We’ve been documenting it all week. The Pittsburgh Penguins are fading fast and all but out of the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Only three teams have come back from a 3-0 defecit to win a postseason series, and one of those teams is the Philadelphia Flyers from 2010.
They know how quickly it can happen, and won’t take their feet off Pittsburgh’s neck. Continue reading
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks aren’t very good at this favoritism thing. They were favored to win each of their first three playoff games this year. They were favored to win their conferences. Heck, they were even the favorites to hoist the Stanley Cup at the end of the entire NHL postseason.
Yet, here we are, shrugging our shoulders at a considerable collapse in the matter of days, in which the favorites in the east are essentially done. The Penguins are down 3-0 to the Philadelphia Flyers after a miserable week by goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and Sidney Crosby is already fighting. Continue reading
The Vancouver Canucks are having a rough go of things lately aren’t they? First they fail to capture the Stanley Cup last year after winning the President’s Cup, extending the miserable streak of past winners this decade. Then they drop Game One of this year’s NHL Playoffs to the Los Angeles Kings by surrendering two goals in the third period.
What’s worse, the Kings, understandably giddy over their win, took to twitter, writing on the team’s official website: “To everyone in Canada outside of BC, you’re welcome.” Continue reading
The Philadelphia Flyers led the league in comeback victories during the regular season, so I guess it wasn’t all that surprising when they stormed back against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game One of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
That doesn’t make it any easier to swallow for the Penguins, favored in Bovada’s NHL Betting Futures to win the conference championship. A year after bowing out of the playoffs in the first round, Pittsburgh once again couldn’t figure things out. Continue reading
Well that was disappointing.
On the opening night of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, two of the most heavily favored teams to win the championship tanked in Game One.
The Vancouver Canucks, favorites in the west, surrendered two goals to the Los Angeles Kings in the third period and lost 4-2. Continue reading
The Phoenix Coyotes won their first division crown ever, home-ice advantage in the first round of the 2012 NHL Playoffs, and a sweeping wave of momentum.
So, naturally, oddsmakers are choosing the Chicago Blackhawks. Continue reading
Momentum can be a fickle thing.
On one hand you have the Phoenix Coyotes, who enter the playoffs as a division champion for the first time and home-ice advantage in the first round.
Then you have their opponent in the opener, the Chicago Blackhawks, who have been, well, eh, most of the year. Continue reading
More than any other sport, the NHL has shown us that just getting into the playoffs is an extremely useful thing. While most sports typically see high-seeded teams advance to the league championship, the NHL is proving that any of the eight teams in each conference has the ability to advance.
Take the Edmonton Oilers, for example, who were within one win of reached the Stanley Cup as an eight seed. Two years ago the Philadelphia Flyers advanced to the Stanley Cup as a seven-seed, topping an even lower seeded Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Finals. Continue reading