While Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin get all of the media attention and fanboy love, let's not forget that Marián Hossa, a star in his own right, is doing his fair share of scoring for the Penguins in these playoffs. How does a guy with nine goals and 19 points in 14 games get so little attention?
Of course, these are the kinds of numbers that Hossa should be putting up, given his skill level and the fact that the Penguins traded the house (Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito, and Pittsburgh's 1st round choice in 2008 NHL Entry Draft) to rent the guy for a few months.
Last year, Hossa put up one of the stankiest playoff performances of all time with one lone assist in 4 invisible games. After scoring 100 points in the regular season, Hossa didn't even generate a drop of sweat as the Thrashers were swept aside like a cow in a tornado.
One thing that I have always enjoyed about the NHL Playoffs are those blue-collar plumbers and grinders that go on an incredible streak and get a little bit of limelight to themselves. Guys like Chris Kontos, Dave Lowry, and John Druce were typically third line players that got little notice through most of their careers, but earned some fame for some unexpected playoff heroics.
As a Panthers fan, back in 1996, I'll never forget Dave Lowry leading the Panthers in playoff scoring with 17 points and 10 goals. This, after scoring just 24 points during the whole season. Yowsa!
This season, Detroit's Johan "Mule" Franzen has leaped into Conn Smythe contention with 11(!) goals, three assists, and +9 in 13 games, including two hat tricks. Not bad for a guy who had just 27 goals and 38 points in 72 games during the regular season.
Even more impressive is that Franzen's 11 goals scored is a Red Wings record for one playoff year. That's quite a feat, given the Wings have had many great postseason performers, such as Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and Brendan Shanahan.
The Mule still has one or two more series to go, and just may put that team record out of reach for good.
Although it's one year too late -- and what former NHL player is going to give up a fishing trip for this? -- the Florida Panthers will celebrate their Cinderella run to the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals this weekend. Panthers alumni like John Vanbiesbrouck, Ray Sheppard and Bill Lindsay will join the majority of the players (sans schedule-conflicted Rob Niedermayer and Robert Svehla) who led Florida to the Finals in only the third year of the franchise, before being swept away by the Colorado Avalanche. There's a golf tournament, player appearances and an exhibition game at BankAtlantic Center on Saturday that will give hockey fans something they've long dreamed about: another chance to witness the majestic skating of Terry Carkner on NHL ice.
In 1995-96, they finished third in their division (41-31-10, 92 points) and fourth in the Eastern Conference in the regular season, then beat in the Bruins 4 games to 1 in a seven-game series, the Flyers 4-2 and the Penguins 4-3 before losing to the Avalanche in four games in the finals.
Right winger Scott Mellanby killed a rat in the dressing room with his stick minutes before the home opener that season, then scored two goals that night, prompting Vanbiesbrouck to declare Mellanby's feat a "Rat Trick." Throwing plastic rats on the ice after goals soon became a phenomenon.
"We accomplished some pretty lofty things with a group of guys who were considered mediocre players at the time," Lindsay said.
"Mediocre players at the time?" Has history been that kind to Johan Garpenlov and Jody Hull? Florida Panthers fans have every right to celebrate this unexpected season of meteoric success, lest they fall deeper into the depressing reality that their franchise is now known more for losing Roberto Luongo and failing to make the playoffs in the Southeast Division than plastic rodents. But for the rest of us, this weekend begs the question:
Are the Florida Panthers the most mediocre Stanley Cup finalist of the last 25 years?
It appears that the Red Wings have suffered a big blow to their chances against the Anaheim Ducks. Stalwart defenseman Mathieu Schneider apparently suffered a broken wrist in Game Five vs. the San Jose Sharks, and will not be available in the 3rd round series.
Red Wings defenseman Mathieu Schneider broke his wrist in the first period of Detroit's Game 5 victory over San Jose on Saturday in the Western Conference semifinals, knocking him out of the remainder of the playoffs.
Schneider, who scored the overtime goal in San Jose on Wednesday night that evened the series at 2, was hurt when checked by Sharks captain Patrick Marleau.
"He's a big part of our game. He's a top-four defenseman who plays a lot of minutes," Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "He's a big part of our power play, so yeah, he'll be missed."
While the Wings have good depth on the blueline, Schneider's offence (52 points in 68 games this season) will be impossible to replicate.
As my AOL colleague James Mirtle notes, the Wings were forced to use forward Mikael Samuelsson on the point during Power Plays, as well as the ancient Chris Chelios. The Wings best hope in the series was to take advantage of the man advantages the Ducks were bound to give them. Without Schneider blasting bombs from the point, it's going to be hard for the Wings to have an effective Power Play unit.
Schneider plays almost 24 minutes of night, and his time will have to be distributed to poorer defensemen such as Brett Lebda and Kyle Quincey. Given the physicality of the Ducks' forwards, the Wings will be at a real disadvantage when these two youngsters are facing some immense pressure.
This will be a good test for Detroit's superior depth on D. Who knows? Maybe they can pull it together.
The Sedins do everything together, including water aerobics, eating ice cream, buying condos, and cycling the puck in the offensive zone.
The Sedin twins are known for having some kind of psychic connection on the ice, and they have rarely ever been apart, save for penalty-killing situations.
Well, desperate times call for drastic measures, and it seems the twins will probably be split apart for Game Five:
"Obviously, they have played so well together all year long, they have been our best offensive players, but right now in the playoffs, except for maybe Game 1 and Game 7 of the Dallas series, they haven't been as good as they have been all year long," [coach] Vigneault told the Vancouver Sun. "They seem to be skating in quicksand on different nights. I know they want to do well and they want to be the go-to guys, but right now their game is not as good as it was during the season."
Not quite as good? That's quite understating it, don't ya think?
Henrik Sedin: An amazing 71 assists and 81 points in 82 regular season games compared to 2 assists and 4 points in 11 playoff games. Henrik's slap-pass on the Power Play is far too predictable and he's not having much luck connecting on his feeds. His team-worst -6, playing mostly head-to-head against opposing checking lines, is downright awful.
Daniel Sedin: Led the Canucks with 84 points in 81 games, but has just 5 in 11 playoff games. He actually leads the NHL in playoff shots (48), but has been snake-bit and also generating fairly low-quality chances. He needs to get to the front of the net more often.
The real issue is that the Sedin's can't or won't kick their game into another gear. While a guy like Trevor Linden is noticeably working harder and hitting anything that moves, the Sedins are cruising around at the same speed and intensity that they were in the regular season.
That just won't do ... so, maybe this wake-up call will do something. It has to, or the Canucks are finished.
Holmstrom, like so many NHLers, suffered an eye injury due to his utter refusal to wear a VISOR. Yes, Holmstrom could have lost vision in one eye thanks to the lack of protection in that region of his body.
Holmstrom has been out since April 22, when Calgary's Craig Conroy hit him with his stick in Detroit's series-winning victory over the Flames. The left wing had 30 goals and 22 assists during the regular season, but missed the first three games against the Sharks.
Holmstrom lost vision in the eye on the night of the incident, and his sight remained cloudy for a few days while team doctors evaluated him. He wasn't allowed to skate or work out because the doctors feared the increased blood flow could cause further damage.
"Of course I was scared," said Holmstrom, who had just one assist in six games against Calgary. "They didn't know how badly injured the eye was. They didn't want to get the blood going and hurt the eye."
Although Holmstrom had just one lone assist in the series against Calgary, his big Swedish booty causes major problems for opposing goaltenders and defenders alike.
The Wings are just 1-for-10 on the Power Play against the Sharks, and don't have anyone else nearly as effective as Holmstrom at creating havoc.
Bertuzzi? He's now a finesse forward, apparently ... Evgeni Nabokov can expect some blocked vision in the hours to come.
When the San Jose Sharks sent St. Louis a first-round draft pick (in 2007) and forwards Ville Nieminen and Jay Barriball in exchange for Bill Guerin, they wanted a veteran goal-scorer who would push them over the edge.
What did they get? A loafer that has ZERO goals, two measly assists, and a team worst -3 in 8 playoff games.
Not exactly a great return on their investment, eh?
"He brought a lot of leadership to this room," McLaren said. "He's made guys better in the locker room. There's so much we can learn from him as a person. He brings the intensity and he's been here before. I think he's our only guy here that's been here before, that's gone all the way."
Is leadership important? Yes. Is leadership worth a first round pick? Not when it comes with poor production and even worse defensive play.
If Guerin was such a leader, he might try leading by example and actually doing something productive.
As it is right now, Guerin is simply a luxury piece of furniture that just looks pretty and doesn't provide much in the way of function ... kinda like Paris Hilton.
Even Canucks coach Alain Vigneault couldn't keep a straight face Saturday when he tried his flu-bug defence in describing the implausible number of injuries which have left his blueline in tatters.
There is something very serious going around, but it's not the flu.
Kevin Bieksa - It's now believed that he is suffering an upper rib or shoulder injury, and not a real flu as was thought before.
Sami Salo - Suffered a back/tailbone injury after a slew foot from the Stars' Ladislav Nagy. Yep, he's got "the flu".
Rory Fitzpatrick - The latest victim of this mysterious 'flu', who will miss Game Three. The true cause of his injury is not quite known, but I doubt he's popping NyQuil and drinking a bucket of chicken soup right about now.
First had had Upper and Lower Body Injuries, and now we have The Flu? This is getting really quite silly. I know hockey is war and war requires subterfuge, but how much worse can these descriptions get? "Overtime Induced Fatigue"?
With their blue line ravaged, the Canucks had to call up defensively-challenged Yannick Tremblay. His unofficial nickname is The Turnstile ... This isn't good news :(
While the Ducks are nicely rested and marinated for the second round, the Canucks are banged up and sore after a long, punishing series against the Dallas Stars.
The key injuries to note:
Sami Salo - Suffered a sore tailbone after being slew-footed by Ladislav Nagy late in Game Seven, and did not return. He's being very coy about his injury status, claiming he has the 'flu', something Vancouver office managers seem to hear a lot the day after a long OT game.
Kevin Bieksa - Definitely has the flu, and isn't hiding that fact at all:
"I'm not feeling good," Bieksa admitted during a round of interviews at Vancouver International Airport. "I don't know if I will be able to play. I'm not sure. I've had some blood work done and we're just waiting to see the results. Right now, I don't know exactly what it is."
Matt Cooke - Has not skated since suffering a groin pull in Game One, and had his status changed from 'day-to-day' to 'week-to-week'. There are rumours that Cooke could be available for Game Four or Five, but the team, obviously, is being very vague about his true status. The Canucks could definitely use his hitting and physical style against the goonish Ducks.
While suffering through attrition and injuries is part of the price that has to be paid to raise the Stanley Cup, the Canucks do not have the depth of the Anaheim Ducks to suffer too many bumps and bruises without facing a significant reduction in their on-ice ability.
For Bieksa, I'm kind of glad that he's under the weather. If Bieksa isn't feeling so hyper and rambunctious, he's a lot less likely to take dumb, aggressive penalties with his stick and utilize his positioning a lot more. Perhaps Vigneault will realize Bieksa has been dreadful on the Power Play, and give some more ice-time to Brent Sopel.
There are reports of 1000s of Canucks fans checking into Vancouver area hospitals, suffering from anxiety and panic attacks after Dallas took Game Six by a 2-0 score.
This is feeling eerily similar to the 3-1 series lead the Canucks choked back to Minnesota before the lockout. It's kind of hard to win when YOU CAN'T FRICKIN' SCORE!
Just how pathetic is the Canucks offense right now?
The Swedish Twins, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, have not scored a point since Game One! Both have just two points in the series. Neither twin got a shot on goal in Game Six, which would also make it hard to score goals.
Markus Naslund, the Canucks well-compensated captain, has just a lone goal and an assist to his name. Six million bucks a season for this? Who is he, Alexei Yashin?
Brendan Morrison, once a great play-making producer, has just one lone assist. As Tony Gallagher wrote in today's Vancouver Province:"Since Game One, it appears Brendan Morrison's jersey has been filled by Alexander Semak, once described in a scouting report as 'a feeble little forward'."
The Power-less Play is now ZERO for it's last 23, and has just one goal in 28 attempts this series. For a team with this much talent, such a pathetic total is inexcusable. It's not just that the Canucks can't score, but they don't appear to be even the least bit dangerous with the man advantage. The Stars allow the Canucks to cycle on the outside, and basically wait for the Canucks to attempt one of their three predictable set plays.
Kevin Bieksa? 0 points in 6 games and 18 penalty minutes. Bieksa has spent more time in the penalty box and scowling at referees than producing any offensive chances. It's time for Vigneault to put Brent Sopel in the #1 PP slot and give Bieksa a break.
Suffice it to say, the Stars have all the momentum heading into Game Seven, and the Canucks just seem to have no confidence or drive when they have the puck. As good as Turco has been, the Canucks have been just as bad when trying to produce quality scoring chances.
While Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin get all of the media attention and fanboy love, let's not forget that Marián Hossa, a star in his own right, is doing his fair share of scoring for the Penguins in these playoffs. How does a guy with nine goals and 19 points in 14 games get so little attention?
One thing that I have always enjoyed about the NHL Playoffs are those blue-collar plumbers and grinders that go on an incredible streak and get a little bit of limelight to themselves. Guys like Chris Kontos, Dave Lowry, and John Druce were typically third line players that got little notice through most of their careers, but earned some fame for some unexpected playoff heroics. 
It appears that the Red Wings have suffered a big blow to their chances against the Anaheim Ducks. Stalwart defenseman Mathieu Schneider apparently 
The Sedins do everything together, including water aerobics, eating ice cream, buying condos, and cycling the puck in the offensive zone.
Some good news for Wings fans as Tomas Holmstrom, who has missed the first three games of the Sharks/Wings series, 
When the San Jose Sharks sent St. Louis a first-round draft pick (in 2007) and forwards Ville Nieminen and Jay Barriball in exchange for Bill Guerin, they wanted a veteran goal-scorer who would push them over the edge.
Common symptoms of The Flu include headaches, fatigue, stomach discomfort, runny noses, coughing, and loss of appetite.
While the Ducks are nicely rested and marinated for the second round, 
There are reports of 1000s of Canucks fans checking into Vancouver area hospitals, suffering from anxiety and panic attacks after Dallas took Game Six by a 2-0 score. 
