||||Iced Out Hockey

The L.A. Kings continued their domination of the Phoenix Coyotes Tuesday night with a 4-0 win in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

The Kings' Jeff Carter celebrates after third goal of game

The Kings, led by goalie Jonathan Quick, scored the go-ahead goal just 13:45 into the first period on a snap-shot deflected by LW Dwight King. But that didn’t stop C Jeff Carter from putting in three more for the Kings, notching his first career postseason hat trick. The last King to do so was Wayne Gretzky in 1993. Vezina Trophy candidate Quick, who has been putting up unreal numbers this postseason, recorded his third career playoff shutout with 24 saves. He is now 10-1 with a 1.60 GAA and a .947 save percentage.

As for the opposition, things didn’t go so great. Phoenix goalie Mike Smith, who since February had been nearly unbeatable, allowed four goals for the second straight game. The Coyotes were also out shot nearly 2-1 for the second game in a row, with a shot count of 40-24. As if things couldn’t get any worse, Phoenix captain Shane Doan and alternate captain Martin Handzal were both hit with 10-minute game misconduct penalties for boarding in the 2^nd and 3^rd periods, drawing automatic ejections. In all, the Coyotes amassed 13 penalties for 56 minutes.

With the series moving to Los Angeles for Games 3 and 4, the Coyotes have two tough road games ahead and must win at least one to stay alive and return home for Game 5. However, if they continue to play like this they could have tee times as early as Monday.

Game 3 will be Thursday at 9pm EDT.

Captain Ryan Callahan congratulates goalie Lundqvist

If the Rangers were supposed to be tired, there was no indication of it last night at the Garden. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist recorded 21 saves on 21 shots as the Rangers took Game 1 last night with a 3-0 victory over the Devils. It was his 5th career shutout in the playoffs. His opponent Brodeur, owns the record with 24.
”It felt like it was important for me to get a good start,” Lundqvist said. ”It’s always tough to come from a Game 7. So emotional, and everything around it, and then start over. (Sunday) was all about regrouping, and move your focus to a new team and just a different type of game. I didn’t really know what to expect from this game, honestly.”
They also got some much needed help from rookie Chris Kreider, who just over a month ago led Boston College to a national Championship. Kreider, the Rangers’ first round pick, recorded a goal and an assist to break a 5 game scoreless drought. Defenseman Dan Girardi and Artem Anisimov also recorded a goal and an assist each.
The series resumes Wednesday, May 14 at 8pm EDT.

Tonight begins the NHL Eastern Conference Finals, featuring perennial rivals, the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils. It marks the sixth postseason meeting between the two, with the most recent meeting coming in the 2008 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. The Rangers lead the way in postseason series 4-1.

Although both teams sport potent offenses, the series should ultimately come down to goaltending. The matchup pits future Hall-of-Famer Martin Brodeur against Vezina Trophy favorite Henrik Lundqvist. Aside from a rough start by Brodeur (he was benched in Game 3 of their first series against the Panthers) both goalies have been nearly unbeatable in the playoffs, both sporting sub-2.00 GAA.
The Rangers own the regular season series 3-2-1 but by no means does that guarantee an easy series win. If the regular season matchups are any indication, we’re in for a hell of a series.
The puck drops Monday, May 14 at 8pm.

The Flyers’ season came to a startling halt after beating the favorite Penguins in six games, winning the first game against the Devils in round two and then getting beaten four straight times to draw elimination.

General manager Paul Holmgren showed frustration with goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who signed a monster 9 year/$51 million deal to join Philadelphia last offseason.

Holmgren touched on Bryz’s eccentric personality, saying ”His job is to stop pucks and help us win games. It’s not Comedy Central.” On the topic of his on-ice performance, he also said “Did he play as good as I expected this year,” Holmgren asked. “I’d probably say, no.”

It wasn’t all criticism from Holmgren, however. ”He is a funny guy to talk to, I don’t think there’s any question about that,” the GM said. “He’s got some interesting concepts of life and how to walk down the road of life.”

Here’s to eight more years of crazy thoughts and concepts from Ilya Bryzgalov in Philadelphia.

The Blues couldn’t make a decent postseason run in the playoffs, but a new ownership group should give fans something to talk about.

Local beer distributor Tom Stillman’s group will become the majority owner of the team, the sale of which is believed to be around $130 million.

Forbes valued the team at $157 million in December, the 27th most valuable team in the NHL.

Twitter favorite and scarcely used skater Paul Bissonnette had the chance to throw down against the Blackhawks on Thursday, and he took full advantage of it.

Biz Nasty dropped gloves with Brandon Bollig, for which he received a major for fighting. The ejection came as a result of not having his jersey tied down, unfortunately.

It looks like he won the fight though, so an overall successful night for the authority on twitter.

We all know the intensity is turned up a notch in the NHL playoffs, but that wasn’t enough for the Predators’ Shea Weber.

He decided to transcend “sports” in a moment where he seemingly tried to impress Vince McMahon, grabbing the Red Wings’ Henrik Zetterberg’s head and smashing it into the glass.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Brendan Shanahan hand down a suspension for the stud defenseman after that dirty play.

The Red Wings and Blackhawks face off Sunday in the last game of the season, and the matchup ended in a very entertaining fashion.

The game went to a shootout, where Pavel Datsyuk led off for the Red Wings. He failed to execute a between the legs attempt, but the same can’t be said for Patrick Kane.

Kane imitated Datsyuk on the very next attempt, one-upping him by scoring on Jimmy Howard. Watch both shootout attempts below.

Datsyuk:

Kane:

The rest of the NHL apart from Penguins fans don’t quite adore Sidney Crosby the way referees seemingly do, and a visual aid of his shenanigans has emerged.

While I’m indifferent to Crosby, many of you who don’t take kindly to his diving habits will enjoy these pictures.

The Stars played the Canucks in Vancouver on Friday, and during pre-game warmups a Stars’ fan suffered a stitches-worthy injury at the hands of Kari Lehtonen.

Lehtonen haphazardly hit the puck towards a fan wearing a Steve Ott jersey and ended up hitting him in the nose. Lehtonen noticed, took a towel and tossed it over the boards.

He also gave the man a stick for his troubles, as the man was taken by security to get stitches after the incident. Alas, the “Watch out for flying pucks” sign came too late.

H/T: Bob’s Blitz