If you missed the late game last night, you missed a historic comeback, a lot of awful goaltending, and Mike Keenan spending seven separate intermission/studio breaks telling you that hockey is a game of momentum.
In the early game, Chicago destroyed the Canucks (who kept Roberto Luongo in there for the first six goals and 44 minutes), and Duncan Keith got a few retaliatory whacks in on Raffi Torres on the way to a 7-2 rout. Dave Bolland returned to the lineup with a massive game that makes you wonder "if only..." [2nd City Hockey | Nucks Misconduct]
Meanwhile in L.A., it wasn't quite an inversion of the Miracle on Manchester (nothing can touch that), but the Kings led 4-0 in the second period yet lost 6-5 in OT. Their whole game fell apart in the second period, and Jonathan Quick didn't do much to bail them out, too easily giving back what Antti Niemi had conceded. [Jewels ft Crown | Fear the Fin]
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Islanders Prospects:
- After missing the first round thanks to a wrist injury March 4, Casey Cizikas is expected back for Mississauga's playoff series against the Niagara IceDogs.
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UPDATED: SNY/Point Blank with an interview with Cizikas' coach, Dave Cameron.
- Calvin De Haan's Oshawa team picks up the pieces after elimination and prepares to move on without him.
- Prospect Park talks a little about Nino Niederreiter and Kirill Kabanov being key to their teams' advancement. Before we pr*j*ct his rookie year too high, I think it's worth noting that Nino is surrounded by some serious first-round talent in Portland.
- Kabanov's Maineiacs will also face dogs. Some Yahoo love for him here.
2011 Prospects: Anarcurt FanShots the latest ISS rankings.
2001 Prospects: SNY/PointBlank interview with Michael Peca on Islanders days, why Edmonton will be good again.
Calder Talk: After Michael Grabner was announced as one of the three finalists -- which, if you're unaware, means he was one of the top three vote getters. The voting is long since done. -- NYI FYI discusses whether he has a chance. Here's Grabner's interview with Vancouver radio Team 1040. Islanders audio here.
LHH Fantasy (no, that doesn't entail my dressing up as Little Bo Peep): LHH user 54_Fighting is organizing a fantasy league for LHH regulars next season. Instructions and details and such are in his FanPost here.
More LHH: The Flashlight, Episode Two. In which the defense is discussed, and Keith and WebBard discuss their toughest times as Islanders fans, and how they got roped back in.
The NHL/NBC TV Deal: I'm a fan. They've shown enough progress with Versus, and the Comcast/NBC merger means it makes sense to take the money and hook up with a oligarch network that will treat you as its main priority rather than one of 150, where you are somewhere behind poker reruns. ESPN is still the dominant force in all things sports, but I'm not sure that's as important in our multichannel/platform age, especially for a sport that feeds niche cultists like hockey fans. Anyway, Dirk Hoag has a great breakdown of what the salary cap implications might be. Keep in mind the revenue sharing he's concerned about with the Predators doesn't apply to the Islanders, because they don't get to eat from that buffet.
Gambling: This has come up here and there, but: The Shinnecocks and Nassau County and a casino. Discuss.
Bridgeport: The Sound Tigers season by the numbers.
Updated Power Rankings
So you know how our seasonlong power rankings are based on who has done what against whom? Suppose the season continued on (well it has, with the playoffs). That means more than half of the teams are still playing, adding to their tally, which means it affects their rankings and the rankings of the dormant teams left behind.
Which means the Islanders have moved up into a dead heat with the Panthers, and Detroit has jumped a few spots while Phoenix has dropped a few (you can see the final power rankings of the regular season here, for comparison):
| W | L | OTL | Pts | Played | Win% | % Pts. per GP | PWR | ||
| 1 | Vancouver | 57 | 19 | 9 | 123 | 85 | 0.724 | 0.3886 | 2135 |
| 2 | San Jose | 49 | 26 | 9 | 107 | 84 | 0.637 | 0.3568 | 1961 |
| 3 | Washington | 50 | 24 | 11 | 111 | 85 | 0.653 | 0.3562 | 1950 |
| 4 | Detroit | 49 | 25 | 10 | 108 | 84 | 0.643 | 0.3504 | 1927 |
| 5 | Philadelphia | 48 | 24 | 12 | 108 | 84 | 0.643 | 0.3492 | 1916 |
| 6 | Pittsburgh | 50 | 26 | 8 | 108 | 84 | 0.643 | 0.3458 | 1897 |
| 7 | Tampa Bay | 47 | 26 | 11 | 105 | 84 | 0.625 | 0.3414 | 1872 |
| 8 | Nashville | 46 | 28 | 11 | 103 | 85 | 0.606 | 0.3352 | 1845 |
| 9 | Los Angeles | 47 | 30 | 7 | 101 | 84 | 0.601 | 0.3338 | 1831 |
| 10 | Anaheim | 48 | 32 | 5 | 101 | 85 | 0.594 | 0.3321 | 1823 |
| 11 | Boston | 46 | 27 | 11 | 103 | 84 | 0.613 | 0.3328 | 1820 |
| 12 | Montreal | 46 | 30 | 8 | 100 | 84 | 0.595 | 0.3311 | 1808 |
| 13 | Phoenix | 43 | 28 | 13 | 99 | 84 | 0.589 | 0.3277 | 1798 |
| 14 | Chicago | 44 | 32 | 9 | 97 | 85 | 0.571 | 0.3196 | 1756 |
| 15 | Buffalo | 44 | 30 | 10 | 98 | 84 | 0.583 | 0.3190 | 1749 |
| 16 | Dallas | 42 | 29 | 11 | 95 | 82 | 0.579 | 0.3172 | 1749 |
| 17 | NY Rangers | 45 | 34 | 6 | 96 | 85 | 0.565 | 0.3156 | 1725 |
| 18 | Calgary | 41 | 29 | 12 | 94 | 82 | 0.573 | 0.3045 | 1675 |
| 19 | St. Louis | 38 | 33 | 11 | 87 | 82 | 0.530 | 0.2953 | 1626 |
| 20 | Carolina | 40 | 31 | 11 | 91 | 82 | 0.555 | 0.2937 | 1615 |
| 21 | Minnesota | 39 | 35 | 8 | 86 | 82 | 0.524 | 0.2859 | 1567 |
| 22 | Toronto | 37 | 34 | 11 | 85 | 82 | 0.518 | 0.2832 | 1551 |
| 23 | Columbus | 34 | 35 | 13 | 81 | 82 | 0.494 | 0.2745 | 1510 |
| 24 | New Jersey | 38 | 39 | 5 | 81 | 82 | 0.494 | 0.2718 | 1491 |
| 25 | Atlanta | 34 | 36 | 12 | 80 | 82 | 0.488 | 0.2699 | 1482 |
| 26 | Florida | 30 | 40 | 12 | 72 | 82 | 0.439 | 0.2467 | 1353 |
| 27 | NY Islanders | 30 | 39 | 13 | 73 | 82 | 0.445 | 0.2469 | 1353 |
| 28 | Ottawa | 32 | 40 | 10 | 74 | 82 | 0.451 | 0.2429 | 1337 |
| 29 | Colorado | 30 | 44 | 8 | 68 | 82 | 0.415 | 0.2270 | 1249 |
| 30 | Edmonton | 25 | 45 | 12 | 62 | 82 | 0.378 | 0.2061 | 1134 |
Mike (ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles) will keep updating this as the playoffs carry on. The playoff Rangers are still below the playoff-less Stars. Look for more changes as more games are completed.