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NHL Playoff Observations -- Saturday Night

Just a few things that caught my eye:

  • Pavel Datsyuk's performance was the best individual playoff performance since Mark Messier's hat trick that fulfilled his "guarantee" in 1994. 
  • Boston has lost six straight playoff games. And 85 percent of teams that go down 2-0 in a series lose that series. So... does Claude Julien become the coach in Florida, Ottawa or New Jersey? There's always Minny.
  • Everyone was ga-ga over Jack Johnson's breakout offensive season. But under those gaudy 42 points was a minus-21 rating. He may be a top-three overall pick but he's no Drew Doughty.
  • Johan Franzen now has a face that only a mother could love -- 23 stitches, an ugly Band-Aid and a cotton dental roll rammed up his nostril. Thank gawd all of the hockey card photo shoots are long over.
  • After it looked like no one would score after Game 1 of the Philly-Buffalo series, everyone did in Game 2. Yikes.
  • I have to say this -- mouth guards are supposed to be in the mouth, not chewed like a soother. Yuck.
  • How distracting is James' Wisniewski's white stick? It's almost impossible to judge the release on his shot. Maybe that's why Tim Thomas allowed that tasty rebound to Mike Cammalleri in the first minute...
  • Ilya Bryzgalov clearly wanted out of the Desert Dawgs' net when they were down 4-1. And I don't just mean out of the game. He's done in the desert. 
  • Will Kyle Turris ever be the player the 'Yotes thought they were getting when they drafted him?
  • Welcome to the AHL, Sergei Bobrovsky. I knew this day would come. He may never be back this postseason. Why is it that Philly eats its goalies?
  • I'm so tired of the standard cliches that come out of the mouths of today's hockey players. But how's this for stating the obvious? It comes courtesy of Chicago's Marian Hossa: "We have to win the third game. Otherwise it's not going to be good." No -- really? 
  • So who slipped the catnip tea into the Sharks' water bottles? They slept through the first two periods. 
  • Will Ed Jovanovski ever catch a break? Other than a broken bone, that is.
  • Dehydration. That's just code for running at both ends. 
  • What exactly was Bobby Ryan thinking? I'm still trying to figure out if he was attempting a ball-of-foot-rear-grind karate kick or kick-starting his imaginary dirt bike.