Avs 3, Canucks 4

This was a pretty entertaining one, as I figured it would be.

1. Bad news: Anderson injured his knee during warm-ups. Only someone from the Avs would get injured warming up. Hopefully he won't be out for too long.

2. Congrats John-Michael Liles! He now has the NHL record for consecutive games from the start of the season with an assist!

3. The Canucks were sporting some nice throwback jerseys last night:


No nameplates, keeping with tradition.

4. Mike and Peter (the Avs broadcasters) are normally pretty good, but they get all starry-eyed around the twins for some reason. Yeah, they're good, we get it.

5 Both goalies were very strong for the most part. Budaj did make one bad play, playing the puck instead of letting it be icing, which resulted in a Canucks goal.

6. Winnik continues to be an amazing addition to this team. He does it all, I swear. The Avs need all the defensive help they can get, and he's a very defensive forward, but has still managed to score 3 goals so far.

7. The Avs totally dominated the second and third periods of this game. They outshot the Canucks 16-8 in the second, and 15-5 in the third. They deserved the win, but sometimes that's just how the puck bounces.

8. Liles and Stastny both about gave me a heart attack in this game. Liles got smashed into the boards, and looked like he was favoring his shoulder. Thankfully he was O.K. and finished the game. Stastny took one hell of an elbow to the face, but he's fine too. The toughness of hockey players will never cease to amaze me, regardless of how long I've been watching the sport.

9. Nice bit of robbery by Budaj late in the third:




And that's all I've got. Pens face Tampa Bay tonight. Fleury is expected to start. Hopefully he can redeem himself with a nice save on Stamkos or something. I cringe every time Stamkos takes the ice against the Pens. He's a dangerous player, and they need to make sure he's covered. Asham will be back in the lineup tonight. No more Tangradi. :-( Oh well, Arron, show us what you can do! Go Pens!

Stanley Cup Finals, Game 4

Hawks 3, Philly 5

I'm just going to go into the key points...no need to drag this one out.

1. With Philly's defense paying so much attention to Kane and Toews, the Hawks need to keep relying on scoring depth to help them win games. I'm surprised that it took this long for Quenneville to break those two up and place them on different lines.

2. Chicago's frustration really showed in this game. They need to keep their emotions in check, and stop taking so many penalties. This is where experience in the Finals is key. The kids just need to keep calm and focus. Philly knows this, and they are doing everything possible to get under the Hawks' skin, including having Pronger steal the pucks.

3. Niemi came out strong, but as the lack of support in front of him grew he started to look more shaky.

4. The Hawks need to shoot the puck quicker. Don't try to make fancy plays, just shoot the puck and go in for the rebound.

5. This game just goes to show how important faceoff wins are. Just look at the faceoff win by Toews that resulted in the Hawks' second goal. There were many other moments in the game that were decided by faceoffs as well.

6. To be a fly on the wall of the Hawks' locker room during the second intermission...I would just love to know what was said to light a fire under their asses.

7. It all ended up being too little too late for the Hawks. If they had played the whole game the way that they played in the third period, this game would have had a much different outcome.

So there ya go. Also, on another note, the Avs have signed Peter Budaj and David Koci to one-year contracts. Budaj should be given more chances to play next season in my opinion. Not that there's anything wrong with Craig Anderson, I just think that Budaj's ability is being written off.