How the Last 13 Stanley Cup Champions Didn't Repeat, Part 4: Fan's Take (Yahoo! Contributor Network)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 12:46:00 PDT)
In the past 13 years, all 13 Stanley Cup champions fell short of raising the Cup another consecutive time. The first part of my series looked at how the champions from 1999, 2000 and 2001 failed to repeat. Part two studied how the 2002, 2003 and 2004 champions missed the chance to win again. Last week, part three explained how the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 champions were undone the next year. Finally, this series ends by exploring the way the 2010, 2011 and 2012 champions went home early.

In which Dustin Penner, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards edit their NHL narratives (Puck Daddy)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 09:00:40 PDT)
Why are the Los Angeles Kings in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final? Because the two drunk, locker room cancers helped set up a lazy fat-ass for the game-winning goal. At least that's how it would have been framed about eight months ago, when the narratives about Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Dustin Penner had defined them as players. The first two were banished from the Philadelphia Flyers, ostensibly for cap relief in the pursuit of a No. 1 goaltender (or, failing that, Ilya Bryzgalov) but mostly for a culture change in the dressing room. Penner, meanwhile, was (a) a waste of salary compared to production and (b) out of shape and (c) lazy to the point where his general manager suggested he might be better off playing for the El Cid Lounge in a men's softball league . In overtime of Game 5 in the Western Conference Final on Tuesday night, Richards won the faceoff near the defensive zone. Slava Voynov moved it up the boards, and Penner kept the puck alive in the attacking zone on the forecheck, sending a nifty backhand pass to a streaking Carter. He fired the puck off of Phoenix Coyotes goalie Mike Smith with Richards causing chaos on front of the net, helping to clear the slot for Penner to fire home the rebound over Smith's glove. With that, the Kings were headed to the Cup Final. This trio was maligned and decried for the better part of 2011-12. Yet it was this Dry Island of Misfit Toys that has the Kings four wins away from the first Stanley Cup.

Stanley Cup Playoff overtimes: Historically, when are goals most likely to be scored? (Puck Daddy)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 07:06:07 PDT)
The Los Angeles Kings did some unpredictable things, statistically speaking, en route to making the Stanley Cup Final: Like going 8-0 on the road, nearly having as many shorthanded goals (5) as power-play goals (6) and beating the top three seeds in the conference. Dustin Penner's Western Conference Final-winning goal was no exception. Pancakes scored at 17:42 of the first and only overtime, and according to the history of Stanley Cup Playoff overtime, that's an exception to the expected. Chris Winchester, a Detroit Red Wings for 35 years and a PD reader, put together a spreadsheet that looked at when goals were scored in playoff overtimes going back to expansion in 1968. From Winchester: I always had the feeling that most overtimes ended in the first 5 minutes or so of overtime.  After compiling the data for every playoff overtime game it turns out that over 40 percent of overtime games ended in the first five minutes of the extra period. I did not calculate the fact that the game may have ended in the 2nd or 3rd overtime, just the time the goal was scored during the extra period. In other words, the following chart doesn't account for in which overtime the goal was scored, but rather when in that overtime it was scored. Via Winchester, the numbers; click here for the much larger, clearer image. Again, take a gander at the full chart here . A few thoughts on this chart …

Zach Parise finally rewarded for offensive efforts as Devils knock off Rangers
(Mon, 21 May 2012 23:41:05 PDT)
New Jersey's captain had been frustrated by New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist, but broke out with a big game to tie the East final series 2-2.

What We Learned: Embarrassing LA sports media moments while covering Kings playoff run (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 06:58:22 PDT)
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. It's possibly the greatest bit of investigative journalism conducted since Woodward and Bernstein brought down Richard Nixon. This exemplary, collective effort of sleuth work is currently ongoing in Los Angeles, Calif., where an entire media market has unearthed the NHL's shocking secret: The city has a professional hockey team. Over the past week or so here at Puck Daddy, we've tried to document every startling discovery made by the intrepid Los Angeles media, like how to properly pronounce Anze Kopitar's name (it's hard because he's from Bosnia or something), the real name of this Drew Doughty character ( it's actually Brad !) and that hockey is in fact not played with a ball, but rather a little piece of rubber known as a "puck." That last one makes me pretty uncomfortable because of the word it rhymes with. ("Duck" — sorry, I just don't trust 'em; they have weird beaks). Just how villainous is this team, operating as a sort of sporting sleeper cell? They got all the way to the Western Conference Finals without one local noticing. That takes real criminal talent. And not only that, but, the NHL had the diabolical idea to hide it right under the Los Angelinos' noses, by having their home games played at the Staples Center. You know, where the Lakers play. Further, they named the team the Kings to intentionally confuse even the savviest media organization into thinking they are the NBA's Sacramento Kings. Astonishingly devious stuff. More twists and turns than the Da Vinci Code, which I've read three times just to make sure I understood it all. The best bit of this journalism on this pressing issue comes, of course, from the city's paper of record, the Los Angeles Times, winner of 44 Pulitzer Prizes since 1942, including three in 2012. It was for that towering beacon of journalistic excellence that columnist Chris Erskine successfully scruted several of the team and sport's most inscrutable mysteries . For instance, that thing I said earlier about the puck (again, yuck… oh and that's another gross word it rhymes with), I learned it from Erskine. Apparently they even freeze the thing. And that's a huge point of concern, because, "The hardest shots can reach 110 mph and tear flesh, crush bone, even kill you if you're not careful." Yikes, you guys! ( Coming Up: Rick Nash to Boston?; Tororella defends Prust; Ryan Suter faces his future; Evegni Malkin is having a pretty good season; why Lundqvist is King; why the Capitals can't win with Ovechkin; the Islanders know how to party; Canucks might keep Luongo; Ryan Miller on the CBA; Flames and Oilers coaching news; and are the Kings in trouble?)

Coyotes live to fight another day in NHL series
(Sun, 20 May 2012 20:29:21 PDT)
The Phoenix Coyotes weren't about to go quietly into the night as long as captain Shane Doan had a say in the matter.

Brandon Prust of Rangers suspended for Game 4 after elbow on Devils’ Anton Volchenkov (Puck Daddy)
(Sun, 20 May 2012 18:48:14 PDT)
New Jersey Devils Coach Pete DeBoer called Rangers forward Brandon Prust's Game 3 elbow against defenseman Anton Volchenkov "headhunting … plain and simple." New York Rangers Coach John Tortorella called Prust an "honest player" and inferred that Volchenkov sold the incident. Prust himself said "it wasn't vicious at all," while Volchenkov said it was "pretty dirty." The NHL Department of Player Safety? It determined it was worth a one-game suspension for Prust, who will miss Monday's Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final in Newark: The incident occurred at 2:31 of the second period. There was no penalty called on the play. As the video shows, Prust flailed out his arm to clip Volchenkov in the head after the Devils defenseman spun away from a check. That fact that there was no injury on the play and that Prust has no prior interaction with Brendan Shanahan and the Department of Player Safety might make a one-game suspension in the Eastern Conference final seem severe. But Shanahan and the NHL have sent a message twice about this kind of hit, with this type of result.

NHL Coyotes avoid elimination by beating Kings
(Sun, 20 May 2012 16:22:19 PDT)
Shane Doan scored twice and Mike Smith posted this third shutout of the post-season as the Phoenix Coyotes staved off elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs by beating Los Angeles 2-0 on Sunday.

All-Star Giroux headlines 5 Flyers needing surgery (The Associated Press)
(Sat, 19 May 2012 11:59:01 PDT)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) All-Star forward Claude Giroux headlines a list of five Philadelphia Flyers who needed offseason surgery.

Brandon Prust elbows Anton Volchenkov in Game 3; Shanaban worthy? (VIDEO) (Puck Daddy)
(Sat, 19 May 2012 11:38:27 PDT)
New Jersey Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov has taken quite a beating of late. In Game 5 against the Philadelphia Flyers last round  he was crunched by Zac Rinaldo, getting the wind knocked out of him . This afternoon in Game 3 against the New York Rangers, Volchenkov was on the receiving end of a Brandon Prust elbow to the back of the head: Prust was not penalized on the play and Volchenkov remained in the game. It was an unnecessary elbow. Prust didn't need to get his arm up that high on Volchenkov to finish his check. Volchenkov, for the moment, didn't suffer any apparent injury.  Raffi Torres was fined for his own unnecessary elbow to the head of Jan Hejda earlier this season. Do those two factor help make it fall from suspendable to just a fine? UPDATE : Via Andrew Gross of the Bergen Record , after the game Devils head coach Peter DeBoer called the hit "headhunting, plain and simple", while Prust defended himself: "It definitely wasn't hard," Prust said. "It wasn't my intention going into it. He kind of spun off and I didn't want him to cut in on me. It wasn't vicious at all." But asked if he thought the NHL would review the play, Prust said. "I'm sure they might. Like I said, there was no intent. I didn't even think it was that hard. I didn't even feel it. I didn't even know I did it, really." Via Wysh, Volchenkov said after the game that he wasn't feeling bad after the hit and didn't go through concussion protocol. He said it was "pretty dirty, actually, he hit me in the head." UPDATE : Prust  will have a hearing on Sunday with the Department of Player Safety. Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

Evgeni Malkin’s hat trick puts Russia in World Championships gold medal game (VIDEO) (Puck Daddy)
(Sat, 19 May 2012 08:25:56 PDT)
In a little over a month, Evgeni Malkin will be awarded the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scoring and most likely the Hart Trophy for league MVP. Bouncing back from a torn ACL and MCL last season, Malkin put up 50 goals and 109 points for the Pittsburgh Penguins this season. After their first round elimination by the Philadelphia Flyers where he scored eight points in six games, Malkin has continued his tear with Russia at the World Championships in Helsinki and Stockholm. In today's 6-2 semifinal victory over host Finland, Malkin tallied his second hat trick of the tournament as the Russians moved on to Sunday's gold medal tilt against the winner of Slovakia-Czech Republic: With the hat trick, Malkin has points in all nine games and overtook Patrick Thoresen (!) as leading scorer in the tournament with 10 goals and eight assists. Second in scoring for Russia is Alexander Popov with 11 points. The Finns won the tournament last year, but according to IIHF.com , home ice hasn't been kind host teams. The Soviet Union in 1986 was the last host side to win gold. Next year's tournament will again be hosted in Helsinki and Stockholm. Maybe the Finns and Swedes can ask to have all of their games be played away from home? Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

King leads Kings to super-meta Game 3 victory over the Coyotes (Puck Daddy)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 21:44:42 PDT)
Make it eight. No, not Canadian teams -- consecutive wins for the Los Angeles Kings, who took a 3-0 series lead over the Phoenix Coyotes in the Western Conference Finals with a 2-1 Game 3 victory. While the result was the same, Thursday night's script was slightly different, at least for the first 21 minutes. The Coyotes came out stronger in Los Angeles, outshooting the Kings 11-8 in the first period and showing that they wouldn't go easily. A minute into the second period, they finally beat Jonathan Quick, as Daymond Langkow slipped a shot through the LA netminder's pads on a partial breakaway to give the Coyotes their first lead of the series. But only 127 seconds later, the Kings answered. Dustin Brown found Anze Kopitar streaking in behind the Phoenix defence, and Kopitar made two elite plays to tie the score: first, he deftly accepted the pass by kicking it from his skate to his stick, and second, he opened up Mike Smith up with a first-class deke, slipping the puck through the five-hole. And then the Kings kept answering.

Devils win a weird one to pull even with the Rangers in Eastern Conference final
(Wed, 16 May 2012 23:04:54 PDT)
New Jersey ignored the distractions and pulled out a comeback victory to head home tied 1-1 with the top-seeded Rangers.

Devils Coach Pete DeBoer’s adjustments make difference in Game 2 win vs. Rangers (Puck Daddy)
(Wed, 16 May 2012 20:15:07 PDT)
In their Game 1 shutout, the New York Rangers didn't just defeat the New Jersey Devils — they frustrated them. They blocked shots, they clogged passing lanes, Henrik Lundqvist gobbling up pucks. Things had to change for New Jersey. "We didn't score a goal last game, so on offense, shuffling guys around has been something we've done all year," said Coach Peter DeBoer before Game 2. DeBoer shuffled his lines, changed the team's offensive tactics and the Devils evened the Eastern Conference Final with a 3-2 win at Madison Square Garden.

The 10 best Sports Illustrated Stanley Cup Playoff covers (Puck Daddy)
(Wed, 16 May 2012 07:05:06 PDT)
The National Hockey League has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated — either the main mag or on a commemorative issue — 114 times, according to the SI Vault archive. Sometimes, it was a quick mention on a cover story dedicated to Tiger Woods another sports story. Other times, hockey was given the spotlight. The Stanley Cup Playoffs have been featured around 35 times, including Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers on a striking cover from April 2012. While some weren't exactly iconic, they all had their charms. Here are the 10 best Sports Illustrated Stanley Cup Playoff covers.

NHL questions: Can the Rangers go all the way? (The Associated Press)
(Wed, 16 May 2012 00:08:55 PDT)
The NHL's conference finals opened over the weekend without some of the top teams and big stars that highlighted the regular season.

Would New York Rangers vs. Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup Final fall short of ratings blockbuster? (Puck Daddy)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 09:12:09 PDT)
At the end of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, the Peacock had something to crow about. The 8.54 million viewers who tuned in to NBC for Game 7 between the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks gave the NHL its largest U.S. television audience for any game in 38 years. The series as a whole attracted an average of 4.6 million viewers per game on NBC and the then-VERSUS network, making it "the most-watched combined network/cable Stanley Cup involving a Canadian team ever." So there's that. It's completely, utterly getting ahead of ourselves to say that the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings will meet for the Stanley Cup in 2012, despite their emphatic Game 1 wins. But the tantalizing notion that the nation's No. 1 and No. 2 markets could battle on the NHL's biggest stage has some theorizing that the ratings could set records. But Steve Lepore of Puck The Media thinks it's time we all slow our roll on that theory in a post titled "New York and Los Angeles Are Not the Key to Record NHL Ratings, Even if Everyone Keeps Telling You It Is." Lepore's take: "Those two markets are just not at the right level to bring in record ratings at this point. It had better be a great series, or else it might be diehards only until at least Game 5."

Lundqvist, Kreider lift NYR over Devils in opener (The Associated Press)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 01:20:27 PDT)
NEW YORK (AP) Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 21 shots by the New Jersey Devils that got through to him. The other 26 attempts blocked in front by his teammates were every bit as important in the New York Rangers' Eastern Conference finals opening win.