FreeHooker: I was actually going to say PIT v. NSH, but I thought that would make for one shitty SCF.

In other news, the Penguins may have an arena deal by the end of...tomorrow.

Let's hope so. This is the first sign of light in a long time.

Really? Why do you say?

I think it would be the best SCF in a while. Quite honestly, I have not been impressed with the last 5 finals, excluding the Tampa victory over the Flames, which was an excellent series. (Canucks vs. Flames was a better series :p but only the first round, and I'm biased)

The only part of last year's finals that was entertaining to me was seeing Cam Ward make some unbelieveable saves, on his way to MVP.

Nashville and Pittsburgh are both high-flyers, and both have great goaltending. To add to the drama, the NHL's poster boy (I don't mean this in a bad way) would be in his first Stanley Cup Finals at only 19 years of age, in his sophmore season. I wonder if ratings would drop a bit from the last 2 finals because of the fact that having a Canadian team in there definitely does wonders, but Canada will still tune in. Nashville and Pittsburgh both have passionate fan bases, which would help create an awesome atmosphere.

If the NHL is looking to cast a good light on their new style of play, there is nearly no better way to do it than a series like this. Quite honestly, I would even go as far as to say that this series has the potential to be epic. A lot of this does ride on Sidney Crosby and his performance, though.

By the way, I hope that Pittsburgh does get an arena deal done, I'd like nothing more than to see them stay.

It's NASHVILLE. Like Carolina, they probably have to pay their fans to come into their stadium.

It's easy to think that since Dallas was once based in Minnesota (before the Wild), but no.

All I meant is that it doesn't matter who Buffalo plays, we're due to have a crucial goal count one of these days.

Nashville may not have an overly large fan base, but the fans they do have seem to be pretty emotionally involved in hockey.

Or maybe they just want the Predators to score so they can hear more country music.

I was just referring to the infamous Brett Hull "goal" back in the 2000 cup finals.

I'm watching the Red Wings/Rangers game right now, which is the only game on tonight. I turned on the game about 7 minutes into it, and it was already 2-1 Rangers. New York then went and scored a third goal. They were outplaying the Wings in the first half of the game. In the third, the Red Wings scored a fluke goal where Lundqvist lost the puck behind the net, then got some momentum and got two more goals. It's now 4-3 Detroit with 5 minutes left.

EDIT - Rangers pulled their goalie, yet couldn't even get posession of the puck in Detroit's zone during the last minute. Ouch. Not a good finish for New York.

I didn't even see the Rangers traded for Sean Avery. Completely missed that.

Also Habs put Sergei Samsanov on waivers. I understand that though, he is useless.

Die in a fire.

Also, the Pens won't make the finals. They don't have the defense.

They have Sergei Gonchar! :sarcasm:

*laughs*

Well played, sir.

It's two days of love.

http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/5287/1582fwf9hu1.jpg

http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/4...9065oq9jp6.jpg

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/6...cot2da5kh1.jpg

Valentine's Day is still a week away, but we have here in the NHL an early celebration of amour; the top two teams in the Pacific Division play each other twice in two days. It's a rivalry that left the Ducks limping away in victory at their last meeting. This series could play a big part in the playoff seeding for both teams. Why not root for both of them?
Teemu Selanne loves the Sharks. Nobody has scored more goals, or gained more points against San Jose than him. San Jose loves to look at the standings, and see that a sweep across these two games will put them into first place in the Pacific - something that appeared much more difficult in the first half of the season.

But, most importantly, I love these games.

Something else will become apparent across these two days. Something that will be showcased even more than these two teams: their arenas.

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/2...5078ot0bm3.jpg
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/2...335efcmvc6.jpg

These two arenas share more history than you might think. They both opened in 1993, and were originally named after their city - San Jose Arena, and Anaheim arena, respectively. They came to be known by fun names pertaining to their host team. Anaheim had the Pond, and San Jose the Shark Tank - nothing boring like Joe Louis Arena, whoever that is.

Unfortunately, like siblings succumbing chicken pox at the same time, both arenas have succumbed to corporate sponsorship. The generic Honda Center and dull, if slightly witty HP Pavilion are the new names of these arenas. Even though Anaheim's was sponsored by Arrowhead water, it was still the Pond. But the dream is not over. Memories of our fine aquatic venues still remain, like so many petals on a rose, a rose, perhaps, that would be fitting to give to a sweetheart.

In the meantime, while I gather up my courage, let's all celebrate these teams, and love doing so.

Anywho Deni, I agree; the Pens could use a good stay-at-home D-man. Too bad there aren't many of them in the NHL and they're all probably under brand-new contracts anyway.

Additional Spam:
Phil Kessel is the Bruins' David Ortiz. Or Adam Vinatieri.

Additional Spam:
And the Penguins beat the tar out of the Predators, 4-1. They're tied with the Sens for 5th, and beating a team like the Predators on any given night means a lot for later in the season. 9-0-1 in their last 10.

Canucks beat the Oilers 5-2, with the Sedin twins lighting up the show. Henrick got a few assists, and Daniel got an empty net goal to record a well earned hat trick. They are now tied for first in the north western division with Calgary.

Pretty sure we're 8-0-2, after that OT loss on Saturday.

And, yeah, that game was terrific. It was so much fun being there, especially since the crowd was going crazy the entire game. When Ruutu put in that final open-netter the "Ruuuuuuuuu~" chant went on for days. Fun time.

St. Louis beat Detroit 1-0 tonight. It's the first time since Jan. 2004 the Red Wings were shut out, 175 games.

Penguins win again, move up to fourth place.

Bruins lose again, failures.

Ray Whitney scores the fastest hat trick in Hurricanes history to send the Denicalis' reeling. It was a nice game :D

Shhh...don't tell Ronz the Canes are sellers.

:katamari: :prince:

At this point they'd have to win a game to send me reeling.

Habs can't win anymore... Really dissapointing.

Sabres just won against Atlanta, Ottawa, and Calgary. Too bad they lost Gaustad for the rest of the year and now spacek for like a month.

Hasek's missed a couple games due to a hand injury, which is not good... and now the Red Wings are getting torn up by Philadelphia, of all teams. Ugh. This is not good.

The Flyers will probably pick it up at the end of the season starting now probably. It seems like every team that sucks picks it up at the end of the season.