Thursday, 26 April 2012

Playoff Puck Previews: Senators and Rangers, Game 7; Ditto, Panthers and Devils

Back by popular demand, here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished.

Preview: Ottawa Senators at New York Rangers, 7 p.m ET

Ryan Callahan is in and Brian Boyle is out for the first Game 7 the Rangers have played at Madison Square Garden since they won the Stanley Cup there in 1994. Will the home crowd give them a boost? (If it doesn't, considering the venue, I'd say home ice advantage is officially a crock.) Here are five keys to Game 7.

Preview: New Jersey Devils at Florida Panthers, 8:30 p.m. ET

Most would view the Panthers taking this series as an upset, but they've played well in this series, and now they have home ice advantage. If they can get a boost from that, it might be enough to get that 4th win. Also scoring more goals will help. It sounds like Jose Theodore will start for the Panthers, and he could be the difference. Meanwhile, Martin Brodeur is obviously the guy in goal for the Devils. Could this be his last stand?

Evening reading

• The mayor of St. Louis has declared Friday, April 27, 2012 to be "St. Louis Blues Day" in St. Louis. Citizens of St. Louis are encouraged to wear Blues gear throughout the community, provided your employer or teacher or whatever isn't a huge tool about it. [Blues]

• The strange story of a Canadian hockey player kicked out of Kazakhstan because of his wife's blog. [Maclean's]

• Canada has dropped to fifth in the World Hockey rankings. Fifth! [Toronto Star]

• Now that Roberto Luongo has apparently asked for a trade, everybody loves him and no one ever said a bad word about him. [The Province]

• Braden Holtby stares down Rich Peverley like a boss. [Reddit Hockey]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: Kessleysnipes points out the funniest thing about Don Cherry using the phrase 'escape goat':

This is amazing because the Don Cherry Parody on twitter used that term a couple weeks ago.

Yes it did.

Bold prediction: All 4 top seeds from the Eastern Conference are done by the end of the night.



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