David Puddy

Players need to bury their chances. Easier said than done, I know, but getting no goals on all the breakaways and 2-on-1s is just unacceptable. It wasn't just Lundqvist playing amazing... there were a lot of individual mistakes in key situations.

They must have a liberal definition of "follows the contour of the shoulder" if this is what he's wearing...

Also notice this year's attendance leader, Chicago, Vaunted Original Six Franchise, in the 27 slot.

At this point, it's obvious he's just being a contrarian.

I don't know if either play immediately, but if you're PDB it has to be nice knowing you don't have to put Janssen or Boulton (or Harrold!) up front, and even better knowing you now have 2 spare D-men.

Pittsburgh fans are serious fairweather fans. If the Pirates miraculously became a good team, the city would be going crazy. It's a weird thing because the excitement is contagious, but most of the fans are, to steal a line from political jargon, low information fans and just follow the herd.

It's not a dive, but Lundqvist was definitely trying to sell the call by staying down instead of scrambling to get up. It's just incidental contact, not a penalty. This is one of those situations where a goal probably would have been waved off, but no penalty.

Obvious? No, actually it's a good non-call. Lunqvist lost his balance bracing for an impact that never came. IMO the problem with the officiating is they no longer seem to be thinking about how the foul affected the flow of the game like they used to. (Did it take away a scoring chance? Did it cause a scoring chance?) It's basically, see a penalty call a penalty, which leads to this inconsistent scattershot officiating. Officiating used to be about game management, and it doesn't seem to be like that any more.

Let's turn back the clock to 2004... http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance/_/year/2004

Great post, man.

Wonder how many time Jerry Sandusky used that line...

It may not seem like much on the surface, but he's putting his own personal interests over the best interests of the state he governs.

Good! It's worked out well so far.

Representing Rachacha. You can't help but be excited for a guy who has never given up. Regardless of whether or not he plays another NHL game after this postseason he has to be proud of what he's done here. Everyone thought the only reason he even was on the L-Devils was because of his brother, and he finally got the chance to prove himself.

REVERSE JINX!!!

I'm f'ing ready!!! Give me some skates and pads and I'm ready to go! (Probably would wind up being taken off in a stretcher after my first shift, but I'M READY!!!)

Just saw a guy with a Marty Brodeur jersey in Ft Wayne, Indiana, and it got me souped up for the ECF to start!

Gotta love the NY Post...

Isn't the purpose of advanced stats more to determine a player's value rather than to predict the outcome of games?

Really enjoying this article and especially the comments.

Bryz. All he needs to do is throw that in the corner and we might be looking at game 6 right now.

This guy need to take advantage of the opportunity to talk as much sh!t as he wants to tomorrow!

Just a simple but effective tactic I've learned... next time get the usher's name and constantly repeat it. "What's your name?" "Jane." "Ok Jane, there are two drunk Flyers fans looking to start trouble down there. It's just a matter of time, Jane. They're drunk and ready to fight. I'd really appreciate it if you can keep an eye on them for me, Jane." I know it sounds corny and awkward but it makes the person feel more accountable. The other upside is if she doesn't do anything, you know her name when you complain to the Devils.

Good catch... it's obvious from .

Just watching the replays... as a goalie I'm enjoying the schadenfreude aspect of Bryz's reactions after he's been absolutely hung out to dry by his D on the Zid and Zub goals. The Zubrus goal especially... His body language says, "are you f'ing serious guys? come on..." Zid's hockey sense on his goal was unreal... I think most defensemen retreat to the blue line there, but he realized he was covered and had the opportunity to drive the net.