun 15, 2006 13:04:09 GMT -5
Yahooooooooooo!!! Last night I thought to myself, I bet Leona is sitting on the edge of her chair while watching the game!
|
|
|
Post by ocelot on Jun 15, 2006 17:03:48 GMT -5
McKenzie: Pisani and Torres save the day
6/14/2006
Start the casting for Fernando Pisani if they ever make a movie about Edmonton's 2006 playoff run.
The Edmonton native scored the game-winning goal in overtime to stave off elimination as the Oilers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Pisani, who now has twelve goals and is tied with Rod Brind'Amour for the league lead, is playing hurt and you're never quite sure whether he's going to be on the ice or not at any given time.
But it all started in extra time with Oilers centre Michael Peca getting Edmonton's forecheck going. He did a great job getting the puck away from Eric Staal, who had a hot hand with two goals in the game.
Peca's effort got the Oilers in deep for their penalty kill, and Cory Stillman's errant pass got on Pisani's stick for the game-winner.
The goal sucked the life out of the building not just because there was a Stanley Cup for the Hurricanes to win, but because they had the man-advantage after scoring three power play goals earlier in the game.
Another big factor in Game 5 was Oilers forward Raffi Torres. We all remember his momentum-shifting hit on Milan Michalek in Game 3 of the second round against the San Jose Sharks. And Torres was doing it again on Wednesday - he sent Aaron Ward to the dressing room early in the first period with a great hit along the boards.
In the third period, he was at it again as part of a sandwich job on Hurricanes centre Doug Weight.
Now Ward has been great on the blueline for the Hurricanes with great defensive work and shot-blocking abilities. But he took a lot of pain from that hit by Torres and a big story between now and Saturday will be whether or not he can play.
The same applies to Weight, who also had to leave the game and never took another shift. When you leave the ice holding up your shoulder the way he did - it does not look good. I'm no doctor, but it could be a separation.
If Weight is lost for Game 6 - and perhaps Game 7 - the Hurricanes lose an all-too important centre. Josef Vasicek played very well in Weight's absence and will likely dress in Edmonton, but he will have to step his game up if the Hurricanes are to finish this series on Saturday night.
It's injuries like these - factored in with the Oilers' victory - that can swing the momentum in a long series like this one.
For TSN.ca, I'm Bob McKenzie.
|
|
|
Post by ocelot on Jun 15, 2006 20:23:42 GMT -5
McGuire: MacTavish excels in adjustments
6/15/2006
It was interesting to hear Michael Peca talking about his head coach Craig MacTavish on Friday, saying he never had a coach who new so much about the subtle nuances of the game.
To understand why he is such a smart coach, you have to remember that he started off as a smart player. In his 15 seasons as a player, he knew all about having to adapt and overcome in big situations.
Going into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, MacTavish knew that the Hurricanes have become a very good shot-blocking team.
MacTavish's answer to that was to move the puck from side to side, East to West. Making this quick transition opened up passing and shooting lanes on the Oilers' power play. It opened things up in Carolina's offensive zone and produced goals like the one Ales Hemsky scored on Wednesday night.
It also meant that the Oilers had to be strong along the wall without letting a Carolina skater pin them in any one area.
Case in point - Chris Pronger did a great job with all of these game elements and got the puck to the inside part of the ice. That opened up lanes for the Oilers and got scoring opportunities for himself and for his teammates.
It's little adjustments like this that can make all the difference in the world. And in the 2006 playoffs, MacTavish is the most creative coach I have seen among the NHL's 16 postseason teams.
MacTavish's game was also about getting the shoot-ins and getting the pucks in deep.
Todd Harvey did a great job winning foot-races into the Hurricanes' offensive zone and getting the puck to the point for guys like Ethan Moreau. We also saw Radek Dvorak do the same thing, beating the Carolina defence to the puck down low and getting support from linemate Jarret Stoll.
The Oilers did a great job wearing down the Carolina blueline and getting physical with them.
The end result was a comfortable situation for the Oilers and more importantly, a win to stay alive.
For TSN.ca, I'm Pierre McGuire.
|
|
|
Post by achebeautiful on Jun 15, 2006 20:26:00 GMT -5
Never give up!
I did......
and I won't again.
|
|
|
Post by ocelot on Jun 17, 2006 18:24:10 GMT -5
Oilers Look to Force a Game 7
(Sports Network) - The Carolina Hurricanes take a second shot at winning their first-ever Stanley Cup tonight when they visit the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the Finals at Rexall Place.
The Oilers, meanwhile, will try to keep their comeback going and force a seventh and deciding game. If Edmonton does win this evening's contest, there would be a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals for the third consecutive season.
"It's a do-or-die situation," said Oilers winger Ryan Smyth, whose club trails three games to two. "Our back is up against the wall and we have got to make sure that we play the way we're capable of playing. Like I said, it's not an easy task."
Edmonton spoiled Carolina's party plans on Wednesday, as Fernando Pisani scored his second goal of the game 3:31 into overtime to lift the Oilers to a 4-3 win. A shorthanded Pisani intercepted a sluggish pass and went in alone on Carolina goaltender Cam Ward, beating him with a nifty shot in the top corner.
Pisani also opened the game's scoring 16 seconds into the match, while Michael Peca and Ales Hemsky also tallied. Goaltender Jussi Markkanen finished with 24 saves in his fourth straight start in place of the injured Dwayne Roloson. Markkanen has stopped 84 of the 95 shots he has faced in the series, and has settled down after yielding five goals in Game 2.
The Oilers went 1-for-8 on the power play, as Hemsky scored the team's first PPG since late in Game 1. They had gone 1-for-25 with the man-advantage in the first four tilts.
Eric Staal scored twice for the Hurricanes, while Ray Whitney added the other tally. Staal's marker midway through the second period tied the match at 3-3 to set up overtime.
Ward stopped 25 shots in the loss, as he allowed more than three goals for only the fourth time in 19 playoff starts.
Carolina scored all three of its goals on the power play, going 3-for-7 with the man-advantage.
The injury situation, which had been limited to Roloson, has grown entering Game 6, as Carolina's Doug Weight is expected to miss tonight's tilt with an apparent shoulder injury suffered on Wednesday. Weight was injured when he was sandwiched by Edmonton's Raffi Torres and Chris Pronger in the third period.
As for Roloson, he skated on Friday but is still not expected to return to this series.
"If it goes nine [games] he's a possibility," Edmonton head coach Craig MacTavish joked.
Carolina seeks its second win of the series at Rexall Place, as it won Game 4 to prevent the Oilers from tying the set at two games apiece. The Hurricanes have not lost consecutive games since the first two tilts against Montreal in the first round.
"I think the best thing is just to separate game by game, and [Wednesday's game] is over with," said Carolina coach Peter Laviolette. "We won't talk about it again. We won't think about it again. And there's a big game coming up here [tonight], and we're pretty excited to be in it."
Should the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup tonight, they would become the third of the four former WHA franchises to raise the chalice. The Oilers and Avalanche (formerly the Quebec Nordiques) have already done so. The Phoenix Coyotes (formerly the Winnipeg Jets) have not won a championship.
If Edmonton takes Game 6, it would mark the third time in the past 18 seasons that a team that trailed three games to one forced a seventh game in the Finals. Vancouver (1994 against NY Rangers) and Philadelphia (1987 against Edmonton) did so, but both of those clubs dropped Game 7 on the road.
The Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942 are the only club to win the Cup after trailing 1-3 in the Finals. The Leafs actually trailed Detroit 0-3 in that set.
Game 7, if necessary, would be played Monday at the RBC Center in Raleigh.
|
|
|
Post by ocelot on Jun 17, 2006 22:22:36 GMT -5
Oilers Force a Game 7
EDMONTON (CP) - The Edmonton Oilers magical playoff ride is taking them to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.
Fernando Pisani scored on the power play, then assisted on Raffi Torres' tip-in goal as the Oilers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0 Saturday night to force a deciding game in the NHL championship series.
Ryan Smyth and Shawn Horcoff also scored third-period, power-play goals for the Oilers. Edmonton was 3-for-9 with the man advantage.
The Oilers, who trailed 3-1 in the series, will have the chance to win their first Stanley Cup since 1990 Monday night in Raleigh.
The Hurricanes started the game tentatively. By the third period they looked like a weary boxer hanging onto the ropes.
Edmonton goaltender Jussi Markkanen, filling in for the injured Dwayne Roloson, made 16 saves for his first playoff shutout. He record his first back-to-back wins since mid-December.
There were chants of ''Jussi, Jussi'' after each stop.
A sellout crowd of 16,839 screamed their appreciation for the Oilers, who played their final game of the season at Rexall Place. Prime Minister Stephen Harper attended the game while Alberta Premier Ralph Klein urged the Oilers on with an address from the video screen.
Carolina's Erik Cole, out since March 4 after sustaining a compression fracture in two vertebrae in his neck when driven head first into the boards, was a surprise starter for the Hurricanes. Carolina played without Doug Weight, who suffered a shoulder injury in Wednesday's 4-3 overtime loss.
Cole took a regular shift and was welcomed back to the game when he was flattened by Ethan Moreau in the first period.
His return did little to spark the Hurricanes.
The Oilers dominated the second period, scoring twice and outshooting Carolina 11-4. It took the Hurricanes over 14 minutes to record their first shot on net.
Pisani, who grew up in Edmonton's Little Italy, opened the scoring at 1:45 when the Hurricanes were called for too many men on the ice. He notched his playoff-leading 13th goal by flipping a backhand shot that deflected off defenceman Glen Wesley and past rookie goaltender Cam Ward's glove hand.
Torres made it 2-0 just over eight minutes later. Defenceman Steve Staios fired a shot from just inside the blue-line. Torres, battling with a defenceman in front of the net, managed to get his stick on the puck and deflect it under Ward.
Ward, who was born in Sherwood Park just outside of Edmonton, made the save of the game early in the third. Radek Dvorak finished off a pretty, three-way passing play with a hard shot that a diving Ward gloved.
Officials reviewed the play to make sure the puck didn't cross the goal-line.
Smyth made it 3-0 at 3:01 of the third, lifting a backhand shot over Ward's blocker. The arena's big TV screen showed pictures of Smyth's father receiving high-fives in the stands.
Horcoff put it away with a power-play goal at 13:05.
As the minutes ticked away, the rowdy fans chanted, ''We want the Cup! We want the Cup!''
Edmonton is the first eighth-seeded team to advance to the Cup final, then eliminated Detroit, San Jose and Anaheim.
The Oilers lost the opening two games of the final in Raleigh, then split the next two matches in Edmonton. They fended off elimination in Game 5 when Pisani scored a dramatic short-handed goal in overtime.
Only three other teams have battled back from a 3-1 deficit to win Game 6 at home and force a seventh game. They are the 1994 Vancouver Canucks, 1987 Philadelphia Flyers and 1954 Montreal Canadiens.
The only team to erase a 3-1 deficit to win the Cup is the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who came back from 3-0 down to beat the Detroit Red Wings.
Notes: Edmonton is the seventh club to win Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final on the road when trailing a series 3-1. The most recent team was the Dallas Stars in 2000 when they beat New Jersey. ... The Oilers have nine players set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1 and three more who are restricted free agents. ... Pisani's goal was his third power-play goal of the playoffs.
|
|
|
Post by achebeautiful on Jun 17, 2006 22:38:14 GMT -5
Leona, at about ten minutes remaining in the third period I started to think to myself that Carolina needed a goal to give them something to take into game 7.
Not being able to get that goal, I'm not so sure they have what it is going to take to win.....even at home!
Carolina is on their heels, and Edmonton seems to have a lot of muscle right now!
|
|