We’re into the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and what have we learned?
- Defense still wins, witness the way the Florida Panthers shut down the New York Rangers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference final series Wednesday night. The Penguins and their fans might want to take note before expecting to contend for the Stanley Cup again anytime soon.
- Out west it’s a similar story, where the depth and defensive prowess of Dallas has the Stars taking on high-flying Edmonton in the conference finals there. Dallas should advance to the Cup Finals from that series.
- The Boston Bruins coaching staff and players all should spend the offseason taking remedial math classes that they might learn to be able to count to five. The Bruins were hit with a playoff record seven penalties for too many men on the ice and in just 13 games, to boot.
- Goalie interference is the NHL’s pass interference, in that even the so-called experts can’t agree on what to call and what to let pass without penalty. In Game 1 of the Rangers-Panthers series there was yet another situation with a goal scored despite physical contact of the goalie with the opposition (no initial interference call at the time), a challenge by the Rangers, another video review and, during the lengthy delay, the announcers came to the conclusion they have no idea which way these calls will go. That apparent Florida goal was disallowed due to interference.
- Another curiosity of NHL officiating is the high-sticking call. If a player hit by the high stick can provide evidence the blow drew blood, it’s a double minor, four minutes or less of playing short-handed vs. the customary two or less. This blood can be from a slight nick. On the other hand, a player could be knocked unconscious and be suffering terminal internal bleeding on the brain. But, no external evidence of bleeding, just two minutes.
- Hockey, with the arrival of high-definition television, is a great sport to watch on TV and playoff hockey is even greater. Yet NHL ratings for the first two rounds of the playoffs, while up 9 percent from last season, are still only a modest 1.16-million average viewers. NBA playoffs ratings for two rounds are down 12 percent, but still dwarf those of hockey, averaging 4.03 million viewers. So, NHL ratings are poor, unless you compare them to CNN, the Certainly Not News network, whose primetime programming (8 to 11 p.m.) has hit a ratings low since 1991 with only 494,000 average viewers. Sure, NHL ratings are poor, but not CNN poor.
- Edmonton is the final Canada-based team alive in the Stanley Cup playoffs, looking to end a drought that extends to 1993 and Montreal for the last Cup win by a franchise from Canada. It probably won’t happen. But does it really mean that much? As the broadcasters noted often during the Edmonton-Vancouver series, the Vancouver team (based in Canada) had as many Latvians in its game lineups (two) as Canadians. There were eight American-born players performing for Vancouver.
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