PowerPlayGoal.com – Hockey From A Different Angle

The 2008-09 NHL season is now finished. The Detroit Red Wings stormed through the playoffs only to meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final again. This time however, Pittsburgh returned the favour by ending Detroit’s defence of the Championship in their own city.

This six part series will consist of brief, but informal summaries of every team’s performance this season, starting with the Atlantic Division.

New Jersey Devils

Final standings: 51W, 27L, 4OTL, 106 points, 1^st Atlantic, 4^th Eastern Conference, 5^th NHL

This year’s Devils squad overall did slightly better than last year’s, beating the previous points tally by 7 points, with a particularly good part of the season being an eight game winning streak during January, although a seven game slump near the end prevented them from gaining a higher playoff spot. For the second straight postseason, the Devils couldn’t get any further than the first round, losing in game 7 of an evenly matched series with eventual Conference finalists the Carolina Hurricanes.

New York Islanders

Final standings: 26W, 47L, 9OTL, 61 points, 5^th Atlantic, 15^th EC, 30^th NHL

Prior to this season, the Isles brought back an old jersey from their early years in the 70s as a rather nice third uniform. Unfortunately, not much more good would come for this team as the piss-poor managed Islanders finished with the worst record in the league, also suffering from the misery of being the only team from the Atlantic Division to miss the playoffs. Anyone remember their embarrassing 22 game 2-17-3 record through December and January? I certainly wouldn’t want to if I were a fan of this team. On an upside, the Isles won the 2009 draft lottery, choosing Jon Tavares of the OHL’s London Knights as the Number 1 overall draft pick in Montreal.

New York Rangers

Final standings: 43W, 30L, 9OTL, 95 points, 4^th Atlantic, 7^th EC, 12^th NHL

After a disappointing preseason tournament, the Blueshirts spent some time in Europe, winning 8-1 in an exhibition game against SC Bern of Switzerland, and then defeating Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4-3 to win the inaugural Victoria Cup (Yay?), soon going to Prague, Czech Rebublic for two regular season games against Tampa Bay, winning both games 2-1. After these two games and going back to North America, the Rangers began with their best start in franchise history, going 10-2-1 over the first 13 games, and had a pretty good season except for a 14 game 2-8-4 slump through the end of January and into February. During the first round of the playoffs, the Rangers met up with the Washington Capitals and appeared to have the upper hand after game 4 with a 3-1 series lead. Unfortunately for them, the Caps bounced right back and won the next 3 games, taking the series away from them in game 7, no thanks to head coach John Tortorella’s suspension after a quarrel with a fan during game 5.

Philadelphia Flyers

Final standings: 44W, 27L, 11OTL, 99 points, 3^rd Atlantic, 5^th EC, 9^th NHL

The Philadelphia Flyers this year got off to a good start during the early months of the season, with an 8 game points streak (7-0-1) in November and a 7 game point streak (6-0-1) in December. For most of the season, they held onto the number 4 spot in the playoffs, but the inconsistent hockey they played for the rest of the year eventually cost them their home ice advantage in the playoffs. Much like two of their division rivals, the Flyers weren’t able to make it past the first round as they lost in 6 games to state rivals Pittsburgh. During the offseason, the Flyers were able to boost their defence by acquiring Chris Pronger from the Anaheim Ducks, so look for the Flyers to have a much tougher presence on the ice, as well as… well, more Pronger hate by other teams’ fans being directed onto them.

Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins

Final standings: 45W, 28L, 9OTL, 99 points, 2^nd Atlantic, 4^th EC, 8^th NHL

After going back to North America after two games in Sweden with the Ottawa Senators, the Pens started off fairly good, until December and January when they suddenly started playing inconsistently, posting a 10-16-2 record over the two months. During February, head coach Michel Therrien was fired and replaced by Dan Bylsma, previously the coach of the AHL Penguins, and for the rest of the season the Penguins played far more consistently, and under their new head coach posted a record of 18-3-4, losing only one home game. Their sudden rise in the standings allowed them to gain home ice advantage over Philadelphia, beating them 4-2 in the first round, and then moving on to the second round to defeat the Washington Capitals in 7, sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes in the Conference Finals and then, like last year, met Detroit in the Stanley Cup Final, making this the first time in 25 years that two teams met in back to back Cup Finals. Detroit held the home ice advantage for this series, and for the first 6 games the home team came out as the victor. However, Pittsburgh won 2-1 in a very tight game 7 in Detroit, winning their third Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Stay tuned for Part 2 as the Northeast Division will be covered.

Since Halloween is just around the corner and is commonly associated with curses, superstitions and stuff, I felt it quite suitable to bring up a popular topic along those lines: curses and superstitions in hockey!

Now I won’t lecture anyone on the more famous curses such as the Curse of 1940, which saw the New York Rangers suffer one of the longest Stanley Cup droughts in NHL history, lasting for 54 years until 1994. However, I will bring up a more recently noticed curse and another one which may seem more fitting for Halloween (despite it happening during the 1975 Stanley Cup Final).

One particular curse I am referring to is what some call the “President’s Trophy Curse”. Basically, there is a belief that when a team wins the President’s Trophy (which is awarded to the team with the best overall record in the NHL, immediately giving that team home ice advantage throughout the playoffs), then there is a chance of that team becoming cursed. The belief came about because since the trophy was introduced in 1985, it has been awarded 23 times: most teams that win this trophy end up being defeated early in the playoffs. Two have made it to the Stanley Cup Final and lost, and only seven have gone all the way to win the Cup, with an example being the 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings, who also happen to be the team that has won the President’s Trophy six times, the most by any team.

Some of you may be familiar with an event that occurred during the aforementioned 1975 Stanley Cup Final, in which the Philadelphia Flyers faced the Buffalo Sabres. Because of unusual heat in Buffalo in May, a heavy fog had appeared inside the arena and the teams were forced to play under that condition, and they, as well as the on ice officials and the puck were invisible to the fans. At one point, a bat had appeared seemingly out of nowhere flying across the rink, and it was killed by Sabres centre James Lorentz, who spotted it, raised his stick and swatted it (in doing so he earned the nickname ‘Batman’). Some Sabres fans considered this to be an “Evil Omen”, and although Buffalo won the game in OT, the Philadelphia Flyers were the team that would win the series 4-2 and win the Cup.

Hope you had an interesting read, and Happy Halloween!

Here is the final part of the Aftermath series for this year, which will cover the Pacific Division.

Anaheim Ducks

Final standings: 47W, 27L, 8OTL, 102 points, 2^nd Pacific, 4^th Western Conference, 5^th NHL

The Anaheim Ducks entered this season as the defending Stanley Cup Champions. They lost star players Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne to semi-retirement and signed Todd Burtuzzi and Mathieu Schneider as temporary replacements. They also started the season in London, England for a two game series against the Los Angeles Kings, and afterwards returned to the US for a three game road trip where they lost two games and another in OT, before going back to Anaheim for their home opener against the Boston Bruins. The Ducks had a rough start in October, possibly something to do with their trip across the Atlantic, going 3-6-2, and their performance improved afterwards. Scott Niedermayer finally joined the Ducks roster in December (and almost immediately afterwards became one of four Ducks to represent the Western Conference at the All-Star game) and Teemu Selanne signed a one year contract with them near the end of January. The Ducks made the playoffs for the third straight season, but were up against a Division rival that they had trouble against during the regular season, the Dallas Stars, and lost in six games, bringing their defence of the Cup to an end.

Dallas Stars

Final standings: 45W, 30L, 7OTL, 97 points, 3^rd Pacific, 5^th Western Conference, 8^th NHL

The Dallas Stars this year were notable for replacing their mainly green home jersey with a mainly black, college-style one, almost completely eliminating green from the colour scheme. During the regular season, they played fairly good hockey during the first three months of the season, and then slightly worse in January, going 5-7-1. They then had an excellent record in February, losing just two out of 14 games, and then performed much worse in March, going 2-7-3. They later made the playoffs, and in the first round were up against Division rivals and defending Stanley Cup Champions the Anaheim Ducks: the Stars defeated the Ducks in six games, allowing them to make it past the first round for the first time in four seasons. In the second round, they played against another Division rival, the San Jose Sharks, and also beat them in six games. Game 6 of that series went in quadruple OT, and set a record for the 8^th longest game in NHL history. Dallas made it to the Western Conference finals, were they lost to eventual Stanley Cup Champions the Detroit Red Wings in six games.

Los Angeles Kings

Final standings: 32W, 43L, 7OTL, 71 points, 5^th Pacific, 15^th Western Conference, 29^th NHL

Changes for the Los Angeles Kings for this year included their new RBK EDGE jerseys, which simply removed the bottom stripe, and they replaced their goal horn, a foghorn, with a train horn. The Kings began the year by going on a brief exhibition trip in Europe, beating EC Red Bull 6-7 and Farjestads BK Karlstad 4-3 before going to London, England to play two games against Southern California rivals and defending Stanley Cup Champions the Anaheim Ducks, where they both lost and won a game each, 4-1. Afterwards, the Kings played poorly for the rest of the year, with their only good months being October, where they went 6-7-0, and January, where they went 6-5-0. For the fifth straight season, the Kings failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Phoenix Coyotes

Final standings: 38W, 37L, 7OTL, 83 points, 4^th Pacific, 12^th Western Conference, 23^rd NHL

The Phoenix Coyotes this year celebrated their franchise’s 35^th season, although it was their 28^th in the NHL, and 10^th as the Phoenix Coyotes (even though they had the patches on their jerseys last season…). The Coyotes had a fairly “evened-out” season, as shown by their overall record. While it was poor, they still won the majority of their games… well, only just. Their best month was in January when they went 9-4-1, and their worst month was March, when they went 4-9-1. The Coyotes missed the playoffs for the 5^th straight season, and for the second straight season, the Coyotes were last in revenue, losing $30 million this season.

San Jose Sharks

Final standings: 49W, 23L, 10OTL, 108 points, 1^st Pacific, 2^nd Western Conference, 2^nd NHL

The San Jose Sharks, in order to fit in with the new RBK EDGE uniform system, made a couple of changes to their identity. Firstly, they had a new set of logos designed for them, including an updated version of their original logo (both the old and new were designed by the same person), and also switched to a slightly different shade of teal, and replaced the grey in the colour scheme with orange. Their jerseys are now also of a more traditional style. The Sharks entered the season as a favourite pick by many to win the Stanley Cup, which their overall record does reflect on. While San Jose did have an impressive overall record, their best month was March, when they were almost unstoppable, going 13-0-2. In a game on February 9^th against the Nashville Predators, the Sharks won 4-3, giving head coach Ron Wilson his 500^th win, making him the 11^th coach in NHL history to win 500 games. After a very good season, the Sharks went on to win their third Pacific Division championship in franchise history, and made the playoffs for the fourth straight season. In the first round, they defeated the Calgary Flames in seven games, but in the second round they lost to Division rivals the Dallas Stars in six.

That’s pretty much it for the Aftermath this year. Next time, I’ll try to finish it faster…