Cornwall ON – When I worked for the Montreal Canadiens in the 95-96 season it was an exciting time. I created a video tracking system similar to what Bill James, the baseball guru did for Baseball as well as a statistical filter that was highly useful in play analysis; especially for trades and acquisitions.
The Habs were facing the defending Stanley Cup champs, the NY Rangers with one of my all time faves, Mark Messier leading them.
We beat the Rangers the first two games. Lord Stanley awaited. The Rangers adjusted and took the next four games. It broke my heart crunching the video game after game, reporting the Rangers adjustments and watching the team struggle to adjust and ultimately lose.
Deja vu or what? Last night Montreal lost a heart breaking double over time loss to the Bruins, 2-1 in Boston. Nathan Horton scored the winner and Boston out shot Montreal 51-45. Montreal’s big line was -2 each with Andrei Kostitsyn having only 2 shots on net in nearly 30 minutes of ice time.
Those same Rangers were eliminated by the Washington Capitals last night 3-1 in Washington. The Lightning didn’t want to go golfing quite yet as they chased Marc Andre Fleury from the net and whupped the Penguins 8-2.
San Jose threw everything they had at the Kings, but Jonathan Quick and the Los Angeles Kings came away with a 3-1 victory in spite of being out shot 52-22! 2009 2 round draft pick Kyle Clifford a goal and assist in the victory. Patrick Marleau had 9 shots on goal for the Sharks.
Roberto Luongo has the game of his career coming up today as he’s been pulled the last two allowing Chicago to get back into the series. Vancouver is up 3 games to 2 and Mr. Luongo needs to shake his Joe Thornton like play rep.
Buffalo and Nashville are on the edge of upsetting their opponents.
What do you think Hockey fans? You can post your comments below.
