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Rangers Bedeviled, Continue Mediocre Playoff Run: A Fan’s View (Yahoo! Contributor Network)

Someone inform the New York Rangers it's acceptable to win two playoff games in succession.

 

What We Learned: Embarrassing LA sports media moments while covering Kings playoff run (Puck Daddy)

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. It's possibly the greatest bit of investigative journalism conducted since Woodward and Bernstein brought down Richard Nixon. This exemplary, collective effort of sleuth work is currently ongoing in Los Angeles, Calif., where an entire media market has unearthed the NHL's shocking secret: The city has a professional hockey team. Over the past week or so here at Puck Daddy, we've tried to document every startling discovery made by the intrepid Los Angeles media, like how to properly pronounce Anze Kopitar's name (it's hard because he's from Bosnia or something), the real name of this Drew Doughty character ( it's actually Brad !) and that hockey is in fact not played with a ball, but rather a little piece of rubber known as a "puck." That last one makes me pretty uncomfortable because of the word it rhymes with. ("Duck" — sorry, I just don't trust 'em; they have weird beaks). Just how villainous is this team, operating as a sort of sporting sleeper cell? They got all the way to the Western Conference Finals without one local noticing. That takes real criminal talent. And not only that, but, the NHL had the diabolical idea to hide it right under the Los Angelinos' noses, by having their home games played at the Staples Center. You know, where the Lakers play. Further, they named the team the Kings to intentionally confuse even the savviest media organization into thinking they are the NBA's Sacramento Kings. Astonishingly devious stuff. More twists and turns than the Da Vinci Code, which I've read three times just to make sure I understood it all. The best bit of this journalism on this pressing issue comes, of course, from the city's paper of record, the Los Angeles Times, winner of 44 Pulitzer Prizes since 1942, including three in 2012. It was for that towering beacon of journalistic excellence that columnist Chris Erskine successfully scruted several of the team and sport's most inscrutable mysteries . For instance, that thing I said earlier about the puck (again, yuck… oh and that's another gross word it rhymes with), I learned it from Erskine. Apparently they even freeze the thing. And that's a huge point of concern, because, "The hardest shots can reach 110 mph and tear flesh, crush bone, even kill you if you're not careful." Yikes, you guys! ( Coming Up: Rick Nash to Boston?; Tororella defends Prust; Ryan Suter faces his future; Evegni Malkin is having a pretty good season; why Lundqvist is King; why the Capitals can't win with Ovechkin; the Islanders know how to party; Canucks might keep Luongo; Ryan Miller on the CBA; Flames and Oilers coaching news; and are the Kings in trouble?)

 

Slovakia beat Czechs, face Russia in the final (AFP)

Slovakia grabbed their ticket into the world ice hockey championship's title-decider with a tight 3-1 semi-final win over former compatriots Czech Republic here on Saturday.

 

Devils vs. Rangers in Game 2; top NHL free agents; top 10 playoff saves (Playoff Puck Previews) (Puck Daddy)

Back by popular demand, here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished. Via Lockhart Steele on Twitter: "Guy wants to sell me these for $150 each. seeing Callahan lay out Deron Williams worth it? Thoughts?" Insert your shot-blocking and/or goaltending joke here. [ Deadspin , s/t @Tedislaw ] Eastern Conference Final Game 2 Preview: New Jersey Devils at New York Rangers, 8 p.m. ET. No lineup changes for the Rangers but the Devils could have a new look for Game 2: Coach Pete DeBoer reunited Zach Parise with Travis Zajac and Ilya Kovalchuk, and will have Patrik Elias skating with Petr Sykora and Dainius Zubrus. The Devils are going to try to find a way around the Rangers' shot blocking that doesn't involve maiming. By the way, that whole "keep Rangers fans out of the Rock" thing the Devils were doing? It's disappeared, and the team hasn't explained why. Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page . For tonight's starting goalies, check out Left Wing Lock. Evening Reading • Listen to today's Marek Vs. Wyshynski here. • Adam Proteau presents the top 10 UFAs this summer. You know Nos. 1 and 2; did you know No. 3 was Dennis Wideman of the Washington Capitals? [ THN ]

 

Hanzal faces hearing; Winter Classic liquor news; Time to walk out on Tortorella? (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media. •  And at right, we have a photo of Marc-Andre Fleury from 1997. [ Reddit Hockey ] • One man's journey from New York Rangers' fandom to New Jersey Devils' fandom. [ Star-Ledger ] • Martin Hanzal faces a hearing for boarding Dustin Brown. [ USA Today ] • Mike Smith's slash on Dustin Brown, however, is just impressive. The beauty is in the form! It's like the Mona Lisa of slashes! [ Backhand Shelf ] • Michael Farber, on John Tortorella's press conferences: "The question-and-answer sessions are hockey's version of Kabuki theater, elaborately stylized and weirdly dramatic." [ Sports Illustrated ] • You will likely enjoy this collection of John Tortorella's greatest hits. [ SI Red Light ] • Unless you're the media, who find Tortorella's walkouts more than a little frustrating. Is it time for the media to walk out on John Tortorella? [ Dean Brown ] • State lawmakers weigh the liquor license request for the Winter Classic in Detroit. [ Detroit News ] • Here's a cool study from some Finnish researchers on the effects and effectiveness of the various boards used in hockey arenas. "The results show that the maximum impact force of a body check against a support post was up to 70% higher than the maximum impact force of a similar body check against a protective shield. They also found that the posts were up to five times more rigid than a plastic shield. 'By replacing the widely used tempered glass with a plastic shield, the impact force on players being body-checked against the boards is considerably reduced,' said Professor Janne Avela and researcher Piritta Poutiainen." [ Cordis ] • This post on the 5 worst Chicago Blackhawks trades gets extra points for the hockey card graphics. [ The Hockey Writers ]

 

The 10 best Sports Illustrated Stanley Cup Playoff covers (Puck Daddy)

The National Hockey League has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated — either the main mag or on a commemorative issue — 114 times, according to the SI Vault archive. Sometimes, it was a quick mention on a cover story dedicated to Tiger Woods another sports story. Other times, hockey was given the spotlight. The Stanley Cup Playoffs have been featured around 35 times, including Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers on a striking cover from April 2012. While some weren't exactly iconic, they all had their charms. Here are the 10 best Sports Illustrated Stanley Cup Playoff covers.

 

Kings head home with 2-0 lead (AFP)

Jonathan Quick made 24 saves for his second shutout of the postseason as the Los Angeles Kings blanked the Phoenix Coyotes 4-0 to take a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference playoff series.

 

Blackhawks agree to terms with F Flick (The Associated Press)

CHICAGO (AP) The Chicago Blackhawks and forward Rob Flick have agreed to terms on a three-year contract.

 

Kings-Coyotes Preview (The Associated Press)

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) The Phoenix Coyotes survived stretches of playing on their heels in the playoffs' first two rounds, absorbing everything the opponent threw at them before counterpunching with a winning goal.

 

Party on, Kaner: Patrick Kane’s public inebriation leads to consternation in sports media (Puck Daddy)

Patrick Kane is amusing when drunk, and not just because he inspires fantastic Photoshop contests. He's the kind of guy who parties with his buddies, wearing T-shirts that depicted a shirtless Kane partying in the back of a limo in Vancouver . The kind of 23-year-old whose reaction to the end of his season is to head to Madison, WI for a weekend of drunken debauchery . An NHL player whose drunken exploits, dalliances with women and occasional interactions with cab drivers have earned Kane his own department on Deadspin. He's also the guy who got stuck in a cherry-picker above the streets of Buffalo and partied with Jimmy Buffett and was absolutely sloshed at the Chicago Blackhawks' Cup parade, after he scored the game-winning OT goal to win it. We live vicariously through it, and laugh along when things get sitcom-ish -- remember the post-coital photos? Back in 2010, when the Blackhawks won, it was Kaner being Kaner, rehabilitating his reputation after cabbie incident. In 2012, after the Blackhawks were eliminated in the first round, the sports media want him to rehabilitate something else. Is it a puritanical or practical reaction? And by that we mean: Is Patrick Kane drinking himself out of Chicago? (Which, having visited the city on several occasions, is damn hard to do. Especially with the Wiener's Circle open so late for sobering up.)