Flight for the Cup in the West

East has been picked, and now it's time to look at the crystal ball for the West. Again, I'll be brief, since I have some suspicion that I have to return for some corrections later. Enjoy!

First round in the West. Canucks will take down the Kings, but it will take six games. They have too much firepower for LA and the goalies match evenly. Blues will carry on with their respectable regular season and shut down the Sharks in five. San Jose's inconsistency and exhaustion from the fight for the last playoff spots pave the way. Blackhawks will overpower the Coyotes in five games. These teams are quite similar, but Chicago is a bit better pretty much everywhere. Mike Smith is the best goaltender in this match up but it will not carry the team. Nashville Predators have the perfect opportunity to avenge all the losses in the hands of Detroit Red Wings. And that they will do, beating the banged up and tired Wings in straight four. Pekka Rinne will shut the door and let the four lines grind away the victories.

Second round in the West. Canucks will see their second Presidents' Trophy season end in vain too, this time in the hands of St. Louis Blues. The tight defensive system of the Blues combined with some below the expectations play by the Canucks will result in a Blues victory in six games. Predators will outlast the Blackhawks in seven games. Preds win the defensive games, Hawks will take a few guns blazing. In the end it all comes down to massive difference in goal and Rinne will carry the team to West finals.

Third round in the West. Nashville Predators has ended up with a dream team for their style of play this season. They will fight against somewhat similar style of the Blues and will emerge victorious in six games. They go for the ultimate finals in search for the Stanley Cup but also with a lot on line in regards of keeping their lineup together for the following seasons.

Playoff race - Apr 8 - Final shuffle

Okay, it's over. The regular season 2011-2012 and this series of daily updates. The last night of play was action packed. Some teams played at ease, just for fun, when they either were locked for a certain spot in the playoffs or heading for summer vacations.

A lot of moves within the playoff setup still happened last night. Ottawa Senators had another loss to end the regular season in a rough fashion. That took them down all the way to the eighth spot and booked a date in the first round with conference best New York Rangers. While Washington Capitals ended their regular season with a high note, beating the same Rangers, they earned a seventh spot and first round match up with defending cup champions Boston Bruins. I wouldn't be so sure that they actually gained here. Rangers seem to have lost some momentum and Bruins have gotten bigger and tougher in the light of playoffs. Either or, the pressure is on the top seeds anyway. Caps must be just thrilled to end up in the playoffs after a horrible season and loads of critique.

Rangers' loss combined with Vancouver Canucks' win over Edmonton returned the Presidents' Trophy to Vancouver for second year in a row. The last stretch by last seasons runner ups paints the picture for another lengthy run in the playoffs.

In the Western conference race there was Pacific division that provided the most excitement. In the end it was workmanlike Phoenix Coyotes that took the ultimate prize of division crown and third seed with home ice. Seeds seven and eight were divided between San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings in the last game between the two. It had to be done all the way in the overtime, the Sharks taking the win and a higher seed.

Playoff race - Apr 7 - Sneaky Coyotes and unknown presidents

Okay, one round to go in regular season and then the playoff more truly switches on. Friday's round had only one game, where Phoenix Coyotes took advantage of St. Louis Blues' lack of urgency and slipped over LA and San Jose to take over the Pacific division lead and third seed in the West. They have one more game, against Minnesota Wild team playing only for their pride, to wrap the season with a fantastic result and home ice advantage. Kings and Sharks can only hope for an upset by Wild and then duel for the main prize between them. Sure looks like Coyotes are going to take it in the end though.

There's more on the line for the last round. The league's best team is not yet clear, and the Presidents' Trophy is up for grabs for Rangers and Canucks. With victories for both, the trophy ends up in New York. Important message and a piece of history to be made.

There's also still room for some shuffling of the playoff first round matchups, so teams are not yet clear who they'll meet. Not much room for tactics, when almost any game's result may change the order slightly. One thing is for sure, the sighs of relief have been exhaled already, since the playoff bound teams got settled on Thursday evening. No matter who's the foe in the first round, it's always a thrill to be playing there.

Playoff race - Apr 6 - Suddenly, it's all over

Second to last round of regulation for most teams. Lots of hopefuls entering the games. And in the end, no more playoff spots to reach. It's all over in regards of making the playoffs or not. The games played the way that separated the sighs of relief from sighs of disappointment. What is left for the last round of play, are some positions within the playoff bound.

Thursday night's games ended with Buffalo Sabres, Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars all out of playoffs this season. At the same time it helped even more teams clinch the playoff spot. Kings, Sharks, Coyotes, Panthers and Capitals, to be exact.

The biggest remaining battles are for home ice. Washington could overtake Florida with a win and regulation loss respectively for Southeast crown and third seed in the East. San Jose and Los Angeles duel out the last game and winner takes a hold of the Pacific crown and third seed in the West. Phoenix Coyotes could take over both of them with four points in the remaining two games. There's St. Louis Blues in their way tonight, which makes it a tough task. Third race for home ice is between Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings. If both win their last games, it's Nashville, if they end up even in points, it's Red Wings. Despite the outcome, these two will face each others in the first round for an epic battle.

Playoff race - Mar 30 - Capitals holding on, Sharks out of water

Another night of play in the NHL and the smiles have moved to new teams' faces. Washington Capitals can breathe again, they delivered a mandatory victory after a tight game against Bostob Bruins. Now the ball is in Buffalo, where Sabres need to take points from recently struggling Pittsburgh Penguins to stay in the playoff bracket. Sabres' recent roll may put them as favorites, even though Penguins are widely considered a way better team.

In the West, Phoenix Coyotes, and their goalie Mike Smith, closed the door for the San Jose Sharks. Now Coyotes are again in the playoff mix, while Shars need to wait and see how far the playoff line slips before they play again. It's cruel, and losses like these can be extremely costly in the Pacific.

The road to finish the regular season is very different for these two teams. While Coyotes play four teams that either are already in or out of the playoffs, the Sharks play twice against two Pacific division playoff hopefuls - Stars and Kings - for the final four. And the Kings have another pair of games against lowly Edmonton Oilers while Stars need to wrestle against powerhouses from Nashville and St. Louis. All this adds up to a finale that no hockey fan should miss. The final setup of this year's postseason may well be settled on the last day of regular season.

Playoff race - Mar 26 - Capitals in, Sabres out, Coyotes in doubt

Sunday evening saw Washington Capitals retake the eighth position in the Eastern conference with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Minnesota Wild. Led by captain Alex Ovechkin's continued goal scoring streak, they jumped over idle Buffalo Sabres. This race is now looking to be between these two teams. Florida Panthers seem to have locked the Southeast crown by collecting enough points by reaching at least overtime. They now have a game in hand and three point lead. Meanwhile, the final push of newcomers Winnipeg Jets, doesn't seem to carry quite the distance. They sit six points behind the playoff spot and are simply running out of games.

The race may be decided on Tuesday evening when Capitals host the Sabres in Washington. A regulation win for either team may be the final blow. Expecting playoff hockey already.

In the West, the tension builds up for Phoenix Coyotes and their suspended captain Shane Doan. A reckless elbow, followed by couple of losses now put Coyotes in the scoreboard watching mode for a three day break they're facing. They're still seventh in the West, but have played two more games than Pacific rivals Dallas, LA and San Jose who are tied or one point behind in the standings. After games are even, Phoenix is likely out of the playoff bracket and needs extremely strong finish to climb back in. The pivotal point will be a match up against San Jose Sharks on Thursday, when the Sharks have played the two games they're due and head for the third game in four nights. The Coyotes need to be able to take advantage of fresher legs to have a chance.

Playoff race - Mar 23 - Western shuffle and suddenly slim hopes for Flames

Another round of play behind and lots of points shared at the playoff bubble. In the East, Washington Capitals had to settle for one point in loss to Philadelphia Flyers. The Caps still sit on the eighth spot and control their own destiny. However, Buffalo Sabres are charging hard and one slip could throw Capitals to the role of a challenger. Friday night the Caps have a critical game agains still hopeful Winnipeg Jets. Win for Washington would give them some breathing room and basically end Jets' run. At the same time, recently rejuvenated Sabres take on the conference leading New York Rangers. A tough game to beat for Buffalo, but who knows. Their desperation levels are at the maximum and Rangers are already easily in and a likely home ice starters anyway.

To the West then, where the race is even more thrilling. Thursday night's round shuffled the playoff chasing crowd big time. Dallas Stars had to give up the division lead after a loss to mighty Vancouver Canucks. Los Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes wrestled victories and jumped to shared lead of the Pacific. Colorado Avalanche lost a tough one to the Coyotes and now sit on the outside. At the same time San Jose Sharks found the heroic effort to beat league leaders, St. Louis Blues to sneak one step closer to the playoffs. All of the teams in the bubble still have a chance to storm into the postseason, but it will take a high winning percentage in the remaining 6-8 games.

Calgary Flames took another dent in their hopes, losing in shootout to lowly Minnesota Wild. One point salvaged, but the Flames need to win at least five out of remaining seven to make it. Their next two will be against Dallas Stars, who sit above them. Those two games will basically decide which one of these two still has a chance. Cruel, but extrtemely entertaining.

Playoff race - Mar 21 - All the action in the West

Well, some might say that Pittsburgh's thrashing of Winnipeg Jets in the East was action. Malkin collected 5 points, Crosby and Neal 4 each. Total score of 8-4 would point to action-packed game.

What I'm talking about is the action on the playoff bubble. Jets had their chance - if playing the hottest team in the league can be considered as a chance - to catch up Capitals and Sabres a bit, but fell short.

In the West then, there sure was lot up for grabs. And just as I predicted, quite a few three point totals were divided between the teams involved. Calgary and Phoenix got one each for reaching overtime and thus managed to stay somewhat close to the winners of Tuesday night. Colorado, Dallas and Los Angeles all picked up two points and now occupy all the playoff spots in the Western bubble. With seven or eight wins each in the last ten games, this sure looks like the trio that has the derermination needed to make it to the postseason. Dallas has the best of it, being a divisional leader and sitting on the third seed. For now, that is.

The only one in the mix who had nothing to take home from this was again San Jose Sharks. They have now used the quota of games in hand and sit on the tenth spot in the conference, out of the playoffs as of now. The Sharks' recent play has been terrible and if they can't come up with a gutsy finish in the likes of seven wins in the last nine, they might find themselves with an early summer vacation.

On the player front in these Western contenders there's a few names to point out. Dallas' top line of Ribeiro, Eriksson and Ryder have been absolutely on fire and contienue to carry their team towards the division crown. Kings' Anze Kopitar keeps on providing the offensive punch needed for the low scoring team, complementing season long stellar play of goalie Jonathan Quick. In the negatives, Calgary's Olli Jokinen has lost his production completely with no points in the last five games. Coincidentally, Flames' hot streak has ended with Olli's slump. Phoenix Coyotes' captain Shane Doan seems to have lost his composure. Known as a tough but fair opponent, he seems to have crossed the line to dirty. He was just recently fined for boarding and is likely looking at a suspension after reckless elbow to Dallas' Jamie Benn last night.

Playoff race - Mar 20 - Sabres and Capitals fight back, Sharks slip

Playoff race took somewhat expected course last night. Eastern teams on the brink of playoffs, Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres, both pulled off comfortable victories to keep their positions on both sides of the playoff line. Sabres are chasing the Capitals. Capitals are chasing division leader Florida Panthers. If anyone falters, they're the one out of the playoffs. Florida has some cushion in points and games in hand, so they control their own destiny. Another hopeful, Winnipeg Jets is looking for an opportunity to break through Sabres and Caps. What a race!

In the West we saw San Jose Sharks waste another opportunity for taking a stand for playoff berth. This time they suffered a disappointing loss in the hands of local nemesis, Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks are out of the playoffs, but surely can find some enegry in trying to spoil the run for dear California neighbors. The Sharks still have games in hand for overtaking Phoenix and Colorado, who currently sit on seventh and eighth in the West. With their recent inconsistent play, it doesn't seem to mean a whole lot. Tonight they have one of the most important games of the season, facing Los Angeles Kings who they are tied with on the ninth spot in the conference. A solidary three point game again? Phoenix and Dallas are also facing off tonight, so we might see the whole Pacific division reogranized once the lights go out in the end. As a cherry on top of the Western race, Colorado Avalanche fights for points tonight against Calgary Flames on a bout that has epic impact for each.

And if the Eastern race is fantastic to follow, the Western one manages to push even further. Tonight we'll see it all on the ice: blood, sweat and tears.

Playoff race - Mar 19 - Eastern stalemate and a big point in the West

Sunday night's round of pre-playoff hockey saw both Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets lose their games. These two Souheast teams are fighting for East's last playoff spot and have little room for losses like this. Capitals were crushed by significantly better and tougher team, Chicago Blackhawks where Jets fell for Carolina Hurricanes who are hanging on extremely unlikely chances to make it. Their zero pint nights open another possibility for Buffalo Sabres who have a chance to tie Capitals for eighth tonight against Tampa Bay.

In the West, Phoenix Coyotes jumped over couple of teams to take their turn for a night in the playoff bound crowd. At the same time Calgary Flames lost one point on an overtime loss against league-worst Columbus Blue Jackets. The Flames are now two points out and their lousy performance against two worst teams in the league may have cost them a lot. LA Kings are surging up, Colorado Avalanche has been strong and consistent. Phoenix and San Jose have few points and/or games in hand. With only nine games left, the Flames need to snap out of this funk and finish strong to overtake three out of these four.

All in all, the fans get their money's worth every night on both conferences. The race seems to be extremely tight and entertaining all the way to the finish line.

Playoff race - Mar 16 - Lights out for Lightning, West in deadlock

Thursday night's action was as intense as it gets at this time of the season. While most of the hockey world was concentrated on following Sidney Crosby's return, the life or death games were played elsewhere. Tampa Bay Lightning took a beating from Toronto Maple Leafs, who are already out of the playoff competition. After this the Lightning are practically out as well. Other teams in the Eastern playoff bubble are playing strong and running away. Only a miracle run of 12 straight victories to end the season could boost them up to the playoffs, but that's not going to happen.

Meanwhile in the Western conference, no one is willing to let go off their hopes on the playoffs and the heads up games between the hopefuls reach epic propotions. Last night Calgary Flames continued their strong run in the expence of falling Phoenix Coyotes. Colorado Avalanche lost one point in a shootout loss to New Jersey Devils and San Jose Sharks showed more signs of life in shootout victory over tough-as-nails Nashville Predators. Now there's four teams wihin one point and two playoff spots to share between them. Idle Los Angeles Kings can join the crowd with a victory tonight over summer vacation bound Anaheim Ducks.

And under the spotlight then? Crosby's return was successful and having him and Kris Letang back in the lineup seemed to push the red hot Penguins even higher, both in confidence and skill levels. A comfortable victory over East leading New York Rangers to rack up tenth win in a row puts Pittsburgh on top of the list of Stanley Cup favorites.

Playoff race - Mar 15 - Avs roll and Stars stutter

I was right yesterday, predicting a tight overtime game for Colorado Avalanche's visit to Buffalo. Sabres were grabbing the two points until the last second of the regulation. Then, all of a sudden they found themselves tied and eventually beaten in the shootout. The Avs took two important points to reclaim the eighth spot where the Sabres only gained one point to narrow the gap between them and Washington Capitals, who currently stand eighth in the East. Tha Avalanche has played a game or two more than their opposition on the Western bubble, but at the same time they seem more and more confident in their chances. The pressure is definitely on the rest of this bunch.

Dallas Stars managed to pull some gap between themselves and the rest of the Pacific division teams in the past weeks. Coyotes and Sharks seemed on their way down and all looked pretty promising in Dallas. Now, after just a few rounds the pack has tightened again. Dallas lost to desperate Winnipeg Jets and Phoenix managed to steal two points from Vancouver Canucks behind stellar goaltending from Mike Smith. Now the Coyotes lurk one victory behind the Stars and there's absolutely no room for losing more points. San Jose got the victory to snap their losing streak and still have two games in hand. Two more wins there and they're sandwitched between these two. Pacific crown is still up for grabs for four teams, since LA is also within strikings distance.

Honorable mention from last night goes to Eric Cole's epic high five with the referee. The lost art of on ice comedy!

Playoff race - Mar 13 - Roasted Ducks in the Wild West

Anaheim Ducks' lone bright spot last night was to see Teemu Selänne climb another notch in the career scoring list, passing fellow Finn and childhood idol, Jari Kurri. The final score in the end of the game pretty much finalized their season. Colorado took the two points and making it to overtime provided one for the Ducks. They could reach 93 points by winning all of the remaining games and miraculously slip into playoffs with that. However, their recent play doesn't give much hope for miracles. Time to polish those golf clubs.

The winner of that contest, Colorado Avalanche, is instead on a roll. They find themselves again in the top eight, but the joy may be brief considering that there's three teams behind them within two points margin and all of them have at least two games in hand. Nevertheless, Avs have played way better recently than any of the teams they're fighting against, so we might witness them taking a firmer grip on the playoff spot in the coming rounds.

San Jose Sharks managed to wrestle one victory against the young and already eliminated Edmonton Oilers. The Sharks play rejuvenated Clagary Flames today in a four-point game. Victory there would catapult them all the way to seventh spot, a loss would see Calgary overtake them. Playoff atmosphere, guaranteed. Meanwhile, Phoenix Coyotes took another loss and are actually becoming targets for the desperate bunch under the playoff line in the West.

Playoff race - Mar 7 - Power shift in the West

Tuesday night's round of games tightened the West playoff race even more. The teams right on the outside of playoff bunch, Calgary, Los Angeles and Colorado, all pulled off valuable victories. Meanwhile the last ones inside, San Jose and Phoenix took one more loss in their disappointing streaks. The Sharks have a game or two in hand, but haven't been able to produce much lately. The Coyotes hang on the playoff berth by a mere one point. Dallas has taken over the Pacific division lead and is playing strong.

Meanwhile in the East, Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils reminded the top teams Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers, by beating them respectively, that the margins between the playoff bound teams are very narrow. Sloppy approach for even part of a game will turn the tables. By no means are these teams pushovers come playoff time. Last night displayed also the playoff hopefuls, Tampa Bay and Washington, lose yet another chance to narrow the gap to the playoff bracket. They should watch some videos on the Western counterparts and pick up a pointer or two on motivation.

On a side note, it seems that Sidney Crosby has been cleared for contact, again. It remains to be seen if he stays healthy long enough to make it to actual NHL game action. But if he does, and manages to stay in the lineup through the season, I'd put the Penguins right on top of the Cup candidates' list. The impact on ice, mental push for the whole team and the extra spark in the fan section will definitely push this highly capable team even further.

Phoenix rising

Whoa. It's been a while. I did lost the initial interest in blogging due to the fact that it's pretty hard to get anyone over to read my rants with the amount of data in the Internet. However, to my delight, now that I came back I can see that at least some visitors have passed by. It seems that our friend Google has picked up this blog too and thus it actually can hit some searches on the topics.

So, the rising Phoenix is not as much the one from Arizona, but instead the blogger, yours truly. I'll try to get a grip on this writing business again and come up with some more pseudointelligent analysis at least couple of times a month. The sport of ice hockey is way too exiting to not write about.

Please comment on any of my stuff if you enjoy (hate?) it. That'll definitely boost my appetite to push further.

For anyone ending up on the page looking for some insight in the Coyotes, I'll apologize for the lame chapter following this.

Since the bright moments last season, it seems that the Coyotes have again fallen down to the company of other insignificants. Okay, Shane Doan is posting personal point streak records, goalies are sometimes able to pull the team through some wins. That still won't add up to anything than an early summer vacation. Hopefully the financials get sorted out soon and the team gets some spectator magnets to start up a whole new era of greatness for the franchise. Well, previous being in Winnipeg ages ago with one special Finn entering the career that'll end up as one of all time greats. But this season: you seriously cannot have Keith Yandle as the leading scorer at the half season mark!