Heavyweights En Masse

The last four Stanley Cup champs are still alive in the second round. If they all move on to the final four, we hockey fans are in for a treat — all of them are heavyweights looking to regain the belt. The LA Kings (2012) & Boston Bruins (2011) are both bruisingly big, grinding forces that aim to win low-scoring games by punishing opposing blueliners and squeezing the creativity out of opposition forwards. The Chicago Blackhawks (2010) and Pittsburgh Penguins (2009) are both deep and skilled, and have scoring threats up and down their lineups. We at Pucked in the Head are cheering for the latter pair to be the last two teams standing, but frankly any matchup from these four teams will make for a damned entertaining final.

More after the break.

Team Can’tada
For the fourth straight year, Team Canada has been knocked out of the IIHF World Hockey Championships before the tournament final — this time by Gabriel Landeskog, a pair of Sedins and a bunch of other Swedes. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) The knock against this tourney has long been the fact that it’s timed to coincide with the Stanley Cup playoffs, leaving many of the world’s finest players off national rosters. Would Canada have been sidelined like this if Sidney Crosby and Jarome Iginla had been in Helsinki? some say. Would Russia go home early with Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk on the roster? they ask. Who knows. Hey, Sweden is playing without Henriks Lundquist and Zetterberg. No Jon Quick or Ryan Callahan for the States, either, and they’re still alive. We’re all in the same boat, I say, so suck it up. What Canada should worry about is injuries to players like Eric Staal, who went down awkwardly and favoured his right knee before leaving the game. This sort of incident makes bringing world-class players to tournaments like the Olympics a more difficult proposition — player insurance and pro team permission become increasingly bigger issues if guys like Staal aren’t available to teams like the Carolina Hurricanes come time for training camp.

The 40-Year-Old Version
It seems almost impossible, but it’s been 40 years since the last time the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins met in the post-season. Game one of the 2013 second round goes down tonight, but it was 1973 when the Blueshirts beat the defending Stanley Cup champs in their last playoff meeting. Tukka Rask was damned good against the Leafs, but if this series comes down to a war of attrition featuring a battle between netminders, my money is on the Rangers led by Henrik Lundquist.