BlazBlue Online Matches

Should've posted this earlier, but if you want to see some mid-level Rachel/V-13/Noel play, my online matches (mostly ranked) are being recorded (ghetto as it may be, via camera) and uploaded on to YouTube.

My channel can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MuchitsujoRyu

Here's a sample:

Sharks End Rangers' 7-Game Win Streak; Defeat New York 7-3

The New York Rangers continued their homestand against the San Jose Sharks in the middle of their best start since the 1983-1984 season, winning 7 in a row to start the season off 7-1-0. The Sharks came in in the middle of their longest road trip of the season with a big problem: they had only scored the first goal of the game in 1 of their first 7 games of the season. But what looked like the beginning of a blowout for the Rangers quickly turned the other way around, as San Jose scored 6 unanswered goals to rally from a 2 goal deficit and defeat New York 7-3.

In the first 10 minutes of the game, New York outshot San Jose 7-1. It was also no surprise that they scored the first two goals of the game. After a Joe Thornton turnover from the neutral zone in an attempted pass back to his defenseman, Sean Avery intercepted and set up a Marc Staal shot that was deflected by Chris Drury in front to give New York the 1-0 lead. A little over a minute later, the Rangers had their first power play of the game and capitalized, as Michael Del Zotto pinched in from the point to slap home a rebound from the top of the left circle to make it a 2-0 lead. Then, the San Jose Sharks woke up.
Brad Staubitz created a turnover off the boards and skated into the Rangers' zone alone, and hammered a hard shot from the top of the faceoff circle to beat Stephen Valiquette below the glove to bring the Sharks back within 1. Then, with 15 seconds left on the power play, Dany Heatley powered through 2 defenders, kicked the puck back to his stick, and backhanded it over the shoulder of Valiquette to tie the game 2-2 at the end of the first.
The former New York Ranger Jed Ortemeyer continued the scoring early in the second period, as he crashed the net and shoved home a loose puck 1:19 into the second frame. The effectiveness of the strategy employed by the San Jose third line seemed to wake up the regular scorers of San Jose, as on the ensuing power play, Devin Setoguchi found a loose puck in front of the crease and was rewarded for crashing the net with his 6th goal of the season to make it a 4-2 lead. Although the Sharks did not score on 2 other power plays in the period, it helped them sustain the offensive momentum, and with a little over 2 minutes to go in the period, Patrick Marleau won a battle in the neutral zone to create a 2 on 1, and fed Devin Setoguchi for his second goal of the game to extend the lead to a 3 goal margin.
Valiquette was pulled in the intermission, and Henrik Lundqvist played for the final 20 minutes. But a goal was generated on the first shot he faced, as Heatley shot the puck hard off Lundqvist, who lost sight of the puck, and a crashing Ryan Vesce barely nudged the puck inside of the left post to make it 6 straight for the Sharks. With 3 minutes left, the Rangers tried to save face, as an Avery pass off the boards bounced right into the left faceoff circle, where Enver Lisin hammered a slap shot between Evgeni Nabokov's pads to make it 6-3. But a minute later, Jason Demers had a give and go with Marleau, and the ex-captain of the Sharks cleanly beat Lundqvist from the top of the goalie crease to end the onslaught at 7-3.

San Jose continued their streak of power play goals allowed, as the Rangers converted on 1 of 3 attempts. The Sharks converted 2 of 7, with the final power play in the last minute of the period with the fourth line on for the entirety of it. Before this game, the Rangers had not allowed more than 3 goals in any of their games played in the young season. Vesce, who grew up a Ranger fan and netted his first NHL goal against the Islanders 2 days ago, scored a goal against his favorite team in front of his family and friends. The Sharks dominated the faceoff circle, winning 33 of 53 draws. Valiquette ended the night with 13 saves on 18 shots, while Lundqvist fared a little better, stopping 10 of 12. Marian Gaborik was held scoreless for the first time this season, ending the night with a -1 rating, 3 shots on goal, and 2 penalty minutes. San Jose will play the 4th of their 6 game road trip at Tampa Bay on Thursday.

Sharks Defeat Islanders 4-1

The San Jose Sharks entered New York on a 2 game losing streak, with sloppy defense and minimal offense. In the first period, it looked like more of the same, but San Jose rebounded in between the first intermission and came back to score 4 unanswered goals to win against the Islanders.

The first period was all New York's. The Islanders put 19 shots on goal, and held the Sharks to just 8. They also had the only power play of the period and capitalized, as Matt Moulson deflected a Kyle Okposo shot from the slot to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. It could have easily been much more, but Evgeni Nabokov played extremely well, and, in some cases, looked like a one man team on the ice.
The Sharks, who looked like they weren't even trying, rewarded Nabokov's efforts in the next 40 minutes. San Jose got their first power play of the night, and Patrick Marleau shot a no-look backhander over the glove of Martin Biron to tie the game 1-1. With under 4 minutes left in the second period, Joe Thornton caused a turnover behind the Islander's net, and fed Ryan Vesce in front to give the young skater his first NHL goal. The Islanders had a power play in the final 2 minutes of the period, but as time expired, the Sharks tried to convert a shorthanded opportunity into a scoring chance, and as a result the Islanders gave San Jose a power play to start the third period. The Sharks took full advantage, as Joe Thornton shot a puck from the high slot past a 2 man screen set up by San Jose to increase the lead to 3-1 in the first 40 seconds. San Jose kept the offense up, and eventually Devin Setoguchi secured the win with a nice move from the corner boards, skating past 2 defenders before lifting the puck over the shoulder of Biron, ending the scoring at 4-1.

After being outshot 19-8 in the first period, the Sharks held the Islanders to 13 shots in the 2nd and 3rd period combined. The Islanders ended the night outshooting the Sharks 32-29, although they also had 22 blocked shots. Ryane Clowe and Tim Jackman had a late fight with under 4 minutes left in the game, and the game became very physical in the dying minutes but nothing came out of it. Clowe also got his first point of the season, assisting on Setoguchi's late goal. Joe Thornton passed 400 points as a Shark on his second assist, ending the night with 401. Nabokov played his 500th NHL game, all with the San Jose Sharks. With the Islander's first power play goal, the Sharks have allowed power play goals in 7 out of their first 8 games of the season. But they also improved on a recently stale power play, converting 2 of 3, with the only power play unconverted coming in the final minutes of the third period when they already had a 3 goal lead. San Jose's next game will be Saturday night against the New York Rangers.

Coyotes Defeat Sharks 1-0 in Shootout

It took a lot less time than last year's President's Trophy winning season, but the Sharks got their first home loss, but still received a standings point for it, as the Phoenix Coyotes played solid defense all night long and won it in a shootout, scoring twice to San Jose's one to win it 1-0.

The first period was filled with fast-paced, open-ended action. San Jose dominated early, and got the first power play attempt of the game, but a minute into the man advantage, Dan Boyle took a slashing penalty which negated the power play. From then on, Phoenix seemed to dominate the Sharks offensively, not allowing any good shots on goal and keeping the puck mostly in the San Jose end of the ice. Phoenix ended up holding San Jose to just 5 shots in the second period, outshooting them 11 to 5. They also had 2 power play attempts in the period, with one carrying over to the third. But the story for the Sharks was the penalty kill, as they killed off all 4 penalties in the game with ease. However, they failed to capitalize on any of the 3 power plays they received, although 2 of them were not for a full 2 minutes because of penalties of their own. The key of the game was the match-up of Adrian Aucoin against the San Jose top line, primarily one on one with Dany Heatley. Dave Tippett made sure Aucoin was on the ice every second Heatley was on, and the Coyotes did not even allow a shot for Heatley until midway through the third period. Given the lack of scoring in the game, the overtime period was probably the most exciting for fans, as it displayed teams taking one or two shots on goal before the other team would race down the end for a scoring chance of their own. There was only one whistle in the entire overtime as teams skated freely from end to end. But ultimately, both goalies did not allow a goal, as Nabokov made 30 saves and Bryzgalov made 26 brilliant saves of his own.
In the shootout, Dany Heatley opened things up for the Sharks. He tried to fake a high shot to open up Bryzgalov's pads, but the moment he shot it the Phoenix goaltender dropped down to make a save. Radim Vrbata shot first for the Coyotes, and tried to make a backhand deke but missed the net. Devin Setoguchi shot second for the Sharks, and simply tried to rifle a wrist shot past the right side of Bryzgalov, but also missed the net entirely. Peter Mueller went after and scored the first shootout goal, sliding the puck just past Nabokov's left skate and inside the post. Dan Boyle had to score to keep the shootout alive, and he did just that, faking a forehand before avoiding Bryzgalov's poke check and flipping a backhander in to tie it at 1-1. But Lauri Korpikoski had a chance to win it for the Coyotes with his first career shootout attempt, and beat Nabokov cleanly, making one move to the glove side before shooting it past Nabokov's blocker for the win.

In 6 regulation periods and an overtime, the Coyotes have yet to score a goal. San Jose ends their home stand coming out 2-0-1 after they went 1-2-0 on the road trip that opened up their season. Both goaltenders got a shutout in the game. Bryzgalov recorded his second of the season while this was a first of the season for Nabokov. San Jose dominated the faceoff circle, winning 35 draws to Phoenix's 19, but were outshot 30-26. San Jose's next game will be the start of a road trip in Washington against the Capitals Thursday night.

Sharks Defeat Wild 4-2

After a shaky opening to the season, Evgeni Nabokov looked like the goaltender who carried the old San Jose Sharks in the playoffs, stopping 38 of 40 shots, including several attempts on a 5 on 3 penalty kill, to ruin Todd Richard's homecoming back to San Jose.

Minnesota got off to a fast start, scoring the first 2 goals of the game. They limited the high-powered San Jose offense to 7 shots in the first period and scored the only goal of the period, as Andrew Brunette deflected a Shane Hnidy shot from the sidewall to give the Wild the 1-0 lead.
Things didn't seem to get better for San Jose, who took 6 penalties to Minnesota's 1 in the first 30 minutes of the game, with their 4th penalty negating a potential power play attempt. Minnesota had a 5 on 3 power play early in the second period, but several sensational stops by Nabokov from point blank robbed the Wild of a quick goal. However, the Wild finally capitalized on their 5th extra man opportunity, as Owen Nolan floated a soft shot that sunk at a weird angle over Nabokov's shoulder to give the Wild a 2 goal lead. But 2 minutes later, Jed Ortemeyer scored his first goal as a Shark, as he just shot a puck hard from the right faceoff circle to beat Niklas Backstrom and cut the lead in half. Then after the Sharks killed another penalty, Patrick Marleau wristed a shot that deflected off a Minnesota defender. Backstrom was not prepared for the deflection, and although he stopped the shot with his shoulder, he let a big rebound straight back to Marleau, who flipped the shot over the sprawling Backstrom to tie the game 2-2. Then on their 3rd power play opportunity late in the 2nd period, Dany Heatley took a pass from Dan Boyle in tight space, and managed to beat a screened Backstrom by sliding a puck just beyond his extended pad to give the Sharks the 3-2 lead.
The opening for the 3rd period was the worst Minnesota could possibly have had. San Jose won the faceoff, and Dan Boyle made a simple pass to Patrick Marleau, who simply skated past 3 Minnesota defenders for an easy breakaway goal against Backstrom to give San Jose the 4-2 victory. Minnesota outshot San Jose by double in the final period, but Nabokov simply did not allow a shot to get through against an offensively revamped Minnesota team.

Patrick Marleau led the Sharks with 2 goals and 1 assist. Several Minnesota Wild skaters were injured in the game, as the Sharks out-hit the Wild by double digits. Minnesota was second in the league in power play conversion percentage going into the game, but only went 1 for 8 against San Jose. The Sharks were not much better, converting only 1 for 5, including shortening 2 attempts by taking penalties of their own. San Jose went above a .500 record for the first time this season, with a 3-2-0 record. They finish their 3 game home-stand on Monday against the Phoenix Coyotes.

Heatley Hat Trick Propels Sharks to Win 6-3 Over Blue Jackets

In the season home opener, the crowd in San Jose were excited to see one of the biggest off-season acquisitions in the NHL in Dany Heatley. Heatley did not disappoint, as he scored 3 goals, including the game winner in the dying seconds of the second period, as the San Jose Sharks won their home opener against the previously undefeated Columbus Blue Jackets.

The first period displayed a lot of open ice offensively, but only one goal was scored. A failed clear attempt in the San Jose zone led to a blast from the point. The puck reached Nabokov and a crowd in front of him, but eventually trickled out to the top of the crease, where Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash skated across the blue paint to stuff it into the open net to give Columbus the 1-0 lead.
The second period was a much different story. San Jose outscored Columbus 4 to 1 in the period, which started with Dan Boyle skating the puck into the offensive zone by himself, and wristing a perfect shot over the far shoulder of Calder Trophy winner Steve Mason to tie the game 1-1. 3 minutes later, Dany Heatley found himself 1 on 1 in the left faceoff circle, and took a quick shot above the pads of Mason to give San Jose the 2-1 lead. But Jason Chimera tied the game again, after he took a hard slap shot from the top of the faceoff circle to beat Evgeni Nabokov from long distance. But late in the second, the Sharks struck again. With under 2 minutes left, San Jose cycled the puck around the offensive zone, before Marc-Edouard Vlasic found himself along the sidewall. He took a quick shot, and it traveled through 3 bodies and hit the far side of the net to give San Jose the 3-2 lead. Then, with 12 seconds left in the period, Dany Heatley took a long pass from Joe Thornton across the neutral zone, split the Columbus defense, and made a quick right to left move to beat an unbalanced Steve Mason to give San Jose a 4-2 lead into the third.
San Jose came out to add some more insurance early in the third. Devin Setoguchi had a nice give-and-go play with Joe Thornton parked behind the Columbus net, and was able to free himself for a one-timer a few feet in front of Mason to extend the lead 5-2. Mason was pulled and Mathieu Garon made his first appearance on ice as a Columbus Blue Jacket this season. San Jose took a penalty, and a few seconds into the 4th power play attempt of the night, the Blue Jackets' Raffi Torres took a high slap shot that looked as if it was going to sail over the net. But as it went over Nabokov's head, it hit Dan Boyle's head and was redirected into the net, and the Blue Jackets were within 2 with lots of time left. But Heatley found himself on another breakaway before a Columbus defensemen tripped him with the stick, setting up one of the most electric moments in HP Pavilion. Dany Heatley took the penalty shot, and made a quick feint with his stick before shooting the puck underneath the stick of Garon, completing the hat trick, which was a storybook ending for a player who made his home debut in San Jose after a summer of scrutiny.

Evgeni Nabokov made 24 saves on 27 shots, but could have easily given up 2 more goals, as he handled the puck a la Marty Turco, but threw the puck both times from behind his net into the front to a defenseman. Both were dangerous plays, but the Blue Jackets couldn't jump into the play in time to punish the goaltender. Heatley led all skaters in goals (3), plus-minus rating (+6), and shots on goal (6). Joe Thornton had assisted in every single goal (except, of course, the penalty shot), and had tied a career high in assists in a single game with 5, before a scoring change took away Thornton's secondary assist on Heatley's late second period goal. The game was ugly early, as there were two fights in the first half of the second period. Ryane Clowe bloodied Mike Blunden, and minutes later rookie Frazer McLaren and second year Derek Dorsett exchanged multiple blows, but both were fine after the fight and gave each other both friendly pats after the duel. Joe Pavelski missed his second straight game with a lower body injury, and is expected to miss two more weeks. Brad Staubitz served a one game suspension he picked up following the Los Angeles game. Rick Nash was the only Blue Jacket with multiple points, picking up his first goal of the year as well as an assist. San Jose's next game will be the second of their first home stand, where they will be hosting the Minnesota Wild before finishing it off with Phoenix.

Kings Defeat Sharks 6-4

What looked like a very comfortable lead for the Los Angeles Kings suddenly became very necessary, as the Sharks rallied from an 0-4 deficit, scoring 4 straight power play goals before the Kings answered with an ugly goal and an empty netter to secure the win 6-4 Tuesday night.

The story of the game early was poor defense in front of the goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, literally. Wayne Simmons scored his first of the season, scoring the goal off of Nabokov's arm as he made 2 desperate saves sprawling on his side earlier, but got no help from his defenders to stop the third man from crashing the net. Then, on a fresh power play in the second period, Ryan Smyth found himself scoring from a familiar position: inches away from the goal line for an easy tap in. Then off a crazy aerial pass by Michal Handzus, Jack Johnson battled the puck straight out of the air, again directly in front of Nabokov, as he had beat Douglas Murray in a foot race to the front of the net to make it 3-0. Anze Kopitar scored less than a minute later, roofing a slapshot that cleanly beat Nabokov.
Coach Todd McLellon clearly felt that something needed to change, and he pulled Nabokov and put in back-up Thomas Greiss. After Greiss made several spectacular saves, including stuffing a breakaway for Kopitar, the Sharks responded. The Kings took 4 straight power plays, and the Sharks capitalized on every single one. Devin Setoguchi found open space in the slot for a Joe Thornton pass, and wheeled a puck right past Jonathan Quick, who had made spectacular saves all night. Then, in the first of a double minor, Rob Blake crashed the net from the blue line and scored by somehow putting the puck through multiple bodies in the dying seconds of the second period.
In the third period, the Sharks continued the second minor of the double, and Devin Setoguchi found a Dany Heatley rebound for his second score of the game to bring the Sharks within 1. After Heatley took a hooking penalty that he was visibly angry at himself for, he made up for it on another Kings penalty, scoring his first goal as a Shark, rifling a signature shot from the faceoff circle after Dan Boyle made a pass from the blue line to tie the game 4-4. But under 30 seconds later, Teddy Purcell scored from an unimaginable angle, and instantaneously stopped all the momentum the Sharks had. Thomas Greiss was clearly expecting the pass to Jarret Stoll parked in front, but Purcell instead just threw the puck at Greiss's pads from behind the goal line, and it bounced off the inside of his legs and into the net. With 2 minutes left, San Jose pulled Greiss, but could never get the puck into the Los Angeles zone, and the Davis Drewiski scored his first career NHL goal into the empty net to secure the win 6-4.

Nabokov ended the night with 16 saves on 20 shots. Nobody on the San Jose line had a positive plus-minus rating, while nobody in Los Angeles had a negative. Joe Pavelski was injured and did not play on the second line, and was replaced by rookie Benn Ferriero. It was also the first time Patrick Marleau did not score a goal (or a point) this season. The first line did all the scoring for the Sharks, as Setoguchi, Thornton, and Heatley combined for 8 points: 3 goals and 5 assists. Anze Kopitar led the kings with a goal and 2 assists. Jonathan Quick looked spectacular in the first period, stopping 14 out of 14 shots including several second and third chances. San Jose looks to find answers on defense soon, as they'll face Rick Nash and the undefeated Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.

Sharks Defeat Ducks in Anaheim Season Opener 4-1

The San Jose Sharks hoped with the acquisition of Dany Heatley, they could finally solve their postseason woes. Heatley looked much better in San Jose's first game against their interstate rival Anaheim, and a couple of nice passes helped the Sharks defeat the team that eliminated them from the playoffs last year 4-1.

The nastiness got started early with 4 power plays split between both teams in the first 5 minutes, as newcomers for both teams got a sense early of what this rivalry was about. But it was a combination of 3 rookies that got the scoring done first, as Benn Ferriero got the Sharks up 1-0 with his first NHL goal, assisted by Jason Demers and Frazer McLaren. The Sharks took two late penalties in the first period, but in a twist of fate, it helped them break away from the pressing offense of the Ducks, as Patrick Marleau outskated Ryan Whitney and made a quick backhanded shot to beat Jonas Hiller for already his third goal of the season, his first shorthanded. Then seconds after Dany Heatley stepped out of the penalty box for a tripping penalty, he found Joe Thornton on a 2 on 1 break, opting to pass to Thornton instead of his normal slapshot, and Thornton made a similar backhand move to beat Hiller again to give the Sharks a 3-0 lead late in the first period.
The offense continued to be much more one-sided for the Sharks in the second, but only one goal was converted. The Sharks outshot the Ducks 17-2 in the second period, not allowing a shot on goal until the dying seconds of a late Anaheim power play with only 2 minutes to go in the period. But it was Devin Setoguchi with the lone goal in the second period, as he got a nice feed from Heatley during the power play, taking the pass in stride as he crashed the net and wristed it to the far side to make the lead 4-0.
In the third, the Ducks finally cracked the San Jose defense. Anaheim outshot San Jose 16-8, and converted on a power play opportunity, as Ryan Getzlaf made a perfect pass to set up a one timer from Ryan Whitney at the blue line, who beat Nabokov cleanly with a high shot to bring the Ducks within 3 with 10 minutes to go. But Anaheim took a couple of penalties in the last half of the third, preventing themselves of achieving any comeback in their first game of the season.

Heatley looked much more impressive in his second game as a Shark than in the season opener against Colorado. He improved from a -3 night to a 2 assist +2. Patrick Marleau had several breakaway attempts, but only converted on the shorthanded move in the first period. Douglas Murray was thrown out of the game early in the third period after receiving a 10 minute game misconduct. San Jose held Anaheim to 1 out of 6 power plays, successfully killing off the first 5, but once again only converted 1 out of 6 of their own after a similar result Thursday night. San Jose's next game will be in Los Angeles against the Kings on Tuesday.

Predictions of the 2009-2010 NHL Season (West)

Western Conference:
Central Division:
Detroit Red Wings
Chicago Blackhawks
Columbus Blue Jackets
St. Louis Blues
Nashville Predators

Northwest Division:
Calgary Flames
Vancouver Canucks
Colorado Avalanche
Minnesota Wild
Edmonton Oilers

Pacific Division:
San Jose Sharks
Los Angeles Kings
Dallas Stars
Phoenix Coyotes
Anaheim Ducks

Western Conference Playoffs:
Calgary Flames
Detroit Red Wings
San Jose Sharks
Vancouver Canucks
Chicago Blackhawks
Columbus Blue Jackets
Los Angeles Kings
St. Louis Blues

Western Conference Champions: San Jose Sharks
I'm not putting Anaheim at the bottom of the Pacific because I hate them. I really believe that they have the weakest spread of talent in their line-ups outside of goaltending. They had one of the best first lines in hockey and a solid second line, but they are really lacking in the third/fourth line department after the departure of Rob Niedermayer. Pronger gone on the defense leaves a lot of questions on the blue line, especially with Scott Niedermayer getting older by the minute. Phoenix and Los Angeles are primed for a breakout season with all the young talent they have on their roster, and one of them will make the playoffs but not go very far. Despite all the attention on Chicago, Detroit is still the team to beat in what looks to be the toughest division in the West. I like Calgary over Vancouver, because they have a lot more skill on the defensive line with both Phaneuf and Bouwmeester, whereas Vancouver is smaller, slightly less talented offensively, but more balanced in front of Luongo. Calgary's offense is a bit thinned out with the departure of Cammalleri, but he was wasted on the third line last year anyways. If the seeds play out like this, San Jose should have a much easier first round, which will build confidence going into a 7 game series against Detroit. But the past several years, that match-up has always been a coin-flip, and Detroit's goals against is slowly rising each year. The Flames are the scariest team on paper, and I consider them favorites to win the President's Trophy, but they've had as much playoff disappointment in recent years as the San Jose Sharks. As deadly as the Canucks look defensively, especially with Luongo secured for the long-term, defense has never been their problem. The Sedin twins can't be expected to carry this offense for the rest of their careers. The Edmonton Oilers lost the only reason why they were in the playoff hunt by losing Roloson to the Islanders, and they'll end up being dead last in the West, 1 point behind the Nashville Predators.

Stanley Cup Prediction: San Jose Sharks vs Philadelphia Flyers
This is going to be old school hockey, as talented as the top two lines for both teams are. There is nothing but grit and mean on both teams' third and fourth lines, and this is going to be a very rough match-up for both hockey teams. San Jose will be the underdogs going into this match-up, not because of seeding or points, but because they have a much tougher road to the Finals than the Flyers. The Flyers are much more built on holding onto small leads, and Emery is a much more athletic goaltender than Nabokov, but Nabokov has much more solid fundamentals and despite losing Michalek and Cheechoo, Marleau on the second line brings much more consistency and firepower to the Sharks, which means a lot less eyeballs on Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley in the playoffs. San Jose wins in 7 on home ice in the closest victory in recent playoff memory.

Predictions of the 2009-2010 NHL Season (East)

Eastern Conference:
Atlantic Division:
New Jersey Devils
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
New York Rangers
New York Islanders

Northeast Division:
Boston Bruins
Montreal Canadiens
Toronto Maple Leafs
Buffalo Sabres
Ottawa Senators

Southeast Division:
Washington Capitals
Carolina Hurricanes
Atlanta Thrashers
Florida Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning

Eastern Conference Playoffs:
Washington Capitals
Boston Bruins
New Jersey Devils
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Montreal Canadiens
Carolina Hurricanes
New York Rangers

Conference Champion: Philadelphia Flyers
I don't predict any changes in the Eastern Conference playoff line-ups outside of seeding. The Washington Capitals are the most explosive team in the Eastern Conference, and I will not find it surprising if they are shot out of a cannon and carry a huge point streak early in the season into the top seed in the East, much like the San Jose Sharks did last year. Tim Thomas is considered to be the top goaltender in the East, but we'll see how an extra workload a season after a timeshare and a deep playoff run will affect him in the final stretch of the season in what looks to be a very tight race for the top 4 seeds in the East. Everyone is saying Martin Brodeur for the Devils is primed to have a huge bounce back season after the past 2 years were cut short with injury and disappointing playoff runs, and it's almost unanimous that he'll win the Vezina if that happens. But the Devils play in the hardest division of hockey, and I'm barely giving the Devils an edge over the likes of the Flyers and Pens under the assumption that Zach Parise is THAT good. But in the end, the Flyers are built for the playoffs. They have the nastiest third/fourth/defensive lines in the East, and although their top wingers aren't as great as others, with Jeff Carter and Mike Richards centering, their offense will be good enough. They're a team built to take a quick lead and hold on to it by wearing down the opponents over the last 30 minutes of a hockey game. This prediction is completely reliant on whether Emery is the real deal or whether he's just another failed comeback story, but I believe if Emery does waver a bit, the Flyers have the personnel (not just in the coaching staff) to give him a good smack in the face and get him back on track. Carolina could easily go deep and win a Conference championships, as they have the most balanced lines offensively (not stacked on the first/second like the Flyers, Devils, etc.), but their special teams need to improve drastically from their below average finish last year.

Possible dark horse teams are the Toronto Maple Leafs, as soon as they put less pressure on Toskala, and the Atlanta Thrashers, who look like the Capitals a couple of years ago in terms of offense. Granted, the Thrashers don't have Ovechkin. And I'm not buying the whole "Tampa Bay is the surprise team of the year".

Opening Night Review of San Jose Sharks

Well, there wasn't a lot to like about a 2-5 loss to one of the worst teams in the Western Conference the past two years in Colorado. Then again, I guess you can't really cheer against the Avs since it was Joe Sakic night. But as great as Colorado played despite their youth, their goals were more of them capitalizing on really horrible San Jose mistakes.

When you look at a score like 5-2, you think, well, the goaltender must have had a horrible night. And as eager as San Jose and the hockey world will be tomorrow to jump all over Nabokov, who took a lot of heat this off-season, I'm not placing the blame on him. Out of the 5 goals, only one of them was completely his fault, as he gave up a huge rebound on a fast break chance, which resulted in an easy goal for Cody McLeod. But the other 4? San Jose not controlling bouncing pucks in front of their net. San Jose not clearing skaters out of the face of Nabokov. San Jose defensemen not turning around fast enough and being walked around by Avalanche forwards. It was a sad sight to see for the Sharks defense. They were over-committing to pucks, not playing good team defense, and looked incredibly slow and out-matched on the ice.

It wasn't a great night offensively. Joe Pavelski, Ryane Clowe, and Patrick Marleau are going to have a great season. Clowe is crashing the net, and Pavelski is making perfect passes to defensemen or Marleau, who seems to love sneaking in as a trailer behind the defense. But Thornton, Heatley, and Setoguchi, who are supposed to make up the deadliest line in the NHL, looked like they had no team chemistry whatsoever. Setoguchi was all over the puck, but Thornton rarely assisted him and Heatley was never in the picture. On the fast break goal previously mentioned, Heatley was on the tail of McLeod, but gave up as soon as McLeod entered the offensive zone. That was disgusting to see on replay; imagine what a difference the game would've been if Heatley kept skating and harrassed the stick of McLeod. We're looking at a 1-2 game 5 minutes into the second instead of 1-3. Although it wasn't a game changer, Heatley missed a wide open net on a beautiful pass across the crease in the dying seconds of a 5 on 3 power play. I'm not about to run Heatley out of town, nor demand a line-up change, but for San Jose fans and fantasy owners investing in the first line, it might take a couple of weeks before they start producing.

I did like the penalty kill, particularly Scott Nichols and Jed Ortmeyer, two ex-Nashville Predators picked up during the free agency to add defensive depth and grit to San Jose's third and fourth line. Nichols had two great hits on Avalanche forwards trying to crash the net, and Ortmeyer played solid defense throughout the game. Manny Malhotra failed to clear 2 pucks near the end of the power play that the Avalanche scored on, but he played hard throughout and hopefully his role will be more offensive once Torrey Mitchell comes back.

That's not to say Nabokov wasn't at fault for the other 4 goals, however. First and foremost, Nabokov did cover the five hole really well. He had two shots get re-directed by him, one through a screen, so I'm not blaming him on that. But it seems like he forgot how to cover the puck. Nabokov in the glory years smothered pucks left and right and always let the Sharks win faceoffs to get out of their zone. Against Colorado, rebounds were flying all over the place, and San Jose defensemen didn't have time to rest as they scrambled to try and retrieve (and fail) pucks out of the corners. If Nabokov is going to try and contend for a Vezina trophy this year, let alone backstop a Stanley Cup contender, he's going to need to cover up more pucks. He specialized in it, so hopefully he can figure it out without too much trouble, unlike last year's 5 hole problem.

I wouldn't be surprised if San Jose starts the first 10 games with a .500 or worse record. This is a team that has clearly been rebuilt from the ground up, and even the top skill guys are playing with new linemates who have yet to experience a fast-paced system that McLellon uses. But this is a strange season, with the early start and the long Olympic break, so hopefully they figure out what to do with each other fast and never slow down.

Avalanche Win Season Opener on Sakic Night; Defeat Sharks 5-2

On an emotional night for the city of Colorado, who had just seen their baseball team clinch the Wild Card spot, the Colorado Avalanche opened the NHL season at home, retiring Joe Sakic's number in a stunning pre-game ceremony. Whether it was the energy and emotions of the ceremony or the fact that Colorado's off-season acquisitions are the real deal has yet to be seen, but the Avalanche, who were one of the worst offensive teams in the NHL a year ago, never gave up a lead to San Jose, winning by a dominating score of 5-2.

Colorado started the scoring early in the first period and never let up until the third, when they already had the comfortable 3 goal lead. Darcy Tucker re-directed a John-Michael Liles point shot 2 minutes into the game to give the Avalanche the 1-0 lead. But just under 4 minutes later, Patrick Marleau, freshly removed from his captaincy, trailed on a play resulting from a Ryane Clowe turnover, and took a pass from Joe Pavelski to score an easy goal to tie the game 1-1. But once again the Avalanche scored fast, as Wojtek Wolski was the recipient of a puck that bounced off Marc-Edouard Vlasic's glove and landed near the corner of the goal, where Wolski tapped it in easily past a sprawling Evgeni Nabokov.
The second period didn't get any better for the Sharks. Cody McLeod and Chris Stewart went on a fast break, and Stewart's shot rebounded off Nabokov right to McLeod for an easy bury to make the lead 3-1. Patrick Marleau once again scored for the Sharks soon after on the power play, in similar fashion to Wolski's goal earlier in the game. Dan Boyle's shot from the point bounced off Pavelski, and the puck settled near the corner of the net in front of Marleau who simply had to tap it in past Craig Anderson. But just a minute later, Wolski scored his second goal, and Liles added a 5th insurance goal on the power play to finish the scoring in the second period and the game.

Craig Anderson was the star of the game, especially in the third period, as he totaled 38 saves on 40 shots in the game, and was a perfect 19 for 19 in the third period. San Jose, who had one of the best power plays in the league last year, converted only 1 for 6 opportunities, including a failed 2 minute 5 on 3 chance in the third period. The Avalanche looked in-sync despite acquiring new members Matt Duchene and Kyle Quincey, but Duchene, despite not having a point, made a great rookie debut as he was swarming the puck and had 2 breakaway chances, both of which were saved by a Nabokov poke-check. Kyle Quincey helped set up one of Duchene's breakaways, and ended the night with an assist and a +2 rating. The Sharks, on the other hand, looked terribly out of sync, especially the much talked about first line. Dany Heatley only had 3 shots (several were blocked) and was a -3 rating. Joe Thornton was around the puck a lot less than usual and ended with a -1, while Devin Setoguchi, who was one of the hardest working skaters for San Jose, ended with a -2. The beginning of the season doesn't get any easier for San Jose, as they now travel to Anaheim, the team that eliminated them from the first round of the playoffs last year, and then Los Angeles, another young and upstart team similar to Colorado.