Month: May 2014

Extra inning victory ends trip for the Giants

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By Jeremy Kahn

After seeing their closer do something unseen this season, the San Franicsco Giants were able to end their three-city, 10-game road trip on a high note.

Pablo Sandoval and Hector Sanchez drove in runs in the top of the 10th inning, as the Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 at Dodger Stadium.

With the victory, the Giants ended their trip through Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles with a 7-3 record and now return home for the first time since April 29 to face the Atlanta Braves and the Miami Marlins.

Hanley Ramirez sent the game into extra innings, as he hit a Sergio Romo hanging slider into the left field pavilion to tie up the game.

It was the first blown save of the season for Romo, who entered the bottom of the ninth inning 12-for-12 in save opportunities on the season.

After seeing their closer blow the save in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Giants did not waste anytime getting back on the board in the top of the 10th inning.

Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen came on in the top of the inning and promptly walked Angel Pagan, then Hunter Pence singled to center.

Jansen then unleashed a wild pitch that sent Pagan to third and Pence to second base, and it was decided to walk Buster Posey intentionally, Sandoval came to the plate.

Sandoval picked up his third hit of the afternoon in five at-bats to score Pagan and advance Pence and Posey an additional 90 feet.

Brandon Hicks struck out for the first out of the inning, and then Sanchez singled to left to score Pence from third and the bases stayed loaded.

Jansen was then replaced by J.P. Howell, but he was unable to keep the Giants at bay, as he unleashed a wild pitch with Michael Morse at the plate to score Posey with the third and final run of the inning.

Jean Machi came on to replace Romo in the bottom of the 10th inning, and was able to strike out Matt Kemp and then Andre Ethier grounded out; however the Dodgers did not go quietly.

Justin Turner walked, and then Scott Van Slyke singled to bring the tying run to the plate in the presence of Miguel Olivo.

Machi then did the unthinkable, as he threw a wild pitch that sent Turner to third and Van Slyke to second with two outs.

Olivo was unable to be the hero, as Machi struck out Olivo looking and the Giants left Los Angeles with a four and a half game lead over their rivals.

Sandoval got the Giants on the board in the top of the first inning, as he doubled in Pagan, who led off the game with a single off of Clayton Kershaw, who was making his season debut at Dodger Stadium.

Yasiel Puig tied up the game with one swing of the bat, as he planted a Tim Hudson pitch into the left field pavilion, a home run measured at 394 feet.

Hudson then gave up a double to Ramirez and then a single to Adrian Gonzalez that scored Ramirez and put the Dodgers into the lead ofr the first time on the afternoon.

That would be the score for a half-inning, as Brandon Hicks hit a two-run home run, measured at 414 feet off of Kershaw.

Sandoval came up with a huge hit in the inning, as he picked up his second hit of the game just prior to Hicks unloadig on a Kershaw pitch.

Posey gave the Giants what looked like a comfortable two-run lead, as he singled off of Chris Withrow in the top of the eighth inning to score Pagan, who walked and advanced to second on a Pence groundout.

Hudson went six innings, allowing two runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out two, as he did not fare in the decision.

Kershaw, who pitched in just his third game of the season after a stint on the disabled list, went seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, did not walk and a batter and struck out nine.

Raiders draft analysis: Oakland heavily relying on Carr being their future at quarterback

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by David Zizmor and Stefani Rebekah Black

ALAMEDA–The Oakland Raiders were one of the few teams in the NFL draft that picked the least amount of players. In the second round the Raiders picked at number four, quarterback Derek Carr out of Fresno State and if that name sounds somewhat familiar that’s because Carr is the younger brother of former number one overall pick David Carr who was with the Houston Texans and is currently a free agent.

David wasn’t able to do that much and it’s hopeful that Carr won’t suffer that same fate for his sake he’s kind of fortunate the Raiders are looking to get someone in the starting role for the future and Carr is a strong candidate for the position maybe for next year after getting some experience.

The Raiders want to give Carr a little bit of time to learn the playbook and get him acclimated to the NFL and maybe Carr will play a few snaps at the end of some games this season but it’s not likely you’ll see a whole lot of Carr outside of the preseason.

Carr is a guy out of Fresno State who is very good and has a good arm with good decision ability and because his brother is in the NFL he knows a lot of the pit falls and hopefully he can avoid them. Is he the quarterback of the future? The Raiders hope so, the abilitiy to be that quarterback is there and the Raiders have to nurture him in the best possible way.

In the third round at number 17 offensive guard Gabe Jackson from Mississippi State was selected, the Raiders are looking to fortify their offensive line, if you remember in free agency the Raiders spent a lot of money on offensive tackles on the right and left side of their lines. They added another piece to the puzzle with the drafting of Jackson.

Jackson is rated one of the best guards out of the draft this year and he’s been called a mauler by scouts and analysts by all reports he should definitely help the Raiders offense. They were really having a tough time protecting the quarterback last season and with all these additions to the offensive line hopefully the Raiders will be a little more stable.

In the fourth round at number seven the Raiders selected defenisve tackle Justin Ellis from Louisiana Tech and at number 16 defenisve back Keith McGill out of Utah. Ellis is just a wide load he reminds you a little bit of Ted Washington. Ellis is not quite as heavy as Washington and Washington might have been listed at 350 pounds but you can bet he was never less than four bills.

Ellis has got good quickness, he is going to hopefully blow up the interior of the offensive line when he comes or at least hold the run game. The Raiders are not drafting someone who sacks the quarterback all that often but Ellis is a guy who definitely is going to be a presence.

McGill is a big cornerback at 6’3 and 230 pounds, he’s very big for a corner, McGill had some off field issues but as some people say that’s just part of being with the Raiders but you have to care about the off field issues these days.

Ellis is big he can hang with a lot of recievers and he’s going to get a technique that’s going to be a little more refined but he’s a good pick for the Raiders and the secondary definitely needed some help. The rest of the Raiders picks were all in the seventh round they traded away all their fifth and sixth picks.

The seventh round picks for Oakland at number four defensive back T.J.Carrie out of Ohio and defensive end Shelby Harris selected at number 20 out of Illinois State.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

49ers draft analysis: Ward was surprise pick will get corner position; lots of corner picks

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by David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–The draft is over the 49ers first round pick Jimmie Ward who was selected at number 30 he’s listed as a safety and that was a bit of a surprise when he was picked. The more we learned about him he was not going to be a safety. Maybe three or four years down the road for Ward but for right now he’s going to be playing nickle corner, slot corner and if you watch the tape of Ward he’s a physical very capable coverage corner.

Ward can play in that tight slot and he will be very good and a good number of draft analysts who talked about this over this weekend have talked about the 49ers selections and have given it sneaky A plus grades and Ward was someone that no one was talking about and the Niners took him.

In the second round at 25th pick another good pick the 49ers selected running back Carolos Hyde out of Ohio State and no one suspected that the 49ers were going to select a running back but that’s what they did and everybody thought the 49ers were set at running back with Frank Gore, Kendall Hunter, Marcus Lattimore, LaMichael James. Anthony Dixon left via free agency this off season so they were a little bit short and there has always been questions about James.

Drafting Hyde really makes it obvious that James won’t be around much longer for the 49ers, Hyde is a big bruising back he’s one of these guys at 6’1 at 220 pounds he’s a short yardage back that the 49ers haven’t had in several years. The Niners have had trouble in short yardage situations and Hyde is coming in to address that particular weakness.

In the third round the 49ers selected offensive center Marcus Martin at number six, Martin from the Pac 12 out of USC and a lot of the analysts said this was the best center out of the entire draft and getting Martin out of the third round a lot of them say this was a steal and it doesn’t matter Martin is the guy to have.

It’s a position out of need for the 49ers Jonathan Goodwin who left the 49ers via free agency so Martin can definitely fill that void. You might see him competing with Daniel Kilgore who the Niners drafted a few years ago. Kilgore is suppose to be the starting center and Martin was the starting center for USC for several years.

The Niners in the third round selected inside linebacker Chris Borland out of Wisconsin at number 13 he’s there so the 49ers have a little breathing room for Novarro Bowman he suffered that horrific injury in that playoff game against Seattle. You can expect Novarro to be back sometime in the middle of the season.

With the kind of injury he had its no telling how long his recovery is going to take, he could be back by the middle of the season and he might not be. The 49ers don’t have a crystal ball and their protecting themselves by selecting Borland at the linebacker position.

Borland plays on instinct and he’s not super duper fast the way that Patrick Willis is, Borland has great instincts for the ball he’s always around, he’s a tackling machine he was the Big Ten defensive player of the year. We’re not sure if you’ll see Borland at starter you might see more of him on special teams.

Brandon Thomas an offensive tackle at number 36 in the third round out of Clemson he was also hurt and he was selected at the end of the third round. Thomas is not going to play for the Niners next season he’s going to be on the injured reserve list. He’s a guy with what they did for Lattimore and tackle Tank Carridine last year.

Their essentially red shirting Thomas and their picking guys who are really, really good, and would have picked guys who would have been high draft picks if they weren’t injured and their letting them recover and learn the offense at a much more reasonable pace. Thomas is a guy who’s going to be a long term solution.

In the fourth round the Niners took wide receiver Bruce Ellington out of South Carolina at number six, he’s very fast, at SC he did a lot of kick returning and a little bit of punt returning but he’s comfortable fielding punts. So the 49ers picked him more as a special teamer a guy who returns punts and kicks.

Ellington has great speed and the Niners definitely need that, they don’t have that with their current guys. Speaking of wide receiver the 49ers made a trade that might be more impacting than any of these draft picks they traded their fourth round pick next year in 2015 for Stevie Johnson from the Buffalo Bills.

Johnson is a guy who’s had over 1000 yards receiving for three out of the last four seasons and he was dinged up last year and didn’t get many reps and the Bills went and drafted Sandy Watkins with the third overall pick so they gave away Johnson to the 49ers. Johnson is a San Francisco native so this is homecoming for Johnson.

The 49ers drafted a handful of cornerbacks and the 49ers in the fourth round picked Dontae Johnson a defensive corner out of NC State at number 29. He’s probably the most prominent one, the one thing you look at with the Niners with the corners they picked they went with bigger guys and the 49ers went with bigger and more physical cornerbacks.

The rest of the 49ers selections in the fifth round at number ten defensive end Aaron Lynch was selected out of South Florida, at number 30 Keith Reaser defensive corner out Florida Atlantic University, in the sixth round at number four defensive corner Kenneth Acker out of SMU, in the seventh round at number 28 defensive tackle Kaleb Ramsey out of Boston College.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Quakes “Survive the Storm” for Second Win of 2014

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By Matthew Harrington

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — On a night when the San Jose Earthquakes turned back the clock, donning kits similar to their original NASL iterations in their first season in 1974, the best ally for the club to prove the victors turned out to be a forward ticking timer. The Earthquakes scored the first two goals then weathered an FC Dallas barrage to cling to a 2-1 lead and collect three points at Buck Shaw Stadium Saturday night.

“We survived the storm,” remarked defender Jordan Stewart.

Midfielder Cordell Cato connected on his first goal of the season for the Quakes (2-3-4) beating Dallas goalkeeper Raul Fernandez in the 25th minute. The Quakes were also beneficiaries of an opponent own goal. San Jose played down a man for more than half the game after officials sent Shea Salinas off with a red card in the 45th minute.

“That was quite a night,” said San Jose coach Mark Watson. “To use the old cliché, it was a tale of two halves. I thought in the first half we played well, got the goal and had a chance to make it two-nil. The second half was just about sticking together defending and seeing the game out.”

After receiving a perfect header from Clarence Goodson, Cato found himself on breakaway staring down only Dallas keeper Fernandez. Cato struck a low shot to the left passed Fernandez for a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute. San Jose netminder Jon Busch was awarded the second assist on the marker, his first career helper, after firing a pass up-field to Goodson.

“I saw a big body up there, I thought it was Alan (Gordon),” said Busch. “I saw a big body and I just said I’m just going to hit it down the middle to one of the big bodies and something good will happen. And something good did happen.”

San Jose honored former player, coach and general manager Johnny Moore by inducting him into the team’s Hall of Fame Saturday. It was a big night for the former wearer of number 8, but his present day counterpart nearly stole some of his thunder. On a Quakes free kick in the 73rd minute, Chris Wondolowski appeared to net the second goal of the game. The replay showed that, despite the perfect placement, Wondolowski’s left foot narrowly missed the ball. Instead, it was ruled a Dallas own goal off the boot of David Texeira for a Quakes 2-0 edge.

“To be honest, it was nice to get a bounce our way,” said Wondolowski of the own goal. “On Wednesday night (a 0-0 tie against Colorado at Buck Shaw) we didn’t get those bounces. We’ve been unlucky this season so it was nice to get a bounce.”

FC Dallas pressured San Jose throughout the night with forwards Fabian Castillo and Blas Perez combining on a number of Grade-A chances that Busch and company turned aside, including a chance in the 57th minute that crossed over the goal line but somehow managed to stay out.

“We do drills like that in training during the week,” said Busch. “You make the first save and get across the goal. I was fortunate enough that I got it quick enough and was able to make a play on the second shot that came off the post and came all the way across.”

Dallas finally broke through in the 76th minute after Michel beat Busch on a perfectly placed from just outside the penalty box. The Dallas midfielder tucked a perfect ball right into the top left corner for the sole visiting tally, his fifth of the season. Busch bounced back to hold the score and seal the win.

“I wish I could say I’m shocked,” said Wondolowski. “I see it every day. He does a great job. He’s a great goalie.”

Busch credited his teammates for playing strong in front of him.

“We needed this one badly,” said the keeper. “I can’t be prouder of the boys, they just battled through a lot of adversity. You take a red card just before halftime against a very good possession team, so you know you’re going to take wave after wave.”

With the Quakes already fighting an uphill battle, down a man with five other players booked for yellow cards, the deck appeared further stacked in Dallas’ favor when a generous six minutes of stoppage time were added at the end of play. The only major delay in the second half came when Alan Gordon went down in the 56th minute, but he quickly moved to the sideline along with the Earthquakes trainer before being subbed out in favor of J.J. Koval. Gordon told the media after the game that he doesn’t expect to miss any time and just suffered from dead legs Saturday night.

“I thought it was a long time,” said Watson. “The referee said the Alan Gordon injury was three minutes. There’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t change your mind, but I thought it was a little bit too much.”

Dallas took full advantage of the extra time, putting a salvo of shots on Busch to try to steal a point on the road. Despite a few close calls, the Quakes managed to pull out the victory for their second win this season, both coming at Buck Shaw Stadium.

“I think it shows the character this team has,” said Watson. “We’ve always had that. I thought tonight was a perfect example of that. Under extreme circumstances, all the things going on, we kept fighting and battling.”

The Quakes look to build off Saturday’s adversity laden win when they travel to Seattle to face the Sounders at the inhospitable CenturyLink Field next Saturday.

“Hopefully this gets us going,” said Busch. “We had a similar performance the other night, just couldn’t get the goal we needed. Tonight we got the two goals we needed. Hopefully we can take from this and move forward.”

The Quakes may soon be moving forward without the club’s all-time leading scorer. Chris Wondolowski may soon be joining the United States Men’s National Team for World Cup duty, including a May 27th tune-up at Candle Stick Park against Azerbaijan.

“We got a win, that was good.” Said Wondolowski. “If I am leaving, I wish I was leaving with us in first place. It is what it is. I know these guys are going to do a great job.”

Jaso? I’d say so in A’s dramatic 4-3 win over the Nats

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By Morris Phillips

Trade John Jaso? Not likely.

The A’s presumed backup behind the plate had a big night in a starting role with a home run, three hits and a blast off the right field wall with a man on in the 10th inning that propelled the A’s past the Nationals, 4-3.

The A’s won their third straight to maintain a 2 ½ game lead in the AL West over Seattle. They played in front of a sellout crowd at the O.co Coliseum and evened their record at home (9-9) after 18 dates.

With the A’s short on starting pitching and gaining confidence in catcher Derek Norris (.378 batting average in 26 appearances in 2014) rumors surfaced that the team might shop Jaso in hopes of gaining another starting-caliber pitcher.   But apparently manager Bob Melvin, a former major league catcher who most notably performed in a platoon with Bob Brenly as a Giant, sees the value in keeping both catchers. After Saturday night, Jaso’s made 19 starts to Norris’ 18 and is actually swinging the hotter bat, hitting .428 in his last nine appearances.

Just as importantly, Jaso’s comfortable in his role, providing relief for Norris and bonding with the team’s ever-changing list of starting pitchers.

Against the Nationals, Jaso provided life, homering in the third inning to cut into the Nats 3-0 lead. At that point, Washington starter Tanner Roark was having his way, methodically mowing down the A’s lineup in a start that would see him go seven plus innings and allow just two hits.

“It looked like we were pretty much a dead team: three up, three down,” Jaso recounted.

“It’s strange how a starting pitcher can get on a roll and every single ball is getting caught. He just threw strikes and let the defense work.”

If the A’s were playing dead until after Roark departed, it didn’t seem to hold much weight in this case. Washington manager Matt Williams turned to closer Rafael Soriano to open the ninth, a reliever on the biggest roll of his career with 19 consecutive saves converted and no runs allowed in his previous 25 innings.

But Jaso led off with a single on the second pitch of the at-bat. Jed Lowrie then doubled into the right field gap to cut the Nats lead to 3-2. Josh Donaldson followed with the game-tying single and Soriano’s night—and Roark’s by extention—had unraveled in just nine pitches.

In the tenth, the A’s took aim at reliever Drew Storen, the Nationals’ former closer, who allowed a leadoff single to Alberto Callaspo. Then with two outs, Jaso responded again, knocking in pinch runner Nick Punto with the game-winner on his smash off the right field wall.

Reliever Sean Doolittle pitched two scoreless innings and collected the win. Starter Sonny Gray went seven innings, allowing three runs and four hits in a rocky third inning before settling down. Gray ended up throwing 96 pitches and veering away from his fastball after the rough third inning.

The A’s won for the third time in 2014 in walk-off fashion, and look to continue their momentum against their first interleague opponent of the season on Sunday, when Scott Kazmir faces former Athletic Gio Gonzalez.

 

NBA Playoffs report: Spurs now one away from moving up;Nets give Heat run for the money

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by David Zizmor

San Antonio vs. Portland: The Spurs are the favorite going into this one and they have the level of experience over the last 15 years that Portland does not. The Trailblazers are certainly a good team and you can’t ignore them but at the same time the Blazers have very little post game experience.

Their just figuring things out and the Spurs while they have had a bit of a tough time against a very good Memphis team in the first round they have so much experience to ignore them. To watch these guys Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and Manu Ginobili they put on a clinic.

With the way the Spurs are playing it’s not even a contest, the Blazers are trying to play up to the level but they just don’t have the firepower or the experience to hang with the Spurs, the Spurs are coming off one of the most successful wins in team history and they beat the Miami Heat last year in seven games.

Oklahoma City vs. L.A.Clippers: This is one of the most entertaining series of the four right now, OKC has a slight advantage right now, OKC when they have the home court they have the better advantage. OKC doesn’t have the same kind of distractions that the Clippers do and the Thunder have been there.

You have to remember OKC was favored to make it to the finals last year until Russell Westbrook went down in the playoffs. Westbrook is one of the best players in the NBA, the loss of Westbrook last year really derailed the Thunder’s hopes.

Now they face this Clippers team which they match up against fairly well, when the Warriors played the Clippers the W’s were down and the W’s Andrew Bogut was out for the series and they lost Jermaine O’Neal in game six and the Warriors just didn’t have the front court to handle the big guys for the Clippers. OKC doesn’t have that problem they have Kendrick Perkins up front, they have Serge Ibaka those guys play defense on the front point guys.

Miami vs. Brooklyn: In Saturday’s game three the Miami Heat had such an awful third quarter and lost to Brooklyn 104-90 the Heat lead the series 2-1. Miami had an awful third quarter where they scored 14 points and they really couldn’t recover and it was just too big a deficit to make up even for LeBron James.

It’s unfortunate for the Heat they get a stinkbomb but Brooklyn is a team that has played very well, now as everyone says the old saying goes the playoff series never starts until someone wins a game on the road. Nobody has won a game on the road in this series.

At this stage if the home court advantage holds then it’s Miami’s series and Brooklyn has had a very good series. They’ve had great players with guys who are going to go to the Hall of Fame but the Nets just don’t have the stamina to go through a seven game series with Miami.

Indiana vs. Washington: Don’t count out the Wiz, they’re kind of like the Cinderella story in the post season. They’re good enough to beat Indiana especially considering how poorly the Pacers have played over the last three or four months. Indiana’s poor play in the first round against Atlanta was not a fluke.

Washington had an awful game three against Indiana losing 85-63 they lost by 20 and scored only 63 points in a really ugly contest. Washington is a decent team but their a number five for a reason and it’s because their inconsistent and sometimes their shots comes and goes. The other night it was not falling but John Wall and Bradley Beal their pretty good shooters for the Wiz.

No matter what you say there are nights that nothing works and the other night for the Wiz was one of them. Let’s be fair their offense might not be strong these days but the Pacers still have a good defense and thats part of the reason whey the Wiz struggled.

David Zizmor is covering the NBA Playoffs for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Bullpen unable to hold lead

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By Jeremy Kahn

This was a game that the San Francisco Giants could have won, but their usual stellar bullpen was unable to hold onto the lead and eventually the game.

Dee Gordon and Yasiel Puig snapped a 2-2 tie with consecutive RBI doubles in the bottom of the seventh inning, and Matt Kemp hit an opposite field home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Giants 6-2 at Dodger Stadium.

Once again, Zach Greinke was up to his dominant self, as he allowed just two runs on six hits, walking three and striking out eight in seven innings of work.

By allowing fewer than three runs or less once again, Greinke extended his streak to 20 consecutive starts, the longest streak by any pitcher in the “dead ball” era.

Greinke raised his record to 6-1 on the season, and move within three and a half games of the NL West leading Giants, who remain in first place.

After loading the bases in the first inning, Greinke was able to strike out Pablo Sandoval, as he last drove in a run on April 16 at AT&T Park against the Dodgers, a span of 20 games and 68 at-bats.

To make matters even worse for Sandoval, over his last 26 at-bats with runners in scoring position, Sandoval has just two hits.

The Giants loaded the bases in the top of the second inning with nobody out, they scored what proved to be their only runs of the game.

Hunter Pence drove in Angel Pagan with a sacrifice fly, and Brandon Hicks scored on a Buster Posey single to give them a 2-0 lead.

Cain pitch into the sixth inning, and was pulled from the game after two walks and a single to Puig in between that loaded the bases with nobody out.

Dee Gordon scored the Dodgers first run of the game on a double play off the bat of Adrian Gonzalez and then Kemp tied up the game with a single.

Cain pitched five runs, allowing two runs on three hits and walked four in his first start since coming off the disabled list earlier in the day.

This was the first start for Cain since April 23, and missed two starts due to cutting his right finger with a knife while trying to catch the knife in the clubhouse prior to a start at AT&T Park against the San Diego Padres.

Brian Wilson was able to get out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the eighth inning, as retired Pence on a popup to Drew Butera behind the plate.

Larry Leavitt on the Stanley Cup Playoffs: Rangers played for keeps to stay alive;Bruins-Habs face off for game 6 Mon

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by Larry Leavitt

Los Angeles vs. Anaheim: The Ducks are trying to get the feeling on how the Kings are defending them and trying to pick them apart. The Kings are managing the games really well so it’s not getting out of hand with too many fights and physicality. The Ducks are letting a lot of the good checks go and there have been a lot of hitting and there have been a lot of bad penalties.

The officals have been allowing these two teams to play a lot of trash hockey, both of these teams are very quick. The Ducks are resting goaltender Fredrick Andersen with a lower body injury which is the knee, the Ducks have called up goalie John Gibson from Norfolk of the AHL affiliate.

Anderson had been doing well he actually started the playoffs, as far as players go, they’ll just have to wait and see how their going to fill in the holes and you know the Ducks have been able to fill in the holes very well. All their bench players have been called up and have been asked to play and they have really stepped up which they showed in game three.

Minnesota vs. Chicago: The Wild who caught up to the Blackhawks to tie the series at 2-2 after being down 2-0. They have some superstars on the team but it’s not the team. Every player on the the Wild from the first line to the fourth line are contributing and their all playing hard.

For the most part people thought the Blackhawks were going to roll over Minnesota. This isn’t the case the Wild are a powerful team that came out to play, there was a boarding call that was supposed to be called against the Hawks but the officials didn’t call it.

It’s intresting to see how the defense plays and if a real good team is a playoff team if they play hurt they play good hurt. So that’s how good of a job that Minnesota has been doing. The Hawks Brandon Bolig who is serving a two game suspension for boarding Minnesota defenseman Keith Ballard at 2:47 in the second period of game four puts the Hawks a man short. The Hawks are very deep, they’ve been there and done that and this suspension will not hurt the team.

Montreal vs. Boston: The Boston Bruins have gone up 3-2 on Saturday night with a 4-2 win, the Canadiens said they have to come out next game on Monday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal and have to turn things around and even this series up again.

For game four the Bruins slipped a puck by the Habs goaltender Carey Price in the overtime to even the series at 2-2 but on Saturday night the Bruins won in convincing fashion with no dramatic comebacks by the Canadiens at the Fleet Center losing by two goals.

The Bruins in game five had Boston’s Reilly Smith score his fourth playoff goal in the second period on a power play at 1:04 and Jerome Iginla scored his fourth playoff goal at 1:36 and the Bruins at the end of the period took a 3-1 lead and they never looked back.

NY Rangers vs.Pittsburgh: The New York Rangers play at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night for game six with the Pittsburgh Penguins in front 3-2. The Rangers played a beautiful game in Pittsburgh for a 5-1 win in game five and the key to that game was the Rangers were up 2-0 and they picked up a goal and within 15 seconds they picked up another goal.

The Rangers put their foot on the peddle and and stayed on it, the Pens are a star studded team and their not going to be discounted here. This is one of those series that has been the most interesting, the Rangers if they can come back they come back as underdogs.

Larry Leavitt is covering the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Goalies and Go-Getters: NHL Playoffs

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By Mary Walsh

Watching the French team beat the Canadians in the World Championships was one of the most entertaining viewing experiences I have had in a while. Even though I had to keep clicking through ad popups, exposing my computer to who knows what kind of hazards, the game was riveting. Sure, it went to a shootout, after a couple of power play goals from the French kept them in the game. Goalie Cristobal Huet also kept them in the game, neutralizing the not yet ready for prime time Canadian team. But who doesn’t love to see an underdog steal one?

The French are not the only underdogs playing right now. The Montreal Canadiens, though their record hardly looks like an underdog’s, had the Boston Bruins on the ropes for a bit. I wonder how many people became Habs fans then? It isn’t that the Bruins are so easy to root against, but they won the Cup so recently, and they are reputed to be big tough guys. The Habs are supposed to be quick and light in the way they play. (Hence the utter confusion about the Douglas Murray signing.) Yet even if the Bruins are the hounds and the Canadiens the foxes, it usually takes several hounds to take down one fox. That makes us root for the fox. We know one hound could never catch a fox on his own, but it still seems unfair to gang up on the little fox like that.

The thing is, it isn’t true. Apart from Zdeno Chara, the Bruins are not bigger than average for an NHL team, and the Canadiens are not small. Even their playing styles are exaggerated– the Bruins play fast whenever possible, and the Canadiens don’t scamper around the rink without standing their ground defensively.

Neither team shows the defensive recklessness of some teams (hello Pittsburgh), though both teams get reliable goaltending. Tuuka Rask and Carey Price are both exceptional, in their prime, and playoff hardened. Neither has been surprising in a good way or a bad way. They have performed as expected: very well.

The teams were more evenly matched than advertised, but hyperbole makes it a better story.

What is not exaggerated are their respective playoff records. The Bruins won the Cup in 2011 and made it to the Finals last season. The Habs haven’t been to the Conference Finals since 2010, and they haven’t won a Cup since 1993. One of these teams is due, the other has won recently enough to remember the way clearly. The latter will not go quietly, if at all. The Bruins demonstrated as much by taking the lead in the series on Saturday.

Here in the West, Sharks fans may or may not be watching the Freeway Series between the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks. If they are watching, they may have noticed how strange it is that two teams that did so well at home have now turned into road warriors, if across town really counts as a road game. In any case, it is strange to see the Ducks cast in the underdog role, since they were so dominant in the regular season.

One of the more talked about issues is the way Bruce Boudreau has been handling the Anaheim goaltenders. He pulled Frederik Andersen twice before he had to be replaced for injury, always putting Jonas Hiller in. Hiller has played well, has experience, and probably deserved to start Saturday. But the Ducks started the season overloaded with young goaltending talent. They even traded one away to the Oilers, they had so many goalies. Now they can’t seem to find one the coach can rely on.

It doesn’t really breed confidence, to keep switching goaltenders. It also doesn’t breed confidence to have a goalie the team doesn’t trust to make all the stops he needs to make. Here is the problem with that– some teams play better defense with a backup in the net, precisely because they don’t trust him. Doesn’t it make more sense to give defense extra attention, no matter who is in goal? What if your awesome unbeatable goalie has an off night? It wouldn’t matter if you were helping him out enough.

See the Minnesota Wild and Ilya Bryzgalov for how to make it work. Bryzgalov has one of the most mercurial records in the NHL. This season alone, he had to claw his way back into the league after starting off signed to a PTO with an ECHL team. He is not stealing games for Minnesota, but they are doing pretty well for a team working on its fourth goalie in the season. In response, he is playing better behind them.

See the LA Kings and Jonathan Quick in Games 1 & 2 against Sharks for how to let it take you down. No matter how the Sharks lit him up, it took the Kings two games to figure out that their super-duper goalie was not going to win the game for them and he needed some help. Once they gave it to him all was well, but how it could take them so long to get their act together is mind-boggling.

They say that a goalie has to steal a couple of games along the road to a Stanley Cup. That may be true but it seems awfully risky to assume that your team is going to simply fall apart for a game or two along the way. Yes, if a Sharks goalie had stolen a game, or two, maybe they would still be in it. But after the way the Sharks played in Game 5, did they deserve to be?

Sometimes a team has no choice but to flip flop goalies through the playoffs. The 2010 Flyers made it as far as the Finals, changing starting goalies mid-playoffs due to injury. Michael Leighton had only been cleared to play the day before he replaced Brian Boucher, and each goaltender gave exceptional performances in turn. In the end, they were still being swapped mid-game, I suspect because neither was truly 100% healthy. Through it all, the rest of the team held it together, killed themselves on defense (Ian LaPerriere almost literally) and went further than the Sharks have ever gone.

Maybe confidence is over-rated. Maybe will is all.

Antti Niemi was a raw rookie in his first season of North American hockey when he won. He didn’t even play in the minors. The Blackhawks made due. There really is no sure-thing formula for the role goaltending plays in a Cup run. Everyone needs to pull their weight and a little more if possible. Should it matter to the Ducks whether Anderson or Hiller or Gibson is behind them? No. If the puck is behind them, they need to get it back in front of them ASAP, no matter who is perched in the paint. That’s a good rule for any team to follow.