Round 2, Game 6, Penguins at Canadiens

OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE, Pittsburgh, please close it out tonight. Frankly, I'm exhausted and I need a few days off from hockey. Can someone throw a bucket of water on Halak and melt him already?

Chris Kunitz tried to take out Hal Gill on Saturday night with a stomp on the back of his leg ("who, me?"), so maybe Crosby can make some rain in this series yet. I'll take a drop, a sprinkle, anything. Do you believe the Montreal Canadiens have completely shut down the number one scoring center in the NHL? The planets are out of whack, folks.

We'll see what happens tonight, update later.

In the meantime, here's some Chris Kunitz humor from Down Goes Brown to pass the time.

Flower Power - Round 2, Game 3, Pens 2- Habs 0

(Image: AP) Can you do that?

The Montreal Canadiens, who in Round 1 eliminated the Washington Capitols through sheer cussedness, have decided they aren't going to make this easy for the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

Last night was a battle of the defenses and goalies, with playoff (and Stanley Cup-winner) veteran Marc-Andre Fleury and surprise-star Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak both performing brilliantly in the net for their teams. Fleury came up aces for the Pens, winning a hard-fought shutout against an extremely determined Montreal squad, 2-0. While it wasn't a shooting game (Fleury stopped just 18 shots, but some of those saves were definitely highlight-reel material), sometimes a great defensive game can be as entertaining as the 50-shot nights.

Both netminders held their opponents scoreless through 2 periods, until Sidney Crosby scrapped with former NY Ranger Scott Gomez near the close of the 2nd. Former Penguin Hal Gill got involved, and the ref sat him down. Pittsburgh would start the 3rd period on a power play.

Gill is possibly the slowest player in the NHL, but he is a tremendously effective shutdown defenseman, and he has shown in the last few games that he knows better than anyone how to hold off Crosby around the net. No superstar during regulation play, Gill is a steady go-to presence on the ice at playoff time. Not to mention, the guy is a monster. Standing 6-7 in his bare feet, Gill has the clear bulk advantage over the relatively small (5-11) Crosby, but what Crosby lacks in size, he more than makes up for with agility, speed, and skill.

During these playoffs, we haven't seen much of last year's Conn Smythe winner, Evgeni Malkin. Sometimes it seems to me that Malkin's like that kid in the Little League who's out in center field, woolgathering and blowing dandelion puffs into the wind. Sometimes he just doesn't seem all that engaged, either in the game or with his linemates, seemingly drifting in circles in the neutral zone. Then all of a sudden, a puck will skitter in his direction and you'll realize that Malkin's been there all along, biding his time. He'll seize the puck and galoomph down the ice with it, with his frankly ugly skating style (Malkin's all elbows and assholes when he's going end to end, I swear he looks like he's doing the Charleston) that makes you overlook the things that he's doing with his stick to control the puck. Seventy-six seconds into the 3rd period, off a pass from his compatriot Sergei Gonchar, Malkin sneaked a one-timer past a screening Crosby at Halak's net, scoring the first, and winning, goal of the game.

"First two power plays, we played not very good," Malkin said. "After second period, we talked a lot and we just moved the puck. Quick move of puck opened net and just shoot. Not too hard. Just move puck." His English exhausted, Malkin then resumed pointing and grunting.

The rest of the period was merely a waiting game. The Penguins just had to hold off the Habs for the rest of regulation, which they did, playing blue-collar defense to win the shutout for Fleury. There were a few confusing moments at the end of the period, as Jacques Martin couldn't seem to decide whether to pull Halak to put the sixth man on, or keep him in net. We saw a lot of Halak gliding back and forth between the Habs' bench and the goal crease, until he was pulled for good. Pittsburgh took the opportunity to steal the puck one last time, and Pascal Dupuis tapped in an empty-netter to close out the game.

If the rest of the series continues as it's started, with the team's marquee players being ground down by the opposition's defense, Round 3 will seem like a cakewalk to whichever team wins.

Still keeping an eye on PK Subban. Kid's really good.

Pens 2-Montreal 0

Pens lead the series 2-1.

Next game: Thursday at Montreal, 7pm on Versus

Game Day: Round 2, Game 2, Habs at Pittsburgh

So the geniuses at NBC scheduled a hockey game for 2 o'clock in the afternoon, causing me to cancel plans I had with my friend Nancy, and my apartment looks like a shithole anyway, so I can watch hockey while I clean my house. This really means that I will sit on my ass watching the game with the vacuum cleaner and Murphy's Oil Soap somewhere in my general vicinity.

After the spanking the Pens administered on Montreal on Friday night, complete with Bill Guerin's unnecessary and almost-but-not-really cruel empty-netter in the dwindling seconds of the game (hey, we're going to win this game anyway, let me skate slowly the length of the ice and give you this final kick in the ribs), I would bet that Halak will dress but not play today.

The Pens, having shut down the Habs penalty-kill machine that defeated Ovechkin and company, appear to have found their playoff gear, and though they're only 1 game into the series, they have all the tools for a sweep.

Hockey fact to make you feel smart: The "H" in the Canadiens' logo does not stand for "Habs." The official name of this Original Six team is "Le Club du Hockey de Canada," or something Quebecoise-Froggy like that. The "H" stands for "Hockey."

2nd Hockey fact to make you feel smart: "Habs" is short for "Les Habitants."

Don't know if Jordan Staal will play today after the Subban thing on Friday, so I'm off to Pensburgh, with trepidation, to get the practice report and find out who will make up our 3rd line.

UPDATE: 10 minutes later. The news is NOT GOOD about Jordan Staal. He had surgery to repair a tendon in his foot, but Dan Bylsma would not say that this will end his season. As Pensburgh points out, if it was a season-ending injury, there would be no reason not to say so, so we can only keep our fingers crossed. Frankly, I'm not optimistic.

Pittsburgh Penguins to Jaroslav Halak: "Hey, kid, get off my lawn!"

Something is up with the Penguins. They were 4-for-4 on the power play tonight. I thought maybe they fired the power play coach, Yeo, but he's on the bench with Dan Bylsma tonight. Maybe he got a little come-to-Jeebus talk.

Stat on the screen: highest point-per-game average in the playoffs:

Gretzky
Lemieux
Crosby
Malkin

Three Penguins and The Great One. Nice.

Sadly, Jordan Staal left the ice at the beginning of the 2nd period, after a weird collision with Habs hotshot rookie PK Subban. Looked like he took a skate across the foot, but of course, it will be listed generically as "lower body injury." Huge deficit for the Pens if he's out for any period of time because he's a very important player for the Pens, especially in the playoffs. He also hasn't missed a single game in his career due to injury, and I'd hate to see that streak broken.

Keep your eye on this Subban kid. He's really, really talented. A little rough around the edges, still, but he could make a real difference to a midleague team.

At one point badass Brooks Orpik was coming off the bench and you could read his lips very clearly: "I'm on Subban." So he is aware.

I don't know WHY Montreal waited until the Pens scored 5 goals before pulling Halak. The guy just played the game of his life on Wednesday night, dontcha think he might be a little tired?

It was really nice to see Sergei Gonchar looking like his old self again. I guess the old guy still has some gas in the tank.

As always, Sidney Crosby is simply magical to watch. There is just nothing he can't do. I am agog every time he gets the puck.

Annnnnd Billy Guerin closes it out with a casual empty-netter.

6-3 Penguins.

Tonight was a grinder's game: goals credited to Gonchar, Staal, Letang, Adams, Goligosky, Guerin.

NOVECHKIN

This man was a SUPERSTAR in the last 3 games of Round 1. Come Friday, I will want him dead.

Montreal Canadiens shocked the Washington Capitols in an EPIC Game 7 upset.

The worst team in the playoffs just routed and ousted the BEST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE in the first round.

Backed by insane defensive play, Habs goalie Jaroslav Halak Stood On His Head and stopped everything the Capitols threw at him. The last three games have been absolutely career-defining for Halak. He was breathtaking in the net last night. In the last three games of the series, Halak stopped 131 of 134 shots. If you don't know hockey, trust me, those numbers are insane.

NOTE: This is the last time you will hear Jane cheering for the Canadiens, as they go to Pittsburgh on Friday to take on Sidney Crosby and my Pens.

Can they stop Sid? Sid's a different animal than Ovechkin, which I wrote about in a prior post, and Sid's the more complete player. In fact, the Pens are a much more complete team than the Capitols.

In any case, I lift my glass to the Habs for providing one of the highlights of the first round, coming back from a 3-1 deficit, finding their swing, and taking out the biggest kid on the block. I'm sure this morning Washington is still sitting in the dirt, rubbing their jaws, and trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

If Montreal goes no further than this round (I pray), they will always be able to say, "We were on our heels, and we came back and we took out the Washington Capitols." Those are pretty sweet words.

On to Pittsburgh. Where they now have to face the defending Stanley Cup champions, who have appeared in the last two Stanley Cup finals. I don't think this is a mountain the Habs can summit, but they are to be commended for making it to base camp 2.