“Shark Tank” Poisonous For San Jose Sharks

 The poor Sharks just cannot seem to survive in their own arena . Ironic isn’t it ? A shark tank full of fish floating belly up . They have struggled at home all season and those troubles have followed them to the playoffs thanks in no small part to a very well played game by Our Dallas Stars .
 Before the game , I was checking on when the game was going to start and what channel it was going to be broadcast on and happily discovered that Vs. was not my forced provider . Thankfully , Ralph Strangis and Daryl “Razor” Reaugh would be the commentators on my local channel of 27 . I was so happy I was not forced to suffer through another game filled with inane Vs. commentary . When Ralph and Razor said that Zubov was going to return , I was overcome with shock and joy so much that I temporarily speechless . That was remedied a very short time later when I told my wife that Zubov was coming back . She yelled “YAY!” for me .
 The game itself started off better for Our Stars than the last first period . The Sharks were not allowed free entry into the Stars zone right off the opening faceoff . Grossman took a holding the stick penalty about three minutes in and the resulting powerplay was effectively killed off . When that one ended , Turco gave them a second powerplay with an interference call . Turco made good on his part of the penalty kill when Roenick tested him and he made another fabulous save immediately after that . Lundqvist’s (who was serving Turco’s penalty) quick exit from the box helped Cap’n Morrow to have a decent attack on Nabokov . Goc and Lundqvist had a disagreement and their shoving match earned them both roughing minors . The four on four play had the Sharks attacking when Zubov took a hooking penalty and Turco was tested immediately on the resulting four on three . The dangerous four on three play ended scoreless thanks to an incredible effort by Our Stars . The shortened powerplay for the Sharks did not end as positive for Our Stars , though . Rivet took a hard shot that Pavelski deflected right in front of Turco , who never had a chance to stop the redirect . The Sharks were bolstered by the goal and again attacked imediately . Modano , Ott and Barnes had a huge attack with Zubov’s and Norstrom’s help but they could not beat Nabokov . Richards , Eriksson and Hagman followed up with an attack in which Eriksson missed the net by mere inches . The Cap’n , Ribeiro , Lehtinen and Norstrom followed up that attack with a great attack of their own and Ribs bounced one in the net off Nabokov’s skate from behind the goal line . The Cap’n , Ribs and Lehtinen finish their shift with yet another attack that ends with Nabokov lying flat on his back and The Cap’n sniffing around for rebounds (and he actually patted Nabokov on his chest to make sure he was alright after the play) . This period was far better than the last first period that the teams played in game one . Even with Our Stars giving up the first goal , they came out to play much harder than they did in the first game .
 The second period started out with mostly neutral zone play . Niether side could get past their opponent’s blue line for long . Both teams had a large amount of turnovers , both forced and unforced . Stu and Turco combined to save a goal that truly frightened me . Our Stars attacked back with good attacks and solid play . Lundqvist took an interference call but that powerplay was beautifully killed off . Zubov almost scored , but the foot race back to Turco from the rebound off Nabokov was lost by Our Stars . When Turco missed with a poke check , Michalek scored on what was essentially an empty net goal . Our Stars attacked back hard and on their second attack , Mo banged a shot off the goal post so hard that it shook the net on its moorings and shook the goal camera fiercely . On the bench immediately following the shot , he was cussing himself and shaking his head . The period ended with the score two to one , Sharks . It was not a bad period , despite the goal that the Sharks scored . Our Stars played well and had more time in the offensive zone .  Steve Ott and Robidas were the best penalty killing players in both of periods one and two .
 The third started with a turnover to Richards from a falling Pavelski . Richards buried the puck in the back of the net behind Nabokov after a mere thirty-two seconds had passed in the period . Later , Sharks coach Ron Wilson would call this goal a “lucky break” . It did not make it count any less and Our Stars had a tie game on their hands . Mo took a tripping penalty even though Mo only touched the guy after he had already started his rapid descent to the ice of his own accord and was in no way helped to the ice by Mo . Ott had a great one man attack that drew a holding penalty from Ehrhoff for yet another four on four (even though it was a weak holding call , I guess the refs felt bad for making such a piss-poor tripping call) . The four on four had both teams exchanging attacks , but as soon as Our Stars went on the powerplay , Zubov made a great spinning pass and Mo made up for the shot that hit the pipe earlier when he buried the puck in the net . Rivet took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and when he arrived in the box , he started throwing things and cursing , proving that he deserved his penalty . The resulting powerplay had The Cap’n , Ribs , Lehtinen , Richards and Zubov with good attacks but no goals . A little while later , Richards raced into the Sharks zone and as he was fading behind the net , he made a pass right to Hagman who pounded the puck quickly past Nabokov . The Sharks attempted to mount some semblance of an attack , but all they could manage to get was a few weak attacks that never tested Turco . Nabokov went out of the game for an artificial timeout for the Sharks and Brian Boucher stood in net for a few moments until he skated off after thirty-seven seconds for the extra attacker . Richards spotted Hagman uncovered at the point and he put the final nail in the coffin of this game and destroyed all hope for the Sharks with his empty net goal . Despite knowing they had lost the game , the Sharks did not give up and kept attacking Our Stars . The game ended with Murray in the box for roughing and the score five to two for Our Stars .

Stars Lead Series Two Games To None ;

 This game started very well for Our Stars . They came out ready to play right from the start completely unlike the last game . Our Dallas Stars earned this win with their hard work . Every player went out on the ice and they did their own individual jobs and they again succeded . When they do that , they fill every part of their team and make the team whole . Hockey is a team sport and Our Stars have become a very well oiled machine and a winning team .
 Again , Marty Turco played a very good game and was rewarded from Daley with a kiss on his facemask . An odd tradition to be sure , but whatever . Turco played fabulous and earned his third star of the game .
 Brad Richards played a huge game . Three assists and one goal is certainly nothing to sneeze at . Perhaps if he has one more game like that , my bitterness about losing Halpern , Jokinen and Smitty may be completely gone . Then again , I probably will not be satisfied until Our Stars hoist The Cup at the AAC .
 Stephane Robidas played very well . He made huge defensive plays (like he always does) and a few of them without his stick . I am very happy that he is finally getting the recognition he so rightly deserves .
 The Cap’n , Ribs and Lehtinen owned the Sharks every time they came across the boards . They completely dominated gameplay from the first time they touched the puck on every shift . The Sharks have given Ribs lots of time with the puck in their zone . If they want to beat Our Stars , they cannot allow that . Cap’n Morrow has been a driving force on that line and a real on-ice role model for the rest of the team to follow . Lehtinen’s fine defensive work and ability to steal pucks has balanced the line very well . It has been a few too many games since his name was on the scoreboard . I think he is due for a goal , and soon .
 Despite the fact that Zubov played only sixteen minutes (believe it or not sixteen minutes is low for a guy who usually plays for thirty plus minutes a game) , he played very well for his first game back . I am very glad he came back when he did . Our Stars have proven they can win without him , but why suffer when you can benefit from somebody that skilled back in your line up ?
 In other playoff news , I still think the Flyers need to lose and be home golfing or beating up people inth estreets like other bullies do instead of playing hockey . They do not deserve to be where they are now , the Capitals do . Stupid Flyers . I wish the stupid Penguins would hurry up and lose as well . I do not think their band wagon has room for any more band wagon-riders . Sadly , at the begining of last season , you could not PAY anybody to TAKE tickets to a Pens game and now you have to sell you home and anything else that is not bolted down (and some things that are) for BAD seats to any of their games . Now that is a full band-wagon . Oh , and I think their “white-out” is exceptionally stupid . Go buy a bottle of the stuff , put it over the Pens’ score and call it good . Then , take Crosby out in the sunshine , that kid is too pale to ever be called normal looking .   

Mauled Stars Manage To Win In Overtime

The game was nowhere near as dominating by Our Dallas Stars as round one’s game one was . In fact , if anything , I would say that the Sharks dominated the game , just not the scoreboard .
 The game started with the Sharks on the attack almost from the word go . Turco answered all of the shots that came his way and kept the game moving forward in the early attacks but Nabokov’s first faced shot , he held for the whistle . Stu Barnes took a weak hooking call , but Rivet ended that when he put his ass in Turco’s face . The resulting four on four hockey was relatively uneventful . The commentators on Vs. proved that they are stupid whiners when they complained about Ott chopping a Sharks player that went uncalled . News flash Vs. commentators , you are supposed to be impartial to both teams on a national broadcast and not so obviously one-sided . The Sharks attacked hard and Norstrom went to the box for hooking . The Sharks attacked very hard on the powerplay but they could not beat Turco no matter how often they tested him . Our Dallas Stars did have a powerplay , but it was so weak it really does not warrant mentioning .
 The second period started with both teams attacking in turn . Turco got the first stop but when he relaxed the puck dropped out and slid into the net . Other goalies would have had the whistle by the time Turco dropped it out of his equipment . They gererously credited Michalek with the goal . Setoguchi took a hooking call in the play immediately after the goal and on the first shift of the powerplay , Modano buries the puck past Nabokov to even the score at one a piece . Vs. network continues their stupidity and shows replays over the game that is actually going on so that the home audience gets to miss part of the game . When they finish their stupidity and the game comes back , Our Stars are attacking and begining to generate some momentum . Ribeiro , Morrow and Lehtinen started a great attack and The Cap’n makes it happen when he scores from his “office” in front of the net . The Sharks attack back immediatley after the goal but to no avail . Turco stood tall and took it all away from the Sharks . “Soft” passing by Our Dallas Stars seemed to plague them for turnovers or at least broken plays . Grier was called for an elbow , but Our Stars powerplay was weak at best . Both teams then exchange weak attacks until Robi was called for hooking . With one minute remaining on the Sharks’ powerplay the period ended .
 The third period started with one more minute left on the Sharks’ powerplay . It was effectively killed off by Our Stars . At about the sixteen minute mark , Mo took a hooking call for another Sharks’ powerplay . As soon as it started , Robidas was tripped and the stupid commentators said that it was “a good no call” . Idiots prove their stupidity repeatedly . Despite the stupidity off the ice , Our Stars were smart on the ice and only allowed shots from the perimiter on the powerplay despite lots of the zone time . After the powerplay ended , the Sharks kept up their attacks . Our Dallas Stars started to manage to get brief attacks during the Sharks incessant attacks . After Ribs , The Cap’n and Lehtinen attacked , Miettinen , Petersen and Hagman attacked as well . After Lundqvist , Richards and Eriksson attacked , things broke down and Cheechoo scored when he is practically standing on top of Turco when he forces the puck past him from two inches away . I did not like this goal . It was ugly and I thought it was garbage to allow it since it looked like Tuco was mauled in his own crease with the four other Sharks players in there with him . Our Stars got a powerplay courtesey of Campbell’s interference on Mo and Lehtinen had a huge chance to win the game , but he hit the post in his haste to put it on net . There was fighting for the puck and attempts to score right down to the final seconds . This game was destined for overtime .
 Overtime was fast paced and short . After only four minutes of back and forth attacking by both teams , Our Stars managed to wrest away the upper hand . They charged into the Sharks zone and made some great passes that got the Sharks scrambling and Nabokov out of position . Robi’s quick circle around back behind the net helped to insure Nobokov’s panic . Robi passed the puck off to Norstrom , who in turn passed it to an open Cap’n Morrow and he did not waste any time buring it past Nabokov in the net .

 Round two , game one ;

 The Sharks may have just mauled Our Stars , but Our Stars looked like they brushed aside most of the damage . Our Dallas Stars were certainly outshot , but the shots that counted were the ones on the scoreboard .
 I was less than pleased with Our Stars’ gameplay despite the win . They looked slow and like they were not ready to play . Tippett agreed with my thought because he said that the team needed to do better . He said that he would take the win , but that his team needed to work harder . Our Stars looked like they had taken more than a few days off . Only Turco , Robidas and Morrow looked as sharp as they always do .
 This game reminded me of how much I hate the Vs. Network . First , the commentators do not know how to pronounce our players’ names . Then , they called the line of Petersen , Miettinen and Hagman “the Forgien Line” . WHATEVER ! Petersen is from Mineapolis Minnesota ! Idiots ! They also called Turco lucky on several occasions implying that he was not really a great goaltender , merely one whom the hockey gods had granted him their luck for the game . They also said that Turco handled the puck in the trapezoid that it is illegal for goalies to handle the puck in . I wished (hard) at that point there was not a ten second delay from radio to television , so I could listen to WBAP 820 am’s braodcast of the game , instead of hearing the idiots on the Vs. network . Every time I am forced to watch a game in the Vs. network , I am reminded (painfully) of how stupid and foolish the men that they hire are . I hope a network with some brains picks up the playoffs next season . I hate Vs.

Round Two Match Ups

 Everybody knows by now who is playing who and where and when . I am going to give my list of who I think should win out of these series . I did not get all of my wishes out of the first round , but I rarely get everything I want .

 Colorado vs. Detroit 
  While I would love to see the Avs knock out the Dead Things , I just don’t have that much faith in that Colorado team . A few years ago maybe , but not now . Detroit struggled with Trashville far more than I thought they would , so maybe the Avs can take them out . I would love to see that , but I am not getting my hopes up .

 Stars vs. Sharks
  Our Dallas Stars will win if they do their jobs . I said that before and I will say it again , they know how to beat this team and have proven it before . I choose Our Dallas Stars in six games .

 Penguins vs. Rangers 
  Sean Avery and his boys can start booking golf courses after the fifth game is supposed to be played . If the Rangers are lucky , they might take one game from them . The Penguins have this one in the bag , unless they have become over-confident like Anaheim did with Our Dallas Stars in round one . Too bad the Caps were eliminated wrongly . I wanted to see them beat the Pens (not that they could have , I just wanted to see that) .

Flyers vs. Canadiens
 The Flyers did not deserve to advance on a goal off a goalie who was clearly interfered with . Huet had his own player pushed into him by a Flyers’ player and the goal was allowed . Add to that the Flyers had all those suspensions earlier in the season and that makes the Canadiens winners by default . Quick , somebody go and slash the tires on the Flyers plane so they cannot get to their games and have to forfeit . It would save them humiliation ………. On second thought , send the Flyers extra help to speed them on their way . I want them to make it to their humiliation ……uh …. I mean , their , uh , “games” on time .

Birng on round two and let the poor oficiating continue as it has all season !

Stanley Cup Defending Champions No More

 I am so glad we are not forced to hear the Ducks called “The Defending Stanley Cup Champions” any more . Now they are just another team with plenty of time to golf .
 Before the game , I told myself that if Our Stars lost , I was shaving off my playoff scruff (it does not grow thick enough to be called a beard yet despite the fact that I am well over thirty) . Our Dallas Stars have thankfully forced me to keep it for a while longer . It is kind of a good news bad news thing in the fact that it is terribly itchy , but I will suffer it as long as our boys keep winning . I want The Cup and so do Our Stars . 
 The game started with Modano , Stu and Ott as the forwards . They attacked the Ducks immediately . While it was short lived , Ribs , The Cap’n and Lehtinen picked up where they left off . Our Stars had a very short powerplay courtesy of Beauchemin and Pronger held onto Eriksson’s free hand to make him take a holding call for four on four hockey . It probably was not really a penalty before Pronger grabbed his hand , but Pronger is a prick , so it was not completely unexpected . The four on four play was lame , but the Ducks thirty second powerplay was terrifying . Richards was called for slashing and that continued the Ducks’ powerplay chance for another two minutes . On the ensuing powerplay , the Ducks had lots of offensive zone time and chances , but they could not beat Turco or his defensemen . Our Stars’ fourth line of Petersen , Miettinen and Hagman started pounding the Ducks after the powerplay had ended . Getzlav was (deservedly) pounded and the refs ruled it charging (it might have been , but I still say he deserved it just for being on the ice) . The Ducks again had lots of time in the offensive zone but the powerplay ended with Our Stars clearing the puck and disallowing re-entry into their zone . When that powerplay ended , Weight committed a trip and it was Our Stars’ turn on the powerplay . That powerplay was very aggressively killed off by the Ducks , much to my dismay . Despite a huge amount of turnovers by the Ducks in their own zone , Our Stars could not capitalize no matter how hard they tried . The period ended with the puck in Turco’s glove and two of his defenders sitting on the ice in front of him .
 The second period started out with Our Stars attacking hard with a great play . They continued this pressure until the Ducks finally cleared the zone and they attacked back but Turco and Robi answered their attacks with a resounding “no” . Sadly , they could not answer “no” when Perry beat Turco from the left faceoff circle . That would prove to be the Ducks only goal . Our Stars managed a brief attack after the goal , but the Ducks returned the favor . Our Stars went back up on the attack and Pronger got called for holding , giving Our Stars yet another powerplay . The resulting powerplay was pathetic . Our Stars never even got close to getting set up in the offensive zone . The Cap’n , Ribs and Lehtinen had a huge chance , but Giguere stood his ground and would not allow it . Our Stars still could not capitalize on the ever-growing mountain of turnovers by the Ducks . They looked like they wanted to , but the bounces just did not seem to be going their way . At this point in the game I was begining to become concerned . I did NOT want another game seven . Especially not in front of those band-wagon-riding Ducks fans in Anaheim (REAL fans do NOT boo their own team off the ice) .
 The third period started out with The Cap’n being thrown to the ice by Carter , who went to the box for his misbehavior . The Stars powerplay was wonderful when Robidas scored from his shot from just inside the left faceoff circle . Fifty-two seconds later , Robi snuck a pass to Stu who was driving the net on the opposite side of him and Stu did not miss what was essentially an empty net . That put Our Stars up two to one . Eriksson had a huge breakaway attack that Giguere answered . The AAC had become so loud that the commentators were no longer heard over the broadcast . I love that . At the twelve minute mark the Ducks were attacking like desperate men . Their plays were sloppy and panicky . They did manage to give Our Stars a terrible time moving the puck out of their own zone , but they could not muster any real threats of scoring . Our Stars had a huge rush at the Ducks , but they answered back with some shots at Turco that made him perform acrobatics to stop . Richards and Eriksson snuck past Pronger and Eriksson beat Giguere for his third goal of the series . Giguere  went to the bench at the two minute mark and The Cap’n had a great chance at the empty net , but Pronger crosschecked him out of frustration (or stupidity , your choice) . Despite the powerplay for Our Stars until the end of the game , the Ducks pulled Giguere with one minute left . Turco made a huge save , passed it to Lehtinen , who in turn found Modano breaking free . He slowly skated right up to the empty net and made the final deposit in Ducks’ open net with three point three seconds left to play .

 Niedermayer and Selanne Should Have Stayed Retired - Chumps ;

 Thank the hockey gods (and obviously Our Dallas Stars) for “The Defending Stanley Cup Champions” being eliminated in the first round . I would have been so mad if Pronger’s weak (and biased) suspension had helped them move forward . I also like them being eliminated because I think it sends a clear message to Selanne and Niedermayer , not to mention that MY team gets to move forward and the Ducks have to retire to golfing .
 Now that the Ducks are out , both of last season’s conference champions have been eliminated . I did not think the Senators would go out in four , but I am glad they are both out . Kind of ironic that both of those teams did not even make it to a game seven , much less the second round .
 The Ducks lost this series almost from the start . They came out in games one and two and expected Our Stars to lie down and die . When they did not , the Ducks panicked because they were in a two game hole . They tried to changed the way they played , but zebras can change their spots no easier than ducks can forget how quack . Their failure to change and adapt to Our Stars gameplay style cost them . In the third period of this game , it showed . They started dumping pucks in right to Turco and were caught in over pursuit - JUST LIKE IN GAMES ONE AND TWO ! It is no wonder they lost . I laughed at Randy Carlyle in the post-game press conference . He sounded as if he was going to cry . I hope he did . That is what his team earned when they expected to steamroll Our Dallas Stars like they obviously expected to do in game one . Winning a game does not require arrogance , it requires hard work - and you can quote me on that .
 Marty Turco played huge . He earned my (and Razor’s) first star of the series . He made saves that sometimes defied physics and all logic . 
 Between Fistric and Norstrom , they had seven blocked shots . Two of Fistric’s blocked shots came seconds apart . Both of these guys stepped up and deserved to be mentioned here . Norstrom played better than the pylon that he usually behaves like and Fistric played far better than you would think a rookie would .
 The ever humble Robidas said after the game that his goal was “a lucky bounce off the boards” . Classic . He is beginning to sound like Zubov with all that modesty . He also said ,”We have one goal in mind and that’s The Stanley Cup” . Well said , Robi , well said .
Tippett was quoted as saying ,”It’s funny , shaking hands out on the ice there , I was last in line and Robi was right infront of me . And it’s interesting to hear the comments he was getting from Anaheim players about what kind of a player he is . We all recognize it in our own room , but to hear Anaheim players say that to him , that’s very gratifying” . With more on the subject of Robidas , Tippett said ,”He epitomizes our game . He’s one of the best teammates you’re ever going to find, he will go right through a wall to help the team win, he’ll take pucks in the face to help the team win, he’ll stuff cotton up his nose to make sure he’s back to help on the power play five minutes after that. He’s the epitome of what’s great about our game.” He also called this win “gratifying” , and a “first step” while still managing to look as stoic as ever . I hope there are a few more steps , personally . And smile more often Tippett . Damn .
 Cap’n Morrow mirrored my thoughts when he said the win felt good , but they were “not settling for this” . That is a very good thing .
 Our Stars have defeated a very challenging team . That is just the begining . Now they get a few days off to rest and then comes the next and more difficult round , no matter who their opponent may be .
 It looks as though I have to wait to shave off my playoff scruff . With another month , it just might grow into a real beard . I hope we can find out if I can grow a playoff beard instead of just scruff . Bring on round two !

 *All quotes taken from DallasStars.com or from the broadcast of the game on FSN .

Duck Hunting At Home Pays Off For Stars

 I clicked this game on just in time to hear that the Ducks’ Corey Perry was going to play and that Phillipe Boucher was going to be out for the game because of a lower body injury . Niether were good signs for Our Dallas Stars .
 The game itself started out with both sides fighting for the puck . It was fast paced with good attacks by both teams . Momentum started to swing for Our Stars when Lundqvist , Eriksson and Richards had a very good shift . Daley scored , but it was waved off because Hagman skated by the front of the net and grazed Giguere and knocked into his helmet slightly . Hagman ended up in the box and Our Stars ended up with out the goal that was waved off immediately . The Ducks’ ensuing powerplay was exciting despite only one real chance that Turco answered . He continued his huge saves at the nine minute mark . Pronger took a hooking call for Our Stars’ first powerplay of the game . The powerplay ended when Cap’n Morrow was called for a weak crosscheck . The following four an four was uneventfull and so was the Ducks’ thirty second powerplay . Lundqvist’s hard work earlier in the game paid dividends when Eriksson stole a pass and gave it to him and he beat a surprized Giguere for the game’s first goal . The attacks swung back and forth for the rest of the period . Our Stars may have been out shot , but they were the ones who managed to put up the points , not the Ducks . 
 The second period started with my cable out do to a terrible storm . When it finally came back on , at the sixteen minute mark , Turco was still making huge saves . The Ducks attacked and Sutherby scored when he kicked the puck into the net past Turco . After what seemed like an hour of reviewing of the play in Toronto , the goal was waved off . This was the right call (just like the earlier goal that was waved off that Our Stars had) . It was clearly a kicked in goal whether it was intentional or not . The Ducks attacked immediately and their players were caught too deep when Lundqvist and Richards raced the puck down for a two on one chance that Giguere answered . The Ducks attacked back and when Turco stopped play , Fistric leveled Perry for his over-zealousness to charge the net after the play had ended . A short time later , May went to the box and the resulting powerplay appeared to be a Ducks’ powerplay . As soon as that ended , Ribeiro and Selanne both go to their respective timeouts for yet another four on four . Fistric’s shot from the blueline was the only real chance on the four on four , otherwise it was just battling along the boards . Our Stars went back on the powerplay courtesy of Bertuzzi when he tossed Niskanen into the back of Turco’s net . The resulting powerplay fizzled out once more . The Ducks attacked hard and that stopped when Modano took a hooking penalty . Kunitz put his elbow into Robidas’ head at the end of the period .
 The third period began with another four on four for another minute and twenty seconds . and the thirty second powerplay for Our Stars was a complete joke . Bertuzzi crosschecked Ott a dozen times (the exact same way that The Cap’n was called for earlier in the game) but he manages to get the puck out to Norstrom who passes it along to Mo who finds an open and breaking Stu Barnes . Stu proved he knew what to do when he scored the game’s second goal . The Ducks attacked back as hard as ever and Selanne elbowed Turco in the head and leaves him flat on his back . Our Stars get a powerplay out of it but it ended quickly when Norstrom commited a hold on Kunitz’ short handed attack . The four on four play was all Turco . After the gameplay returned to even strength , Stu stole the puck from Huskins and fed it to Ott who sealed up th win when he beat Giguere with less than three minute remaining in the game . Perry got mad and started to pitch a fit and crosschecked Ott ending the Ducks’ hope for a come-back win . Sadly , with eight seconds left Schneider somehow beat Turco to ruin his shutout bid . Razor called the goal unneccessary . I tend to agree . It was a pointless goal .

 Three To One Win , Three To One In The Series ;

This game may have gone down as a win , but Our Stars did not play as well as they should have . The powerplay was terrible and they suffered from miscues and bad passes . They gave away far too many chances on Turco when they were on the powerplay and too many odd man rushes . They had difficult exits from their own zone and the Ducks forecheck was working yet again in this game . If they do not return to the same type of the game that they played in the first two games , they mill most certainly struggle in their next game .
 Marty Turco played steller . If he had not done so , the game would have certainly gone the other way . Many times he mopped up disasters in front of his crease . His defensemen needed to block a few more shots and been a little more secure with the puck like they were in their first two games . Take the hit and pass the puck along to make the play . It may be hard (and certainly unpleasant) , but that is their jobs .
 Hagman , Lundqvist , Richards , Daley , Stu , Eriksson and Modano , all played a very good game . It is too bad there are not enough stars of the games for all of them and Turco . Everyone of those guys played their hearts out . I will draw some criticizm for saying it , but I think the third star of the game should have been Lundqvist and not Mo .
 The Open Net with Razor and Jennifer Floyd Engel was great . I really enjoyed her and I think I will look into what she has to say elsewhere . Odd that it seems that some of the better sports writers (or media) are women and that they seem to be ignored by their male counter-parts . Razor did not seem to like any of what she said and disagreed with her even though I was on her side . I will have to look her up on the internet and see what I can find about her .

Hibernating Ducks Wake Up For Two Periods

 I always thought that only bears and a few other animals hibernated . Some people (Anaheim fans) commented that you do not want to wake a sleeping bear . Well , let us not forget that they are ducks NOT bears . If they were bears , they certainly could not play hockey , I hear that the Bears can hardly play football ,  much less hockey . The same periods that the Ducks finally woke up for , Our Stars decided to forget how to play hockey . When Our Stars finally woke up , they could not get things together fast enough to win the game . 
 The Stars’ Insider show that they ran before the game was entertaining . They showed all the highlights from the previous two games . They showed Lehtinen scoring both his goals in the first two games . I loved seeing that but the show began to grate on my nerves when they began talking about “the defending Stanley Cup champions , the Anaheim Ducks” . We all remember how they bullied their way to Lord Stanley’s Cup last season , please do not remind us . Besides , why can’t anybody just say “the Ducks” ?
 Mike Modano’s pre-game interview was encouraging to me . He said that they had not won anything yet . I liked that they seemed to be concentrating on winning each game as they came . After that , they started talking about why the Ducks lost . Frustration by the Ducks , Stars winning by committee , their defense , special teams and Turco’s defense of the net with help . Tippett was interveiwed later and he said ,”it is only the first two games” and then my personal favorite quote from him ,”..if we play the way that we can , we will get the outcome that we want .” I have said that all season .
 The game started with the Ducks icing the puck . the faceoff was brought back to the Ducks’ zone and Mo got off a hot little shot that Giguere answered in a hurry . Eriksson , Lundqvist and Richards had a great three on two cghance , but either their own miscues or the Ducks defenders forced the issue and the chance fizzled . The Ducks offsides and miscues led the way for Cap’n Morrow , Ribeiro and Lehtinen to have great early chances . Pronger gives Our Stars a powerplay for a crosscheck . A short handed rush by the Ducks turned into Lehtinen’s chance on Giguere that he could not finish out with a goal . Instead , Marchant scored when Moen beat Norstrom to the puck behind Turco’s net for the centering pass . The Ducks seemed to have Our Stars playing out of sorts even further than they already were and they exploit their problems when Getzlav scores less than four minutes later . Hagman got a break away chance but Giguere answered that . Hagman went to the box for hooking and Pronger scored almost immediately . Our Stars still struggle with miscues but , despite that , Hagman gets off two shots on Giguere . All of the bounces seemed to be going the Ducks’ way . Our Stars finally get something moving forward and Daley , Kunitz and O’Donnell are given permission to sit down for two minutes . This was a tertrible period . Our Stars did not look like they had played with each other for weeks . They miscued and did not follow the game plan that they had for the last two games and it showed .
 The second period started with Our Stars on the powerplay for one more minute . It did not help the score from three to nothing . Crombeen , Petersen and Hagman started changing the momentum and had a great chance . Stu had two great chances after that but Robidas took a tripping call to end the building momentum . Almost immediately , Niskanen throws the puck out of play and goes to the box for delaying the game . Proger buries the puck in the twine on the resulting five on three powerplay . Then , adding insult to injury , Daley tossed the puck out of play for yet another five on three powerplay . The brief five on three powerplay ended safley and then a short time later , the five on four was killed off safely as well . Both teams had great attacks after that , with no one team really dominated the gameplay . Bertuzzi took a tripping call and Our stars took over . The resulting powerplay showed that Our Stars wanted to win . They had a great attack set up in the Ducks zone with many shots on goal and a few crazy scrambles in front of Giguere . Our Stars just could not get a point on the board , but it was not for the lack of trying .
 The third period started with the AAC silent . I honestly was not surprised . Ott made a great attempt at a wrap around but it went just a little too far off his stick . Getzlav and Selabnne attacked back but Turco answered . Norstrom and Carter go to the box for offsetting minors and both teams had chances but nothing that could not be handled by the netminders . Getzlav goes to the box for tripping and Ribs , Mo and The Cap’n connect for the Stars’ first goal of the game . May went to the box for his slashing crimes and Ribs , Mo and The Cap’n do it again for Our Stars’ second goal of the game . Eriksson , Hagman and Richards took the next shift and really had a great attack , even if Giguere did answer them . By now , the Ducks were really only playing prevent defense (I hate that) . Schneider took a double minor highsticking and Boucher , Daley , Richards , Eriksson and Hagman had a great attack but nobody would go to the front of the net . Our Stars kept attacking . Turco skated off with about two minutes left , but despite the continued hard attacks by Our Stars , they could not even get to the third goal , much less the fourth .

It Is Only One Game Lost . Not Two ;

 I liked what Tippett said about the loss . He said ,”…no use in whinin’ and cryin’ about it….. ” it is simply time to fix the problems with our game . I could not agree more . It seemed to me that they did not play the way that we know they can .
 Both Ribs and Turco said that they did not expect to win four in a row against the Ducks . I do think it is a good thing to lose at least one game in this series (I know that may sound weird , but I have my reasons) , but absolutely no more than that .
 Brenden Morrow , B. J. Crombeen , Mike Ribeiro , Jere Lehtinen and Niklas Hagman played solid the whole game . They just needed to remind their team to all play hard and as a team .
 This game was the first game that the Ducks forecheck actually worked for them . In the two games before that , it failed utterly and completely . The Ducks management and coaches were proud that it finally worked this game . I expect to see a very arrogant Ducks team on Thursday . I also expect more overpursuit by the Ducks for the extra hits after the play is over .
 Despite a horrid first period and a terrible second period , Our Stars did come back and own the third . It was almost as if they forgot completely how to play the Ducks until the thrid period . It made me ill to watch this game from the outset . I was mentally running through all of my many superstitions making sure that I had not missed anything , but it did not help .
 It still makes me angry that Chris Pronger is playing . I still think he should be suspended for twenty more games . Simon would have been . Pronger should not EVER be able to be allowed to be one of the stars of the game . No matter how hard he plays , he should never be granted that honour because of his past history of low class behaviour . 
 Our Dallas Stars lost this game because they played the Ducks game , not their own . If they had played their own game , the outcome would have been different . Like I quoted Tippett earlier ,”….if we play the way that we can , we will get the outcome that we want.” Our Stars have the ability to win , just not if they fall into playing the Ducks game .

Stars Pluck Ducks In Game Two

  In the pe-game show , Daryl “Razor” Reaugh had said that he spoken with a few of the Ducks’ players before the game and they claimed to have taken “smart” pills before the game . I personally did not think it would help them because they enjoy late hits and going out of their way to hit their opposition far too much . I also thought that they enjoyed the extra pushing matches after the whistle too much to be smart about their game (I was later proven correct) .The Honda Center was filled to the brim with excited fans , unlike the last five minutes of game one . Apparently , the few fans who did remain until game one ended boo-ed the Ducks off the ice . What solid and faithful fans . I am proud of them for being such great band-wagon-riders .
 The game itself started off with what we all knew was coming , lots of hitting from the Ducks . They started the game with lots of time in Our Stars’ offensive zone . Our Stars answered that with solid defense . The game had a very amped up tone to it . The Ducks finally recognized what kind of a threat Turco was when he handles the puck and they started dumping in the puck to the corners from the outset of the game . They did a good job of keeping the puck away from Turco . Ribeiro intercepted a pass from Beauchmin and he went off to the races . He scored a beautiful backhand goal right above Giguere’s leg and just below his glove . The Ducks’ frustration was already apparent and they continued their late hits on Our Stars’ players . Hagman tripped Selanne and was caught by the zebras and sent away for his crime . The resulting powerplay for the Ducks was nearly killed off completely by Jere Lehtinen’s pursuit of the puck . Razor said he looked like a border collie at the blue line , just daring the Ducks to try to bring in the puck and chasing them back . The Ducks never managed to get setup in Our Stars’ zone for more than a few seconds before the powerplay ended . Scott Niedermayer crosschecked Robidas and he went to the box for interference . The resulting powerplay for Our Stars showed that Lehtinen could still find the “soft spot” in the Ducks’ defense . Giguere managed to stay on top of things even when his teamates could not . Our Stars’ powerplay ended without another tally on the scoresheet , but momentum was definately on their side . Barnes , Eriksson and Ott all had huge chances on Giguere that he answered well . Near the end of the period , the Ducks showed signs of life on an attack that Bertuzzi , Getzlav and Selanne spear-headed . Turco committed a grand act of larceny on the play . I honestly was not sure he would see the puck in time when I saw the play starting to unfold . Happily , Turco showed that he ate his Wheaties that morning and answered the challenge .
 The second period started off well for Our Stars . Ribs almost slipped past the Ducks’ defense for another breakaway , but instead , Scott Niedermayer broke up the play with a hook he put on Ribs . Niedermeyer was rewarded for his crime and sent off to “Timeout” for two minutes . Robidas bangs a huge shot off Giguere and the paunchy rebound would not have gotten away from him if not for Pronger making a stupid mistake when he pushed the puck right out to a ready-to-shoot Jere Lehtinen who buried the puck in the net for the game’s second goal . About thirty seconds later , Eriksson decided to have his own personal timeout and took a tripping call in order to do so . Getzlav and Bertuzzi had a huge chance on Turco but he answered the call of duty yet again . On the next shot , however , he was not as fortunate . Scott Niedermayer shot the puck from the outside and Sellane tipped it just high enough that Turco could not respond to the deflection in time to stop it from hitting the net . The glass fell out of its “secured” place seemingly without help from players this time . It seems that the Honda Center has gone to pot since they aquired the title of “Defending Stanley Cup Champions” (I love their “quality” facility in Anaheim-obviously Our Stars do too) . The two hours of commercials end and both teams attack each other’s net with good attacks . Ribs and The Cap’n almost connect and Lehtinen stole a puck and he almost scored his second of the game late in his shift . Hagman nearly snuck in his wrap-around attempt and Eriksson , Richards and Lundqvist attacked Giguere but still he answered . Ribs made a pass into the zone and May skates the distance from the bench to the other side of the ice to crush him into a heap at center ice . Yet , no penalty . Bertuzzi takes an interference call for what I thought was more of a boarding penalty on Ott , and on the delayed call Marty skates off . When the Ducks finally touch the puck for the whistle , no less than two Ducks’ players toss the puck into the empty goal (how classless and foolish) . On the resulting powerplay , Ribs was held , and Beauchamin crosschecked The Cap’n who lost his headgear from the illegal hit , but stiull no calls were made . The powerplay ended relatively uneventfully and then Moen got free from Niskanen , who all but ignored him , and he makes Our Stars pay for Niskanen’s mistake by buring a shot of his own in the net . Modano tripped Getzlav and the Ducks resulting powerplay could not be capitalized on . The Cap’n took a penalty at the end of the period for what the Ducks had been doing (and far more blatantly) when he skates out of his way for what I thought was little more than a bump from his shoulder (honestly , it should not even have counted as a hit) . Sadly , The Cap’n took a charging penalty for that “attrocious” hit .
 The third period , sadly , started with the Ducks on , in what is my opinion , an unearned powerplay . When The Cap’s penalty expired , Richards renewed the Ducks’ chance with a tripping call of his own . Both powerplays were killed off fairly easily by Our Stars . Bobby Ryan of the Ducks decided to add his name to the scoresheet , but in a negative way for his team , when he was called for hooking . Our Stars did not squander their opportunity on the powerplay and Mo hammered a shot in from the blueline to earn Our Dallas Stars’ lead back . The Ducks attacked back but good defensive play answered their bid for a third goal . Richards went to the box for batting the puck out of play with a highstick , but surprisingly (or maybe not SO surprisingly) nobody was penalized for elbowing The Cap’n in the face . Bertuzzi ended the powerplay when he was called for holding when it looked like he should be called for theft after stealing Daley’s stick and glove and tossing them to the wind . Pronger went to the box for his blatant stupidity (finally) and he was called for holding for his two minute timeout . The brief four-on four and five-on-three ends and Beauchemin held down Cap’n Morrow while Scott Niedermayer tackled Richards away from the puck . Disgustingly , no penalties were dished out for that stupidity . Eriksson , Lundqvist and Richards were obviously annoyed by that and Eriksson bangs the puck past Giguere when the Ducks were all caught standing around in their own zone yet again . At this point in the game , I had to laugh out loud because all of the Ducks band-wagon-rider fans were leaving the Honda Center yet again . Hagman , Crombeen and Petersen had a great shift and kept the pressure on the Ducks on one of the final attacks of the game . The game ended with a frustrated Ducks’ team just out head hunting (uselessly , I might add) with nasty hits on any Stars player who happened to be on the ice .

 Featherless Ducks Fly To Dallas For Game Three Next ;

 The Ducks claimed that they had taken their “smart” pills , but it was obvious that they did not . They still over-pursued for hits . They also committed a terrible amount of penalties that went uncalled by the obvioulsy blind zebras . I was truly appalled at the lack of good officiating . I would not complain , except for the fact that any time Our Stars attempted to return the late hits or unsportsmanlike conduct , they were called for it . Cap’n Morrow’s “hit” was the prime example of this when he was awarded a charging penalty for his perceived crime . The officiating was poor , but at least McGeough was not the man calling the game or it would have been much worse .
 Razor said that if the Ducks wanted to get back in this series , they needed to figure a way to score . Personally , I think they need to just lay down and give up . They do not deserve to be bullies and win Lord Stanley’s Cup . Not again .
 For a team who was thought to have scoring issues at the beginning of the season , Our Dallas Stars do not seem to be having any trouble at all . They seem to be able to beat Giguere whenever they try hard enough . It does help that the Ducks do not seem to give Our Stars any kind of respect when they have the puck and they turn it over to them often . Their lack of respect for Our Stars has cost them in the last two games and it will continue to do so until they start taking Our Stars seriously .
 Marty Turco was quoted on DallasStars.com as saying ,”We’ve collected two big wins here , but we know we still have alot of work left to do .” His thoughts mirrored Tippett’s quote (from DallasStars.com) when he said ,”……we still have a lot of work to do . This series is just getting going .” I like the fact that everyone seems to be keeping their focus that this is only game two and not the defining end of the series . It bodes well for the rest of the series . Often , in the regular season , Our Stars seemed to lose focus and just stop playing . With this kind of focus , they have the potential to put this playoff drive in the history books as the club’s second Stanley Cup win .
 Marty Turco was not as dominant in this game as he was in the first game (because of the way the Ducks played the puck away from him) , but he still performed fabulous . He made saves that I thought had beaten him . I am very proud of him .
 Aagain , the three stars of the game were awarded by the inept Anaheim media . The second star was again awarded as a concillation prize to he Ducks . The stars should have been awarded like this ;
 1st star : Mike Ribeiro
 2nd star : Brad Richards
 3rd star : Your Choice - Mike Modano or Stephane Robidas - they both played fabulous
The media that voted for the stars of the game should be forced into a closet until the series is over and fed only bread and water . That or fed to Russian’s alligator .

 BRING ON GAME THREE !!

“Underdog” Stars School Ducks

 I love it when the media says that a team is the “underdog” and then they go out and make their opponents look stupid . That is exactly what Our Dallas Stars did to the Ducks at the Honda Center in game one .
 The game started with lots of hitting . What a surprise . Both teams laid some pretty good licks on each other . Our Stars picked up many unforced turnovers from the Ducks . After about six minutes of gameplay , Modano led the parade to the penalty box for kicking a fallen stick away from a Ducks’ player . That powerplay was killed off fairly well when Our Stars only allowed one (or two if you count that little rebound) shot on Turco . Richards had a chance to score but could not get enough on the hopping puck to pound it in the net . Later , a dump-in by the Ducks sent a wild , jumping puck slowly sliding through the blue of the crease with Marty nowhere to be found . Moen followed Mo’s path to the box after he took a running jump with his elbow into Grossman . Our Stars got setup in the Ducks’ zone and Robidas and Ott makes them pay for Moen’s crime by sneaking the puck in five hole on Giguere with help from Ott’s deflection . The Ducks attacked back immediately and Our Stars answered right back with attacks of their own led by ther young defensemen . Sutherby crosschecked Daley and he went third in the parade to the sin bin . The resulting powerplay started off terribly . Modano drew all the defenders to him (and got a stick in the face for his efforts) and manages to find open players anyway . Loui Eriksson was the man who benefitted the most from Mo’s sacrifice when he scored from a pass from Richards . The following faceoff at center ice was little more than a delay for Eriksson and Richards who attacked Giguere immediately again . This time , though , Giguere answered them . Selanne and Boucher had words and Bertuzzi skates over like he was insane and throws Boucher to the ground while Ott and Scheider start their own shoving match at the other end of the ice . Every last one of them were given two minute time-outs for their misbehavior .
 The second period started out with Our Stars on the powerplay for another minute and fourty-five seconds (roughly) . Lehtinen had a huge chance but was robbed . The powerplay ended , then the parade to the box continued for the Ducks . Getzlav was sent away for roughing . Oddly , the Ducks attacked Our Stars’ net , but the momentum was not to be swayed . Our Stars took back over when Lehtinen got open in front of Giguere and blasted the puck over Giguere’s right shoulder . Both Pronger and Pahlsson were standing around seemingly not knowing what to do . Jere Lehtinen knew what to do . Schneider continued the Ducks’ march to the box and Ribeiro joins him a short time later . The Ducks had a scary flurry in front of Turco , but he stood his ground and sent the Ducks away empty-handed . The Ducks continued to test Turco and another nasty flurry ends with Turco covering the puck on top of his net . The Ducks seemed to go into panic mode ever since Lehtinen had put up the game’s third goal . They were all freaking out and positioning themselves poorly . The hard checking continued and glass was knocked loose (insert an hour of commercials here) . When play resumed , Boucher received a tripping call for taking down Bertuzzi with his stick . The resulting powerplay was absolutely crazy . The Ducks had all kinds of chances , but could not beat Marty Turco or his defensemen despite solid attempts to do so . Boucher had a chance right out of the box , but Bertuzzi shoved him into the goal post and Bertuzzi went to the box . The faceoff that followed was little more than a slight delay for Cap’n Morrow when he scored (what would be the game’s final goal) almost directly off the faceoff . Eriksson attacked the net again and had himself an “almost” but Giguere was not having any more of that . The Ducks truly hit deep panic mode when Our Stars attacked again and Huskins played the puck with a broken stick . That was a silly thing to do . He could have just tossed the puck to one of his own players and recieved the whistle for a hand pass instead of taking a minor . That is what happens when you hit panic mode , though . Your judgement clouds when you panic . I have been guilty of the same type of thing in a panic mode .
 The third period started with a minute and fifty seconds left on Our Stars’ powerplay . It ended less successfully than four of the previous powerplays did . Pronger jumped to make a hit on Lundqvist and he knocked the glass out again (although it was in a different place than the first time it came loose) . Razor said that the Honda Center was falling apart . I had to agree . Especially when the five minute mark rolled around and the place was empty . It looked more like a ghost town than a playoff game in its’ final minutes . I would not have left . Crombeen , Petersen and Hagman had a great three on one chance that fizzled out and Hagman and Kunitz ended the parade to the penalty box together .

 Beating A Team With Their Own Style Of Game-Play Rocks ! ;

 Our Stars won for many reasons . They beat the forecheck by Turco playing the way he did . They handled the puck far better and did not have nearly as many turnovers as the Ducks did . Most of those turnovers were all unforced ones . They were just miscues and bad passes . Over pursuit by the Ducks got the Ducks into trouble often . Our Stars pretty well dictated the game play and did what ever they so chose to do with the puck on their powerplays . Our Stars had their defense together and (with lots of help from Turco) they rarely had trouble exiting their own zone . The Duck constant march to the penalty box cost them . BIG .
 Before the game , Craig Ludwig said that Our Stars had to have their defensemen step up . They did . He also said that Marty Turco had to shine . He did . Ludwig is right on with most all of what he says . I just wish he would talk loud enough for people to hear him .
 Robidas and Razor both said that Our Stars had to have a “pack mentality” and they did . It served them very well . They played as a team and they each did their own jobs and did not ever get too far from their own jobs for it to cause them to make mistakes . That is the key . Everybody doing their own respective jobs .
 When they announced the three stars of the game , I thought it was laughable that Brad May had “earned” the second star of the game . Anahiem media must be nuts . I think May was added as an insult because he had the least amount of time on the ice of all of the Ducks , AND he did not have a single shot on goal , just three hits . The three stars of the game in my humble opinion should have read off like this ;
 1st star : Marty Turco
 2nd star : Mike Ribeiro
 3rd stars : Jean-Sebastien Giguere
 Giguere faced an enormous amount of shots and he played well . He did not let his team down , his team let him down and allowed the Stars to get open in front of him three times . The first goal was a fluke shot that barely manged to sneak by him , but it counted .
 On the odd note , I am  SOOOOOOO glad that there is no pipe organ in the AAC . I would hate to hear the Dr. Who song played on the organ here . I think that is absolutely attrocious . It should be illegal it sounds so bad . Organ music is for churches and baseball games , NOT hockey .
 I completely forgot to mention that I had omitted my usual complaining (or whining , your choice) about the lack of good officiating in this game . I normally complain when so many hits are late ones or blatant penalties are commited . This game was different . BOTH teams got away with lots of stuff that should never have been allowed . To complain that the Ducks were not penalized enough would have been stupid since Our Stars got away with many things that were illegal as well . Maybe the next game will be called tighter . I really did not care for the very late hits by either team and some of those were jumps into players . I understood that to be an automatic penalty . I guess you ignore the rules sometimes . Since the refs ignored it for one team , at least they ignored it for both teams .

My Picks For The First Round Of Playoffs

 Alright , everybody else has put in their two cents’ worth about who is going to win in the first round of playoffs , so I am going to give my two cents’ worth . This is NOT my predictions of who IS going to win , this is my list of who I think SHOULD win .

 Detroit Red Wings vs. Trashville Predators
  This is a no win situation for me . I do not like the Red Wings , and I hate the Preds , so the Red Wings have my approval to beat the Preds like red-headed step-children in Wal-Mart .
 San Jose vs. Calgary
  I so want Calgary to win just so everybody will shut up about the Sharks taking Lord Stanley’s Sacred Chalice back to So Cal .
 Colorado vs. Minnesota
  I pick Colorado just because they seem to have more talent . I even pick them despite the fact that Foote ran off on the Blue Jackets the way he did .
 Ducks vs. Stars
  Obviously I choose the Stars . The Stars can beat the Ducks if they do their jobs .
 Montreal vs. Boston
  I think that the Canadiens have it in them to take out the Bruins . Besides , I do not care for the Bruins’ coach .
 Pittsburg vs. Ottawa
  The Sens picked a bad draw when they drew the Pens in the first round . They will not return to the Stanley Cup Finals this year . Besides , I want to see the Caps take out the Pens .
 Washington vs. Philidalphia
  Who in their right mind WANTS to see the Broad Street Bullies win this season after all the suspensions at the first of the season . Besides , Ovechkin and his friends need to put Crosby and his boys out of the playoffs themselves . Go Caps !
 Devils vs. Rangers
  I do not like the Devils , so the Rangers have my permission to win . They certainly shut them down in their first game . I used to like Langenbrunner , but he refused to come back to Our Stars when they offered him a better deal than the Devils did , so I cannot say he is one of my favorites any more . Sorry .

 In other news , Our Stars have some serious issues they need to address in the off season . Barnes , Miettinen , Hagman , Winchester , Petersen , Norstron , Janceveski and Holmqvist are all unrestricted free-agents . Daley , Crombeen , Connor , Eriksson and Ott are restricted free-agents . Our Stars really need to re-sign a few of those players . Others of them , well , let’s just wave at them as they hop on their respective buses out of town .

Stars Close Out Regular Season With A Big Bang…..Literally

 The “game” may have started slowly , but after the first five minutes , or so , of slower playing , it exploded . The “game” started with Our Stars having their third and fourth liners in top positions in the “game” . They never shied away from the hits and that helped the violence start . I will speak of that , but a little later . Due to all of the penalties handed out , Our Stars had a five on three powerplay that fizzled out , despite good puck movement and plenty of shots on goal . Later , after a mountain more penalties , the Sharks had a very long five on three powerplay and Marleau capitalized on it for the game’s first goal . Turco played well and stopped most of the shots he faced . He did miss Marleau’s shot , but it was a stoppable shot . He did have a miscue earlier in the period that was terrifying but his defensemen bailed him out of that jam by picking up the puck that slid right out into the open and almost landed on Marleau’s stick for his second of the “game”  . This period did not start like either team really wanted to play the game , in fact I thought it started soft . Apparently both teams read my mind and the situation on the ice degraded from a “soft” hockey game to little more than a bar room brawl . The penalty recap for the first period alone is as follows ; Sharks penalties ; McLaren : five for fighting , Shelley : two for roughing , two for crosschecking , ten minute game misconduct , Thornton : five for fighting , two for crosschecking , two for instigator , ten minute game misconduct , Rissmiller : two for roughing , Semenov : ten minute misconduct , Michalek : five for fighting , two for roughing . Penalties for Our Stars were as follows ; Barch : five for fighting , Winchester : two for crosschecking , Ott : two for crosschecking , five for fighting , Crombeen : five for fighting , Robidas : ten minutes for checking from behind , ten minute game misconduct (that ended his game for the day for the hit from behind) , Daley : ten minute misconduct , Barnes : four minutes (double minor) for highsticking . All those penalties added up to a grand total of one hundred and five minutes . More than one player was sitting in the dressing room before the period had ended . The “game” was almost barbaric . Every time play stopped , both teams had to get every player on the ice involved in a shoving match in a pile . It may not have been much of a hockey  game , but I sure wished that I could have seen Our Dallas Stars and the Sharks in Fight Club like that in person . Before the game , nobody thought that this would have been this kind of a “hockey” game . Most people thought it would be over with little or none of that kind of “love” shared . It makes you love the Pacific Division , doesn’t it ?
 The second period started with Lundqvist taking a charging penalty and Brian Boucher in goal for the Sharks . I kind of thought that the Sharks’ coach wanted to keep Nabokov safe from “those mean Dallas Stars” . Marleau commited a trip but got away with it , but Petersen could not . On the resulting powerplay , Hagman had a great short-handed chance , but it turned into Cheechoo getting a powerplay goal . Clowe attacked Ott and that gave Our Stars yet another powerplay . It turned out pretty weak though . After the powerplay ended , Cap’n Morrow took control of the puck and danced the puck into the Sharks’ zone and undressed several Sharks defenders to get a pass to Mo who gave it over to Miettinen for Our Stars’ first goal of the game . I thought at this point both teams would start playing hockey instead of attempting to (according to Ralph and Razor) discover who was the “Alpha Male” on the ice . I was wrong . Mitchell hit Winchester in the back for a charging call and once again , both teams had every player on the ice paired off . It may have been enjoyable to see this kind of stuff in the first period , but I wanted one last mark in the win column , not a continous bar room brawl . At this point in the game , I wanted to see hockey played and I was getting bored with the brawling . When the dust finally settled from that ruckus , Our Stars ended up on the powerplay . It was looking pretty weak until Stu Barnes stepped in and took over . He scored the “game’s” tying goal by planting the puck behind Brian Boucher . Our Stars attack the Sharks immediately after the goal and Shelley took exception to Ott . He was slapped with an additional seventeen minutes of penalties and was relieved of his on ice duties for the remainder of the game . Mittens went to the box for a tripping call that looked more like the player he was fighting for the puck fell . The resulting four on four did not matter though , because Thornton boarded the crap out of Niskanen and when Our Stars’ extra attacker was on , Norstrom scored for Our Stars , giving them their first lead of the “game” .
 The third period started with Our Stars still on the powerplay . Mo took an incredibly powerful shot that really rattled the goal on it’s moorings . It might have burst through the net if it had gone in . The shot was reveiwed for nearly an hour (it seemed) at the first stoppage of play . The long proccession to the penalty box continued when Mittens again went , this time for highsticking . All of the insane four on four and the powerplay ended with the score still at three to two in favor of Our Stars . Eriksson took a penalty and seconds later Marleau takes a penalty of his own for even more four on four hockey . After all the insanity took a short pause , Ott and Lundqvist combined for Ott’s final goal of the regular season . The game ended with Norstrom in the box and Brian Boucher and Nabokov on the bench .

 ”Fight Club On Ice” - Coming Soon To An Arena Near You !  ;

 The first period truly was not a hockey game , but it was enjoyable (at least from a spectator view) . Beatings and brutality were both handed out like beers at an Oktoberfest celebration . I hope that the Ducks were able to watch this game (on tape , no doubt) and got scared . It would do well for Our Stars to step up and do the same thing for their games against the Ducks . Pronger certainly deserves a sound beating worse than any Sharks’ player that skated in this game .
 The important thing about this game is that Our Stars won without four (make that five when you count Robi getting sent away in the first period) key players . Zubov is obviously still out , but Lehtinen , Ribeiro and Richards were all out with what is , reportedly , the flu . When you can manage to win the game despite lots of ice time given to third and fourth line players , that is a good sign . I have lots of hope for the playoffs after this outing . Let us not forget that Our Stars were also only rolling five defensemen after Robidas was tossed from the game for his hit from behind .
 On the subject of playoffs , I find it amusing that Trashville will face the Detroit Dead Things in the first round . That is somehow fitting for the Preds to have worked so hard only to be eliminated in the first round . I think it will only take four games before Trashville goes home for the summer . Any takers on a bet on that ?