So how much fun has the last 48 hours or so been? Not only did we win a hockey game, but we were treated to the exciting experience of a massive fanbase seemingly losing its collective mind. What do you say we do it all over again later tonight? Sounds like a plan to me.
You’ll never guess what I’ve got for you after the jump.
Game 2 Previews
- Tonight is a Friday night, so unless you’re some kind of high-functioning alcoholic this is probably the first night of the playoffs where you can get really wasted. In case you wanted to do it via wacky drinking game, our friend at the Royal Half has you covered (edit because my reading comprehension is awful: this was written by Brigette, not by Half, sorry Brigette!). Ostensibly this also functions as his Game 2 preview, which is great because it means I can lead off my link roundup with it. Some of these (“drink every time Matt Greene loses his helmet”, “drink every time Jarret Stoll takes a stupid penalty”) sure look like an invitation for alcohol poisoning to me, but at least you’ll be unlikely to remember the game should the Canucks take it. I suppose that’s worth the trip to the hospital. [RH]
- Rudy Kelly decides to focus his Game 2 preview on a Canucks fan remark that totally set him off (and rightfully so). DID YOU KNOW: their horrible taste actually extends far beyond their choice of hockey team? [Battle of Cali]
- Sean Zandberg at Nucks Misconduct has your surprisingly tolerable enemy point-of-view. Zandberg is certainly no Vancitydan, and trust me that’s a huge compliment. [NM]
Other Kings News
- With Clifford hurt, we will get our first glimpse of the Russian wizard in quite some time tonight. Here’s a brief little snippet from Hammond with a quote from Sutter explaining why he’s chosen to go with Loktionov. I think all he really had to say was “He’s not Kevin Westgarth.” [Kings Insider]
- Mayor’s Manor has an article about everyone’s favorite veteran defenseman, Willie Mitchell. Our good friend the Mayor gets to the really hard-hitting questions, such as: what did Carter’s arrival on the team mean for your bromance with Richards? AS THE KINGS TURN. DAYS OF OUR ROYAL LIVES. ALL MY MONARCHS. (okay I’ll stop but this is fun, you should try it out!) [MM]
- Over at the Vancouver Sun, Iain Macintyre checks in with this little love letter to one Mike Richards. Yes, in case you were wondering, AV figured out that Richards vs. Kesler may not be a match-up to his liking. It only took him about 23 hours or so after every single Canucks fan first screamed it at their TVs. [VS]
- Quisp has a quick comparison of the 2010 Kings team vs. the 2012 incarnation. God, remember some of the slugs who played for this team? You could have called the 2010 “out” list “Players who will never again take a single shift in the National Hockey League” and been about 95% right. [MSS]
- Hey, did you know that apparently most people in Canada seem to know precious little about hockey? So the fine folks in the Vancouver Canucks fanbase, still freaking out over the TWEET OF DEATH, decide to reference back to a Canadian opinion poll on Canada’s most hated team. Turns out it’s not the Canucks, who are only despised by 4% of the population. That alone is enough to make you assume the other 96% are dumbasses, I know, but it gets worse. When asked for a word that most accurately describes the Canucks, here’s the most popular responses: “clean,” “exciting,” “strong”, and “admired”. Yes. CLEAN. THE VANCOUVER CANUCKS ARE CLEAN. I don’t care if the question was “what word would you use to describe the inside of Ryan Kesler’s ass?” and the person polled had recent, intimate knowledge of said area, that still shouldn’t have been their answer. [Pass it to Bulis]
- In the somewhat-related department, Darryl Sutter’s brother
got firedI’m sorry, “mutually agreed to relinquish the coaching duties of the Calgary Flames“. Darryl tries to make Brent feel better the only way he knows how: with really, really awkward quotes, of course. [Vancouver Sun]
Other NHL News
- Last night was quite the night in the playoffs, with 3 out of the 4 games going to OT (first time that’s happened in nearly 11 years). Let’s start our round-up of other NHL action in the Big Apple, where the New York Rangers largely handled the Ottawa Senators, 4-2. That score looks better than the actual game was, as the Rangers had a 4-0 lead and Ottawa scored a couple of late goals in the 3rd that meant less-than-nothing. They did have some good pressure late in the 1st into the early 2nd, but it never really looked like it was in doubt. This is probably what everyone in Vancouver assumed they were going to get out of the LA Kings. [Blueshirt Banter] [Silver Seven]
- Meanwhile, at
the Hall of Justicethe Boston Garden, the Bruins overcame an amazing performance from Capitals rookie goaltender Braden Holtby and a Caps team that finally awoke from its slumber in the 3rd & OT following a combined 7 shots through the first 2 periods to win Game 1, 1-0. Still, if Holtby can play at that level for the rest of the series, the Caps may actually have more of a chance than people gave them credit for. [Stanley Cup of Chowder] [Japers’ Rink] - In St. Louis, our frenemies in San Jose decided to take what they learned from all those years of being on the bad side of lower seed upsets and use it: they got outshot quite a bit and yet still pulled out a double-OT win. Niemi looked semi-brilliant with 40 saves while Martin Havlat had 2 huge goals to lift the Sharks to victory. [Fear the Fin] [St. Louis Game Time]
- Finally, in Phoenix the Coyotes showed everyone their top-secret gameplan for dealing with the Blackhawks (already a hot team even before they got Toews back): have too many men on the ice and somehow don’t get called, stand around and watch while Mike Smith makes 43 saves, and then win in OT. I’m sure all of that is perfectly sustainable over the course of a 7-game series, right? Right?! [Five for Howling] [Second City Hockey]
- Other games tonight, as if you could possibly care: #3 Florida Panthers vs. #6 New Jersey Devils finally gets underway (4:00 pm PST/NHL Network), #4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #5 Philadelphia Flyers (4:30 pm PST/NBC Sports Network), and #4 Nashville Predators vs. #5 Detroit Red Wings (4:30 pm PST/CNBC).
- Okay so I should probably try and leave you with some humor. How about a Boston Bruin picking a fight with a pane of glass….and losing? [Puck Daddy]
Tell me if there’s any broken links, post your own links, yadda yadda. I’m gonna go find some more Vancouver fan Twitter accounts to read. Hopefully I don’t accidentally bust a lung from laughing too hard.