I’m sure many will think my picking the Penguins to beat the Red Wings in 6 indicates that I’m biased by the fact that I’ve been a Penguins fan as long as I’ve been a fan of hockey (probably even longer, initially I was just a Penguins fan and I grew to love the game because of them). I maintain that I would pick the team that lost in this situation all the time (regardless of the team) even if they hadn’t been playing very well in the previous rounds of the playoffs. I think the team that lost the year before has a lot more motivation to win the Cup this year. The only member of the Red Wings who wants the Cup as badly as most of the Penguins do right now is Marian Hossa. Hossa and his comments might actually be extra motivation to the Penguins, but I won’t get into that whole mess.

When examining how the Penguins and Red Wings have played in the playoffs this year, I think it’s clear that the Penguins are more driven. They want the Cup and they’re determined to get there. They have the top two scorers in the playoffs (Crosby & Malkin are tied with 28 points, 1.65 per game). Their defense has been far from perfect, but the same can be said of the Penguins in the 90s when they won their last two Cups. They’re more likely to win 7-5 than they are 1-0, but as long as they win does it really matter?

Watching the Pens play the Hurricanes, it was clear that they are focused on their goal of winning the Stanley Cup. Losing it last year hurt and they don’t want to go through that again. They’re determined to win this year. The Penguins know what it takes. They’re not the same kids who lost to Detroit in the finals last year. They’re not going to be stunned when they go into Detroit and see the sea of red in the stands and the amazing fan support the Red Wings have. This year, the Pens started two of their first three rounds of the playoffs on the road, so they’re used to starting in enemy territory and they know they can win in spite of not starting in front of their home crowd.

I really would pick any team who fought back to make it to the finals after losing the finals the year before. I think that team has to be more excited about winning the Cup than any team they would face. Historically, the team that makes it back to the finals is more likely to lose than win. However, as with all things, history doesn’t change the odds. It’s just like playing roulette. The odds of hitting any number are always exactly the same. They don’t change based on the pattern preceding it. The Penguins have the same odds of winning the finals this year as they would if they hadn’t been in the finals last year; though, I think they are more driven because of losing, which gives them a bit more of an edge. I don’t think it will be an easy battle, but I definitely think the Pens will persevere and beat the Red Wings this year to become the 2009 Stanley Cup Champions.

Meet Dave Taylor, Jim Fox, and many more alums of the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, May 21 from 4-6 p.m. at Outback Steakhouse (137 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, CA 92360).

According to Jim Fox, Dave Taylor’s golf classic co-host for his 2nd year, this is one of the first years the meet and greet is preceding the golf classic. They came up with the idea of the meet and greet for a few reasons. It’s a great chance for fans who can’t make the golf classic (or who don’t golf) to meet some of the Kings alums. The meet and greet is also a way to acknowledge Outback Steakhouse, one of their big sponsors for the Dave Taylor/Jim Fox Cystic Fibrosis Golf Classic. Fox mentioned that many times in the fund raising events the sponsor gets left out of the picture. They contribute so much, but can get lost in the shuffle. The meet and greet at an Outback Steakhouse is a way of thanking the sponsor and getting the fans to Outback Steakhouse.

Fans will be able to learn more about the 21st annual Cystic Fibrosis Golf Classic, chat with Kings alums (including Jim Fox and Dave Taylor, co-hosts of the classic), and may sign up to participate in the classic, taking place on Monday, June 15, 2009.

Jim Fox said his favorite thing about the meet and greets is the casual format. Since there’s no pressure, fans can just stop by, talk hockey, or talk about whatever they’d like. He also likes the fact that they’re able to thank the sponsor for all they do to help the event and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Foxy believes he’s participated in the golf classic ever since Taylor started it 21 years ago without missing a year. That’s a lot of dedication to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Kings. He may have to miss playing in this year’s golf classic due to personal reasons, but will certainly be co-hosting and playing in the classic for years to come.

For more info on the 21st Annual Dave Taylor/Jim Fox Cystic Fibrosis Golf Classic, see below:

Jonas Hiller may have the save percentage (and he’ll probably still lead the save percentage for the playoffs by the end of the Stanley Cup Finals), but Osgood’s save percentage of only 88.89% in game 7 was enough to advance the Red Wings to the conference finals against the Chicago Blackhawks, where they’ll have home ice advantage again.

The Ducks looked sluggish for much of game 7, but still managed to fight back from a two goal deficit to tie the game at 3 goals apiece at 7:37 in the 3rd period. Near the end of the third period, it was obvious that the next goal would win the game. Unfortunately for the Ducks fans and team, the next goal was scored by Dan Cleary with exactly three minutes left in the 3rd period. It was the game (and series) winning goal for the Red Wings.

Detroit is a tough team and the Ducks should be proud of what they accomplished this post season. Game 7 of the series could have easily gone the other way. It was a very close game (unlike the Penguins/Capitals game last night) and to keep the game that close in Detroit is very impressive.

I think the Red Wings are beatable largely because of Osgood’s poor play in the regular season and playoffs, but not this time. It’ll be interesting to see how Detroit fares against Chicago.

As a side note, though it was frustrating last night, the fact that FSN West/Prime Ticket didn’t have their act together ended up saving me and allowing me to watch the entire game. Since they had the game listed on none of their stations (HD or otherwise online or in DVR guides) and I only get one of their two HD channels, I recorded the game on FSN Prime Ticket and FSN HD. Since the Angels game went into extra innings, but first period of the game was only available in southern California on Prime Ticket. I guess that’s the advantage of Versus as a channel – they don’t air anything else right before the games that can’t be cut off to move on to a hockey game. I guess that’s the up side of being on a network a lot of people don’t get. True, most carriers offer Versus now. Of course on the down side, Versus is a paid channel for most, so people who don’t purchase the sports package probably don’t have Versus. This is most noticeable when traveling and trying to find Versus in a hotel.

After the tight series the Penguins and Capitals had (only one game decided by more than one goal, a 5-3 win by the Penguins in game 4), 3 of their first 6 games of the series went into overtime, one of their games had Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin’s first playoff hat tricks… This was the series to watch in the 2009 NHL playoffs, so game 7 should be an amazing contest that keeps me on the edge of my seat and makes me a nervous wreck (since I’m a Penguins fan), right? Wrong.

The Penguins had a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period. Not even close to a huge lead with Washington’s fire power. Just 28 seconds into the 2nd period, Guerin increased the Pens’ lead to 3. Less than 2 minutes later, Letang scored Pittsburgh’s 4th goal. By this point, Penguins fans everywhere breathed a sigh of relief. In spite of the hell the Penguins put their fans through earlier in the series with the Capitals; they decided to win decisively in game 7. The final score was 6-2 and Guerin (who many seemed to think the Pens shouldn’t have picked up) had the game winning goal.

Sidney Crosby had 2 power play goals in the game as he started and ended the Penguins’ scoring. The last Penguins goal of the game was a great goal Sid scored on a breakaway. This is why Sidney Crosby is so much fun to watch and why fans of other teams enjoy watching players like him. The NHL would have wanted a closer game, but they couldn’t have asked for a much closer series.

One game 7 down, 2 to go. Tomorrow there are two game 7s being played in the NHL and unless they have Center Ice or live in the Carolina or Boston areas, you can only see the Ducks/Red Wings game and the end (assuming the Ducks/Red Wings game doesn’t last too long) Hurricanes/Bruins game. It’s really a shame, since game 7s really are the highlight of the playoffs and in spite of ¾ of the current round having 7 games, they’re not that common. Hopefully, tomorrow night’s games will be more interesting, though I’m sure the fans of the Hurricanes, Bruins, Ducks, and Red Wings will disagree with me a bit on that one.

In spite of their two bench minors for too many men on the ice (inexcusable in a must win game) and two other power play chances they gave the Red Wings, Anaheim’s penalty kill kept Detroit’s power play at bay for 3 of their 4 chances. Anaheim’s power play (ranked 2nd in the postseason going into tonight’s game) was also successful 1 out of their 5 chances (though it was really more like 4, due to the overlapping penalties). Fortunately for Ducks fans everywhere, most of Anaheim’s 46 penalty minutes, 12 penalties) came at the 20 minute mark of the 3rd period when the gloves were dropped by just about everyone (Scott Niedermayer included). Until that point, the Ducks were even with the Red Wings in penalties at 5 (10 minutes each).

Jonas Hiller was amazing again, stopping 38 of the 39 shots he faced (97.4% of the shots). The Red Wings outshot the Ducks 39-28, but the Ducks played much better after the first period. Considering how poorly the Ducks played in Detroit on Sunday, I expected them to come out with all cylinders firing at the beginning of the game tonight. Apparently, they didn’t all get the message that the game time had been pushed up to 7 p.m. (all the previous playoff games in Anaheim had been at 7:30 p.m.). The Ducks came out looking a little tired, but by the end of the first they were still tied with the Red Wings and that was important. They came out strong in the 2nd and got the only two goals of the period, in spite of being outshot by the Red Wings in that period.

When the Red Wings scored their power play goal, a lot of Ducks fans got a bit nervous. A one goal lead is far from safe in the playoffs – especially against a strong team like the Red Wings. The Ducks held on to their lead and are ready to play their style of game again in Detroit Thursday night in game 7. In spite the pressure of a game 7 on the road, the players know this is what the playoffs are all about. The excitement of a game 7 is hard to match.

Thursday’s game will be the Ducks’ 4th game 7 in franchise history. They’re 2-1 in game 7s so far. The Joe Louis Arena is a difficult arena to face in the playoffs. In a game 7, it’s sure to be incredibly loud, but the Ducks are as prepared as possible and they’re ready to face Detroit and fight for their playoff lives. They know if they don’t win their season is over and no team is ever really ready for their season to end.

Ryan Getzlaf had a point in each of the Ducks’ 2 goals tonight (1-1), making tonight his 7th multi-point game of the postseason.

Fortunately for Ducks fans who couldn’t make it to Honda Center tonight, FSN Prime Ticket aired the game in HD (even for those of us unlucky enough to get only one of the FSN HD channels).

Corey Perry tied the Ducks’ franchise postseason record for the fastest goal scored at the start of a game (Sykora scored 42 seconds into game 5 of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals in New Jersey on June 5, 2003), established a career high for points in a postseason game with 3 (2-1), & had his first career postseason multi-goal game. However, his first goal of the game was probably the highlight for most Ducks fans at Honda Center tonight. Perry’s goal gave the Ducks their only lead of the game, which they held until Hiller gave up a soft goal to Franzen at 11:49 in the first period.

Ryan Getzlaf extended his league-leading postseason point streak to 8 games. He has 14 points in those 8 games (2-12) and has regained the solo lead in postseason scoring (he was tied with Sidney Crosby going into tonight’s game). Chris Pronger & Scott Niedermayer also extended their point streaks (to 5 & 3 games respectively), but overall the Ducks looked pretty bad tonight in front of their announced attendance of 17,601 (including 427 standing room only tickets) breaking the record set this season against the Philadelphia Flyers on January 2, 2009 (17,597). One of my friend’s who was at the game joked that it was all Red Wings fans, but the Ducks fans were well represented in the crowd, in spite of the “Let’s go Red Wings” and “Ozzie” chants that could probably be heard by watching the game on TV near the end of the game almost as well as they could in Honda Center.

Another bright side for the Ducks is that they managed to continue their power play goal streak, scoring one goal in their 3 power play chances. For a while, it seemed like the Ducks didn’t want a full power play, since they took a penalty 31 seconds after Detroit’s first penalty and only 6 seconds after Detroit’s second penalty. They scored to end their third power play opportunity after only 12 seconds. Obviously, that’s the way the Ducks would prefer to end a power play early. I’m sure the Ducks will aim to spend less time in the penalty box in games 5 & 6, even though Detroit only scored one goal in their 5 power play opportunities tonight.

The Red Wings clearly didn’t start game four as they’d planned. Mike Babcock mentioned in his post-game interview that they’d talked a lot about starting the game stronger, since he feels the Ducks have out-skated the Red Wings for about the first ten minutes in every game this series and that the Red Wings have improved as the games progressed. The plan was to change that tonight and start stronger, which they obviously didn’t accomplish. Babcock also mentioned that he thought the first period of tonight’s game was their worst period they’d played in a long time and that he’s not sure how they managed to come out of it with a 2-1 lead.

The Ducks and Red Wings have two days off to rest up before playing game 5 in Detroit on Sunday. The series has become a best of 3 series and whichever team can come out of it winning 2 of the next three will advance to the conference final against the Vancouver Canucks or Chicago Blackhawks (also tied at 2 a piece after tonight’s overtime Hawks win).

Honda Center will surely be packed again Tuesday night for game 6, since everyone already knows the series cannot end earlier.

Note: Hiller was pulled for the first time in his playoff career (his 10th playoff game). I’m sure Hiller will still start game 5 for the Ducks, since he started tonight’s game as the number one goalie in the playoffs and was in the top for the regular season, as well.

I haven’t heard anyone predicting that the Hurricanes win the series with the Bruins yet. I’m sure there are some. Finding people who thought the Ducks were going to beat the Sharks was almost impossible and I talked to members of the media and fans in Anaheim. Since I haven’t been to Carolina in years, I’m sure I could find some people there who truly thought the Hurricanes would win the series against the Bruins before this round of the playoffs started. If most people had been told that the Hurricanes would be up 2-1 in a series with the Bruins, they probably would have believed it about as much as most people would have if you told them the Ducks would have been leading the series with the Sharks 2-0 to start.

Two overtime games in one day again and the Penguins and the Hurricanes were a part of the madness this round, too. Thankfully, my DVR from hell (made by Motorola and supplied by the horrible Orange County Cox Cable company) worked and I got to see both games today (the Devils/Hurricanes game recorded, but the DVR couldn’t play it – so sad!). It’s interesting to me that both times there were two OT games in the playoffs this year on the same day they involved the only two teams who were in both rounds of the playoffs. Incidentally, the team who won the OT game in question won the series and went on to the next round of the playoffs. Wonder if that’ll happen this time, too.

As a Penguins fan, the Penguins game drove me nuts. The Capitals’ late tying goal and all the chances and the way the Pens were skating initially and… I could go on forever about the gut-wrenching experience I know most Penguins fans went through tonight. I think we can all agree that the comeback the Red Sox made against the Yankees a few years ago is too rare to hope for it and that if the Penguins had lost tonight at home it would have been the end of their 2009 playoff run. Fortunately for Pens fans everywhere, Pittsburgh won game 3 and the Penguins are now only behind 2-1 in the series to the Capitals.

Apparently, the Penguins want to play in the first back-to-back games of the 2009 playoffs. Personally, I think back-to-back games should never happen in the playoffs. I realize that arenas have schedules to work around, but think they should figure something out to avoid back-to-back games. On the bright side, of course, both teams have exactly the same recover time. On the down side, this is the playoffs. To me playoff hockey means teams at their best and the Penguins and Capitals will not be at their best when they played the day before. As another point, this is the playoffs – I know, it seems like the same point as my first, but bear with me. Since this is the playoffs, game 4 of the Pens/Caps series in Pittsburgh Friday could last until sometime Saturday morning. I know the players’ contracts have rules about game turnaround time; I’m guessing these restrictions are waived for the playoffs. However, think about how horrible and boring the Pens/Caps game could be on Saturday if the game Friday goes into triple overtime (or longer). Don’t the fans deserve more during the playoffs – especially for a weekend game? I think they do. Too bad Gary Bettman disagrees with me.

The Ducks had a successful return home to Honda Center tonight (in front of a reported sellout crowd of 17,174), as they beat the Red Wings 2-1 in game 3, to take the lead in the series 2 games to 1. This series was the hardest one for me to decide who I thought would win and I expected every game to be decided by only one goal. So far, the Ducks are on track to win in 6 (which was my prediction) and have won and lost the games I predicted they would by the numbers of goals I expected.

The Ducks have gotten very little respect in the playoffs this year and though I realize most east coast reporters probably don’t see the Ducks often, they play enough games on the east coast and have gotten far enough in the playoffs by now that a few members of the east coast based media outlets should have had time to catch the Ducks in the playoffs. Their 3OT game on Sunday (starting at just 2 p.m. eastern) even caught the attention of many people I know who rarely watch hockey teams other than their own (playoffs or not). It would seem that those who report hockey might have caught a bit of it, as well.

Those who saw the Ducks play since the trade deadline can’t be all that surprised by their performance in the playoffs so far this year. They may not have predicted that they’d beat the Sharks (I seemed to be one of the few who predicted that one), but they’re not all that surprised to see them in round two leading the Red Wings in the series and playing up to the level of one of the best teams in the playoffs.

Did the Ducks get a little bit lucky tonight with the whistle being blown a bit early as the Red Wings would have scored the tying goal? Definitely. Did Hiller perhaps earn that luck somehow by stopping 45 of the 46 shots he saved with a save percentage of .978? I’d say so. Someone in the press box was complaining that the Red Wings had outshot the Ducks 2-1. However, the Ducks did very well when the Sharks did that and like the games that started the series in San Jose, the Ducks mostly limited the Red Wings to shots Hiller could see easily and stop. Hiller gave a lot of credit to his defense for keeping Detroit from getting too many really good scoring chances where he couldn’t see the puck easily.

In other good news for hockey fans living in southern California who couldn’t get to the game, FSN West HD aired the game live and is currently showing it again (even though the guide says off the air). Clearly the complaints they got in the first round for not airing games in HD while Versus HD was blocked out in the area were taken to heart. The schedules I’ve seen have included HD for all the upcoming games of the series (on FSN, Versus, or both).

The NHL couldn’t have scripted last night’s game with Crosby vs. Ovechkin better (though I’d bet they would have picked Pittsburgh to win, since they want the series to go to 7 games). In spite of the fact that Malkin won the NHL scoring title this year and until last night had more points than Sid in the playoffs, all the buzz has been about Sidney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin. Alexander Semin had more points than Alex Ovechkin until last night, too. Now, advertising Sid vs. Alex seems to make sense. Crosby stands alone in 2nd place (behind Ryan Getzlaf and no one is going to talk about him – he’s from a southern California team that people still seem to think is lucky for having beaten the Sharks). Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin are tied for 3rd with 11 points, though Malkin’s 1.38 points per game beats Ovechkin’s 1.22. At least now they’re talking about the top scoring player on each team, which they weren’t before last night’s hat tricks.

Who would have ever guessed that Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin would both get their first playoff hat tricks in the same game? The league really couldn’t have planned it better unless it was in game 7 of the conference finals. That would be a bit better. Otherwise, it was perfect. The two players the NHL cares to market both got their first playoff hat tricks in the same game. Alex’s third goal in his hat trick was the game winning goal. It really was perfect.

The only problem is that the NHL has no clue how to market itself. Drive around and look at the billboards in any major city and you’ll see ads for the MLB, NBA, NFL – I’ve even seen one for tennis. I’ve never seen a billboard with NHL stars telling me I should watch the NHL. Watch the NHL on NBC and you’ll see ads (I stopped fast forwarding to watch it, since it looked interesting) for watching poker. They even have a hockey themed ad for poker explaining how the games are similar and why those watching the NHL game should stay tuned and watch the poker tournament that follows. Conversely, if you watch the poker tournament or baseball or anything other than the NHL on any channel other than Versus, you’ll never see the NHL playoff ads. The NHL could really use a better marketing director.

Perhaps the NHL will prove me wrong this time, but I’d be completely stunned. They don’t seem to realize that advertising during a hockey game for a hockey game is pretty pointless. I’m already watching. Heck, knowing what channel Versus is on my DVR is a huge step – it’s something your average person on the street wouldn’t know. Ask them where they find ESPN, though, and I’d bet you get a much higher percentage of correct answers and 0% of the people going “What’s that?” Somehow, I think if you polled people on a street corner asking where they can find Versus on their cable or satellite, you’d get a lot of puzzled looks and people saying they’re not sure if they get that channel – and they might not. Versus is a part of my sports package, though ESPN & ESPN2 are both standard. Those of us who are already watching Versus don’t need to be convinced. We watched Sid and Alex both get their first playoff hat tricks last night, but non-hockey fans could have been won over last night. A lot of hockey fans who don’t normally watch other team’s games got sucked into the Ducks/Red Wings game Sunday, since it was exciting. A game going into 3OT where there is one winner and one loser (and no point for losing in overtime) is exciting – especially when it’s a fast-paced game like hockey. Since that game was on NBC, perhaps a few people who don’t normally watch hockey did stumble upon it and get sucked into the action, but without a better marketing strategy I don’t see how the NHL can improve their ratings.

Of course, some cities are better at advertising than others. This may be where some of the people saying that southern California shouldn’t have NHL teams get the support for their argument. In Pittsburgh, during the playoffs, there are banners all over. I drove through Anaheim Saturday night and there was no way anyone could possibly tell that just a few blocks away was the home of the Ducks – in round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. I don’t have experience with the surrounding areas of most teams in the playoffs, but I know that in Pittsburgh stores have signs in their windows and are happy about the Penguins being in the playoffs. That doesn’t happen around here and without the NHL having billboards or any other advertising to let people know, it’s no wonder people only care about the NBA playoffs. If you live in the US and haven’t seen a TNT billboard for the NBA, I’d be pretty surprised. I haven’t watched a playoff NBA game since Rick Fox played for the Lakers, but I know what channel it’s on if someone asked me in random conversation. It just goes to show you that the NBA knows how to advertise. I have a DVR and don’t even watch most games live, but I see ads in magazines and billboards. It would be nice if someday the random person on the street could tell me where you could find the NHL playoffs, just as someone who doesn’t care about the NBA playoffs still knows where to find them.

Game one in Detroit was very close and if it weren’t for the Red Wings’ goal in the last minute of the 3rd, it would have gone into overtime. The Ducks knocked the Presidents’ Trophy winning Sharks out of the playoffs. Still, everyone seemed to be acting like it was surprising and the Ducks didn’t really belong. After today’s win in Detroit in the 3rd overtime, will the Ducks be treated like they belong? There has been a lot of talk about Osgood not getting the respect he deserves. That may have been true in many past playoffs, but this season he was near the bottom in save percentage and goals against average. Sure, he won a lot of games, but that was because of the team in front of him, for the most part. The idea that the Ducks aren’t getting enough respect doesn’t even seem to cross the minds of those broadcasting the NHL playoffs nationally. My guess is that this is because of the fact that the Ducks are on the west coast, so they’re still an enigma. Most east coast broadcasters don’t seem to watch the Ducks’ regular season games (in spite of the fact that they’re not always at night on the west coast. They won the Stanley Cup two years ago, but still get very little credit I don’t think beating the Red Wings in game 2 will change that, but perhaps some will start to realize that the Ducks’ knocking the Sharks out wasn’t a fluke and didn’t surprise those of us who saw both teams a lot in April.

I expected this series to be one of the best (if not the best) in round 2 and that’s definitely proven to be the case so far. The first game was decided by one goal in the last minute of the game and the second was decided in the 3rd overtime. If you haven’t been paying attention to this series, you might want to start.

In other great news, NBC did NOT kick the game off the network (as it did for horse racing a couple years ago). The entire game aired on NBC. It’s good that the first 3OT game of the playoffs this year was for a morning game. That would have been a late night if it had been game 3.

The series is tied as the Ducks head home to Anaheim for game 3 on Tuesday. FSN is airing the game in HD, so Ducks’ fans unable to make it to the game will still be able to see it in high quality.