A Touch of Gold Helps the Nuggets Advance

TAS Own Jeremy Kloberdanz, The Blurry Object, Wins the Bat-Spin Layup Game. (Photo Credits Drew Suppes)

Jeremy “Midas” Kloberdanz

Last night quickly became one of the greatest nights of my life. It was as if I had the touch of Midas and everything that I was involved with turned to gold.

It started early on as a fellow T.A.S. writer and I played a bit of park golf. I won’t say any names but Drew Suppes was awful at a game that he created. It was the first time that I had ever played but I became an instant natural. You see the rules are basically the same as normal golf but instead of playing at a golf course, you play at your local park and instead of a golf ball, you use a tennis ball. You then determine a hole (trash can, tree, port-a-potty, ect…) then hack away. It is a skins game so if you tie a hole, the skin gets carried over to the next hole. Well it only took 13 holes for me to win by the score of 10 to 3.

Round 2 Playoff Match-Ups

The rivalry continues.

–Alaina Scarano-Isbouts

I’m sure I’ve lost plenty of credibility after my round 1 matchups, but I’m giving round 2 a shot anyway.

Here’s a recap of my round 1 picks and who advanced:

Boston v. Montreal – Boston in 6 – actual was Boston in 4

Washington v. New York – Washington in 6 – actual was Washington in 7

NJ v. Carolina – Carolina in 7 – actual was Carolina in 7

Pittsburgh v. Philadelphia – Pittsburgh in 7 – actual was Pittsburgh in 6

San Jose v. Anaheim – San Jose in 5 – actual was Anaheim in 6

Detroit v. Columbus – Detroit in 6 – actual was Detroit in 4

Vancouver v. St. Louis – St. Louis in 6 – actual was Vancouver in 4

Chicago v. Calgary – Chicago in 6 – actual was Chicago in 6

So actually I only guessed wrong in two teams… let’s see if I can do a better job here.  This time, let’s preview the western conference first since they were decided much earlier – no series in the West went to 7.

Carolina Upsets NJ in 80 Seconds

-Alaina Scarano-Isbouts

In what was without a doubt the most incredible minute of the entire playoff season so far, the Carolina Hurricanes pulled off a huge upset to beat the New Jersey Devils in a span of less than a minute.

With less than a minute left in the game, Carolina was frantically trying to score a 3rd goal to tie it up and send it in to OT to save their season.  But thanks to all the heart in the world of Tim Gleason, who dived to pass the puck over to Joni Pitkanen, who passed to Jussi Jokinen, who was able to get a snap shot past Martin Brodeur, Carolina was ready for an OT.  Everyone was ready for OT.  Reporters were making their way to the locker rooms to do pre-OT interviews, and then it happened.

Eric Staal, still not ready to accept overtime, got his wrister right in the back of the net.  You could immediately see the tears in Staal’s eyes as it hit the entire team that they had just ended New Jersey’s season in a span of 80 seconds.

You know what this means?  This means a Washington – Pittsburgh match-up for round 2…

Washington Capitals Beat Rangers 2-1; Advance to 2nd Round

-Alaina Scarano-Isbouts

Welcome to another live blog by yours truly.  Tonight’s game is the 7th meeting between the NY Rangers and the Washington Capitals in DC.   The game hasn’t started yet but it should any minute.  All times below are Eastern time, as that is where the game is being played.  Let’s play some hockey!

9:33 – And the Caps get to feel what a game 7 victory is like after losing their game 7 in OT last year to Philly.

9:31 – Handshakes are over, and so is the Rangers’ season.  Sergei Fedorov gets the game winning goal and Lundqvist ended with 22 saves.

9:28 – And it’s over.  The Caps have won it.

9:27 – 30 seconds to go and it’s a Rangers time out.  OMG OMG OMG.

9:26 – Less than a minute to go and Avery is hurt, Lundqvist is still in net…. 45 to go…

Playoff Tacos Taste So Much Better

We haven’t been covering the most exciting thing happening in Colorado sports news lately: The Denver Nuggets. Mostly because, on a national scale, the NBA playoffs rank somewhere between swine-flu and Somali pirates. Most people after two weeks are wondering why it takes 3 months to get to the NBA finals. I am wondering who I have to snipe to get the NBA to hurry this up.

On a side note: What is the over under on referee influenced games that get the Lakers and the Cavs to the finals? My guess is that it will be somewhere around the amount of games they play to get there.

This just in. The Hornets no longer feel welcome in their own building. Lil Wayne is no longer welcome on the radio because he won’t stop pretending he can sing. Chris Paul no longer welcomes his skills on the court. The Nuggets defense clearly stated that nobody was welcome near the basket.

The historic beat-down last night generally went like this:

Nuggets Offense: May I?
Hornets D: Be my guest.
Nuggets Offense: Thank you.
Hornets Defense: You are welcome.

Hornets Offense: E..Excuse.. me? May I move around you here…?
Nuggets Defense: GET THAT WEAK SH*T OUT OF MY FACE!

Nuggets to Taco Bell: “My bad, guess you gotta slang out free tacos tomorrow… again.”
Fans to Nuggets: Thank you!
Nuggets to Fans: You’re welcome!

Going Live Again

It's all in your hands, Lundqvist... no pressure.

In the spirit of the Game 7s and how involved I have been with the Rangers-Caps series, I’ll be live blogging the game tonight.  It should be fantastic.

Just a few interesting stats for you all… the Rangers haven’t played a game 7 since their 1994 Cup championship.  NY has only played seven Game 7s in their history, and in each match up the home team has won.  Donald Brashear is out tonight (and if the Caps advance, for the next 5 games as well).  No word yet on if Avery is in, but he did look decent in Game 6 so we’ll see if Torts put the fear of God into him or not.  This game is going to depend all on Henrik Lundqvist and if he can carry the Rangers yet again.

Game starts at 7pm so be there or check it out here on TAS.  May the best team win!

Ovechkin & Co on Brink of Elimination

Can the Caps pull out a win at home on Friday to stave off elimination?

-Alaina Scarano-Isbouts

Tonight I learned that I could hold my breath for two minutes — the entire time I stood up in front of my television gripping a throw pillow against my chest.  This was also the amount of time the Rangers held off the Capitals in the most intense game finish of the series.  I think the rest of the world who was watching game 4 of the Rangers – Capitals series was doing the same thing.

Alexander Ovechkin made it clear that he would stop at nothing to win – and Sean Avery made it clear that he would stop at nothing.  Ovechkin had the sole goal for the Caps but 11 other shots on goal; Henrik Lundqvist is without a doubt the only reason that this was the Caps’ famed forward’s only goal this series.  Lundqvist stopped an astonishing 38 shots on goal and had huge contributions from his defenseman and forwards as well on the D side.  Brandon Dubinsky, playing like a veteran despite being in his 2nd year, was all over the ice all night long.  Dubinsky notched nearly 16 minutes of ice time and assisted on the first goal scored for NY.

The thing that isn’t making too much sense to me is that Dubinsky, who made huge contributions to NY’s win tonight, only played three more minutes of ice time than Sean Avery.

Vancouver Becomes 1st Team To Advance

Vancouver completed their sweep of the St. Louis Blues tonight in St. Louis.

-Alaina Scarano-Isbouts

Well TAS readers, I have to say it: I was wrong.  The upset I really had my heart into, St. Louis Blues over the Vancouver Canucks, didn’t happen.  Vancouver swept the Blues tonight in St. Louis.

What was the most depressing about this was that the fans had to wait until there was less than one minute left in the first OT before Alexandre Burrows finally beat Chris Mason.  St. Louis got off an impressive 18 shots on goal in overtime and killed a penalty before falling to the Canucks.  Vancouver had to face six minutes short handed (four of them after Ryan Kesler shed some blood on the ice during a high sticking incident) but only got 9 shots on goal during OT.  Apparently that was all they needed.

Mason made 33 incredible saves but didn’t have much defensive help; Roberto Luongo, on the other hand, saved 47 goals despite plenty of defense from his teammates.  I really didn’t see that sweep coming but unfortunately St. Louis really did get out played in every way during this heartbreaking (for Blues fans) series.

There’s still plenty of hockey to go before the 2nd round competitor for Vancouver, the 3rd seed, is determined.  But me?  I’m going to bed (finally).  I don’t know if I can watch any more hockey tonight.  That’s the third time I’ve said that tonight… see you later hockey fans!

Canes Beat NJ By .2 Seconds

-Alaina Scarano-Isbouts

I was going to call it a night, but in my “down time” from the live blog we put on the Carolina-NJ game and saw the most spectacular minute in hockey this round.  In what was definitely the most thrilling game of the night, the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New Jersey Devils in the last 0.2 seconds of the game.   Dennis Seidenberg hit Martin Brodeur with a one-timer that went right past him – and understandably so.  Jussi Jokinen was right in front him, so much in front of him that the puck bounced off his skate.

A few things here.  First of all the goal was under review because the officials, like the fans, like the players, like the coaches, all thought the game was over.  Everyone was getting ready for overtime.  But once the goal was reviewed, something else became clear: Jokinen was clearly guilty of interference in front of Brodeur, screening him and making illegal contact.

I’ve never seen Brodeur lose it like this, but it’s hard to blame him.  I’m a little biased because I picked Carolina, but all the same that was obvious illegal contact.  Brodeur argued with the officials before slamming his stick on to the ice repeatedly.  Check out the video of the goal here:

The bottom line is, bad call or not, the series is now tied at 2 to take it back to NJ.  This is definitely going to be a 7 game series — and a fantastic one at that.  Watch for the game to be a bit more physical in NJ on Thursday.

Pens Take 3-1 Series Lead, Can Advance At Home

-Alaina Scarano-Isbouts

Welcome to night two of my live-blogging marathon.  Tonight we’ll be watching Game 4 of the Pittsburgh – Philadelphia series.  Pittsburgh won the first 2 games at home and Philadelphia won game 3 at home.  Tonight should be interesting… it was a pretty dirty game over the weekend.  The game is well under way now so keep refreshing that page!

9:47 – It’s a tied game now in Carolina.  Another great game to watch right now.  I’m calling the live blog quits for now, but there’s still plenty of hockey to watch in my house tonight.  Good night hockey fans!

9:46 – Now the Pens have a chance to win the series at home on Thursday night at 5pm Mountain.  Game over for Philly.  This game may be over but change the channel to the Vancouver-St. Louis game where the Canucks try to end the Blues’ season.

9:45 – The fans have all left the Wachovia Center pretty much.  22 seconds left in the game.