sxx123: ess year after year over the last 10 year

sxx123

(Sports Network) - The top-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins will try to get off to a strong start in the Eastern Conference semifinals, as they host the Ottawa Senators in Game 1 at CONSOL Energy Center this evening. Miles Bridges Jersey . Get interactive with our Game Night Blog in the Game Tracker at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. Although the Penguins cruised to the top spot in the East with a 36-12-0 record in the regular season, the Senators enter this best-of-seven series as an extremely dangerous seventh seed. Ottawa is coming off beating second- seeded Montreal in five games during the opening round and Paul MacLeans squad is eyeing another upset in Round 2. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, received a tougher than expected test from the eighth- seeded New York Islanders in the conference quarterfinals. The Penguins posted two shutouts against the Isles, but also surrendered 17 goals over the remaining four games. After outlasting the Isles in six games, the Pens find themselves in the second round for the first time since 2010, the year after Pittsburgh claimed its third Stanley Cup title. The club may have suffered a third straight first-round exit if it wasnt for a goaltender change during the conference quarters. The Pens were tied at two games apiece with the pesky Isles when head coach Dan Bylsma decided to replace Marc-Andre Fleury with veteran goaltender Tomas Vokoun. After posting a shutout in Game 1, Fleury struggled mightily and allowed 14 goals over the next three games. Vokoun, who hadnt seen action in the playoffs since 2007 before this spring, recorded a shutout victory in Game 5 and then kept Pittsburgh in the game long enough to win the series in overtime of Game 6. All told, the 36-year-old stopped 66-of-69 shots in two outings for a .957 save percentage and 1.41 goals against average. Although Fleury was the No. 1 goaltender when Pittsburgh made consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2008 and 09, the 28-year-old has not fared well in recent postseasons. In his first three playoffs, a run that culminated with the 2009 Stanley Cup crown, Fleury was 31-18 with a 2.45 GAA and .915 save percentage. In four playoff years since then, he is just 14-16 with a 3.15 GAA and .881 save percentage. Not surprisingly, Bylsma is sticking with Vokoun, who is 5-8 with a 2.30 GAA in 13 career playoff games. The Czech will start Game 1, while Fleury begins the second round on the bench. "Whatever happens, its all about the team," said Fleury. "Ive been a part of this team for a long time and I want this team to do good. This organization has been great. So if Im in the net or on the bench, I want this team to win. Thats the bottom line." Scoring is never a problem for the Penguins, who led all teams with 25 goals in the opening round. However, Pittsburgh has surrendered a whopping 47 goals over 12 playoffs games in the last two seasons, an average of 3.92 goals per contest. Evgeni Malkin led all Pittsburgh players with 11 points (2 goals, 9 assists) in six games against the Isles, while Pascal upuis paced the club with five goals. Captain Sidney Crosby missed the first game of the playoffs due to a fractured jaw that caused him to sit out all of April, but he still managed to finish second on the Pens with nine points (3G, 6A) in five games against New York. All told, the Pens had seven players register two goals or more in the opening round. That is, of course, a testament to Pittsburghs tremendous scoring depth up front, but defensemen Kris Letang and Douglas Murray also managed to chip in two goals apiece. Jarome Iginla, one of a handful of marquee names acquired by Pittsburgh at this years trade deadline, recorded two goals and seven assists in the opening round. Brenden Morrow, the former Dallas captain, was another player added during this season, but he managed just one assist against the Isles and was a minus-3 in six games. Pittsburghs power play is extremely dangerous and the Pens managed to score on one-third (7-of-21) of their chances in the opening round. They also finished the regular season with the second-best power-play numbers in the NHL, but Ottawa had the leagues top PK in 2013. Ottawa finished fourth in the Northeast Division this season -- seven points behind the Canadiens -- but there was no question who was the better team in the conference quarterfinals. The Sens outscored the Habs by a combined score of 20-9, posting a pair of 6-1 victories to help make quick work of the division champions. The Senators may have been seeded higher if not for losing over 200 man-games to injury this season, including absences by some big names. At this stage, however, all the key names are back healthy except top centerman Jason Spezza, and even he could be back sometime in the second round. Ottawas most important player, defenseman Erik Karlsson, sat out 31 games during the regular season due to a torn Achilles tendon suffered when Pittsburghs Matt Cooke stepped on his leg during a Feb. 13 meeting. The injury was originally expected to end Karlssons season, but last years Norris Trophy winner came back in late April and he tied for the team lead with six points in the opening round. Karlsson had one goal and five assists against Montreal, tying him with captain and fellow Swede Daniel Alfredsson, who had two goals and four assists. Playing behind Karlsson and the D-men is goaltender Craig Anderson. The 31- year-old was a leading Vezina candidate in the early going this season before missing over a month of the season from Feb. 23-April 2 due to an ankle injury. Anderson went 12-9-2 with a 1.69 GAA and .941 save percentage in 24 games during the regular season and his first-round numbers were stingy as well. The American netminder stopped 171-of-180 shots in five games against the Canadiens, posting a 1.80 GAA and .950 save percentage. For his career, Anderson is 9-9 with a 2.16 GAA and .938 save percentage in 18 playoff games. Ottawas scoring depth could get a big boost if Spezza is able to return in this series. He recently participated in a full practice for the first time since undergoing back surgery. Spezza hasnt played since the fifth game of the season, but he is a proven playoff performer and could be ready to go as early as Game 3. The 29-year-old center has 51 points (17G, 34A) over 53 career postseason games. Ottawa scored on 24 percent of its power-play opportunities (6-of-25) in the first round after tying for 20th in the league on the man advantage during the regular season. After finishing first in the NHL during the regular season with an 88-percent penalty kill rate, Ottawa stopped Montreal from scoring on 16-of-19 chances (84.2 percent) in the first round. This series pits the leagues best offense against the second-ranked defense, as Pittsburgh led the NHL with 3.38 goals per game in 2013 and Ottawa was second in defense with an average of 2.08 goals surrendered each tilt. The Penguins won all three meetings with Ottawa during the regular season. Fleury was 2-0 in those games and Vokoun also posted a victory for Pittsburgh. Anderson started all three tilts for Ottawa and was 0-2-1 with a 2.61 GAA and .909 save percentage. Ottawa was able to slow down the Penguins power play, however, as Pittsburgh scored once on 15 chances with the man advantage over the three meetings. This will be the fourth all-time playoff series between the clubs. Ottawa won the first encounter in the 2007 conference quarterfinals, before Pittsburgh ousted the Sens from the first round in 2008 and 2010. Game 2 of this series is scheduled for Friday in Pittsburgh. Cheap Hornets Jerseys . -- Jonathan Drouin gave Halifax the boost it needed to edge host Sherbrooke Phoenix 3-2 in a shootout in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Cheap Hornets Jerseys China . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. www.cheaphornetsjerseys.com/ . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Two teams looking to change their identities meet Sunday night when the Anaheim Ducks and the Calgary Flames face each other at the Honda Center.The Ducks seek consistency after 10 days that resembled a ferociously jagged line on a Richter scale. Anaheim began that stretch with a 6-1 thrashing of the Nashville Predators, only to follow with a 4-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Ducks responded by defeating the Los Angeles Kings 4-0, then got routed by the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1.Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle hopes his teams most recent result, Friday nights 5-1 victory against the Arizona Coyotes, will be the beginning of the end of the Ducks uneven performance.Hopefully, its a start we can build on, Carlyle said afterward. Tonight was a statement that we have to approach the game a little differently, maybe, than we had for the first five or six games. Our defense was much more effective moving the puck. We didnt really tax our goaltender. We were disciplined. We didnt take a bunch of stupid penalties.They also relied on forward Rickard Rakell, the Ducks most consistent player lately. Since returning to the lineup Tuesday night against the Kings, Rakell accumulated three goals and six points in three games. Two goals and an assist came Friday night, three weeks after Rakell ended his status as a restricted free agent by signing a six-year contract worth $22.8 million.Hes a gifted kid, and were very fortunate to have him, Carlyle said. It looks like the game is slow for him. Thats whats amazing for those young players who have that skill set. The puck follows them around, and they can do things that other people dont want to try.Whether left winger Nick Ritchie and center Ryan Getzlaf, the Ducks captain and leader in assists, are able to contribute remains an open question. Cheap Swingman Hornets Jerseys. Both missed the past two games after sustaining upper-body injuries in the victory over Los Angeles. Kings defenseman Tom Gilbert received a three-game suspension for hitting Ritchie into the glass. Both Ducks participated in Saturdays practice, though.The Flames, meanwhile, search for a new personality under first-year coach Glen Gulutzan, who wants to add discipline and skill to a squad known for workmanlike grit.Id like to establish a really solid, structured game, Gulutzan told the Calgary Herald while referring to comments Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane made about the Flames schizoid tendencies.Theyre hard to predict, Kane told the Herald. Whether its going to be a tight checking match-up or it could get out of hand and there could be a lot of scoring, theyre always fun games to play in, especially when you dont know what to expect.For Gulutzan, those are fighting words.We used that quote because we need to find and establish what youre going to get from the Calgary Flames every night, Gulutzan told the Calgary Sun. When you look at the teams that have had success year after year over the last 10 years, you always knew what you were going to get. Thats the stepping stone wed like to get to.Calgarys 5-0 loss to the Kings on Saturday night reinforced Gulutzans point.Youre going to get a team that rolls and knows its identity, Gulutzan told the Sun. Theyve got all the pieces, right?The Flames face Anaheim without right winger Kris Versteeg, who went on injured reserve with a strained groin Saturday. Calgary recalled left winger Hunter Shinkaruk from Stockton of the AHL. Cheap NFL Gear Wholesale Black NFL Jerseys Stitched NFL Jerseys China Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Wholesale China Jerseys Cheap Jerseys 2019 ' ' '