Childish or competative?

Around the NHL right now there is much to talk about (as is the case early in the playoffs with 16 teams still fighting for a stanley cup). For starters, the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins have sweept their series and are now sitting at home awaiting round two. Tough luck for St.Louis as they tried ever so hard to get into the playoffs and battled hard to get the sixth seed. For Montreal on the other hand, they got the eight seed because no one else did and the Bruins indeed swept them as i predicted. The red wings are a win away from sweeping the blue jackets and i wouldnt be suprised to see them do so. I am surprised by Chris Osgoods play, he truly does look as good as (if not better) himself last years at this time.

The New York Rangers are the most surprising team this year as they have held Alexander Ovechkin to a single goal in four games. It mind boggeling really but that is the case and now they lead the series 3-1 and are more or less a lock to go on to round two. So far my predictions i am off by one.

Pittsburgh is also a very likely team to see in round two as they lead their series by a solid 3-1. From goaltending out they have been nothing short of great and really could threaten the Bruins bid for the eastern confrence championship. The flyers havent done anything wrong in this series, they are just playing a better team and can not win.
Here is what I have been waiting to talk about ever since i saw it last night in the highlight real; Martin Brouder (the winnigest goaltender in league history) allowed a goal in with two tenths of a second and now the series is tied 2-2. Well he went to argue his case to the refs that there was goaltender interference. True Mr.Brouder was bumped by a screening hurricane but he was about 1 foot out of his crease. In my humble opinion not goaltender interference. The refs agreed with me. Martin however was so upset by this call (some might use a word that ryhmes with hissed) that he threw his stick against the boards as he stormed off (and after getting in the refs faces and telling them that they werent doing their jobs). Well Martin everyone in New Jersey is happy that you are a competative man who wants to win every game and stop every puck, in fact i would think less of you if you didnt. But when you fail to do those things you have no right to make the scene that you did. There is a time and place for everything and on national T.V. is not the place.

How many people think that Martin is a classy guy? Well i have never seen Trevor Linden throw a hissy fit like that. And that last time i checked Jerome Iginla shakes everyones hand when the playoff series is over, even if he does lose (obviously he is too high to shake Sean Avery's hand). The fact of the matter is that being a leader and some one that hundreds upon thousands of young goalies try to be like you should act better when the camera is rolling because those little things are just childish.

Now onto my beloved sharks. Last night they scored on 2 of 3 powerplay opportunites and got the game winning goal from their captain Patrick Marleau and now trail by one game. They are still in a horrid position (one more loss and they face elimination) but they are without question looking and playing better. It really starts from the defencemen though as Dan Boyle played one of his best ever as a shark in all zones. He shut players down, battled, passed and scored. Thats what he was brought in here to do and i for one am glad that we have him for another 5 years.

So now if the sharks can win game 4 this series will really be in there favour. If they lose i expect them to lose the series simply because the ducks are too good a team to win 3 straight against. So no preasure sharks but if you can win tommorow night that would be great.