Part Two: Who’s Going to Raise the Cup?

By Andrew Miller

After taking a look at the top teams in the East, it’s time to see who is going to be the kings of the West. With the consistency and firepower of the Ducks and Blackhawks, the two teams are up ten points on everyone else in the conference. Although the Ducks claimed the last head to head match up, it’s a toss up any time these teams clash. Who gets the best of each other in a seven game series come May?

Anaheim Ducks

(AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

This squad has everything in place for a long run in the playoffs: talent, depth, goaltending, and a great coach in Bruce Boudreau. The trio of Getzlaf, Perry, and Ryan are taking the reigns, but the Ducks are much more than that. 10 forwards in addition to the journeyman defensemen Sheldon Souray have scored at least five goals. On their lethal power play nine different skaters have found the net. If a team stops one line or even two, the Ducks could still manage to win.

Defensively, the Ducks have no standouts, but no issues. Francis Beauchemin eats up minutes with over 23 a game and all the way down the line they are solid. Souray, Lydman, and Allen are all veterans who know what it takes to get to the Cup. The true steal for the Ducks comes in between the pipes. Before the season, no one knew Victor Fasth was, but after his consistency, he should be getting to be a household name. In 15 games, he got the win in 11 of them with a 2.15 GAA and a .922 save percentage. Hiller is no slouch posting respectable numbers himself. The only issue may be deciding on a starter in the playoffs, but it’s a good issue to have.

Chicago Blackhawks

What happened to the goaltending questions in the Windy City? Through 30 games, the ‘Hawks have only surrendered 66 goals which is best in the West. Corey Crawford is playing out of his mind posting a 1.86 GAA and a .926 save percentage. The 28 year old is hitting is prime with the rest of the team. Three years into his full time starting job, his name in absolutely in the Vezina conversation. Everyone knows the names patrolling the blue line between Keith, Seabrook, and Hjalmarsson, but no one could have predicted Michael Rozsival and Johnny Oduya to make an impact. Add youngster Nick Leddy to the mix and Chicago is looking at a fantastic defensive corps.

Much less surprising is the success of their high-powered high possession offense. The Blackhawks lead the West in goals for with 102, barely holding off the Ducks at 100 even. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews have scored multiple highlight reel goals supported by Hossa, Sharp, and the emergence of Bryan Bickell and Viktor Stalberg. However, the team heavily relies on star power, similar to the Penguins, and if a key player goes down as the season winds down, it could spell disaster for Joel Quenneville and his team.

Verdict: Anaheim Ducks

Most numbers point to the Chicago Blackhawks taking the Western Conference, but the deciding factors will be the power play and depth. The Ducks are third in the league in man up opportunities, while Chicago isn’t even in the top ten. More importantly, there are no easy roads to the Cup, and the Blackhawks rely too much on Toews and Kane to keep their offense clicking. The grind to the finals will take its toll and wear down the super stars. And don’t forget Bruce Boudreau is hungrier than anyone else to get to the finals after experiencing losses in the playoffs with the Capitals. One thing is for sure; this series would be one for the ages. 

Top Five: Goal Scorers in the NHL

Although there is still no season, we discuss who the top five pure goal scorers in the league are, assuming there once was a season and will eventually be a season in the future, kicking off Andrew Miller's Top 5s series

By Andrew Miller

(AP Images)

As for a quick recap on the latest for the NHL lockout.

Recently, the owners offered the players a new CBA that would be a six-year deal and calls for a 50-50 split of the revenue. Although it was a considerable step forward in the negotiation process, the players felt that they were still losing too much money and talks on Thursday broke up after only one hour. Hockey seems so close yet so far. Now we move on to the fun part.

5. Marian Gaborik (New York Rangers)

Known for his lightning quick release, this sniper finds himself starting off the list at number five. Sneaking his way onto the goal chart last year, he finished third with 41 goals a year while only taking 276 shots, by far the least amount out of the five featured players. Although Gaborik did not register a hat trick last year, he still was a much needed offensive weapon for the Rangers who ended the season averaging a mediocre 2.71 goals per game and therefore earned his spot at number five.

4. Alex Ovechkin (Washington Caps)

Some may be surprised to find him this low on the list, but I’m sure more would argue he shouldn’t even be on the list. Coming in at number four is ‘The Great Eight’, Alex Ovechkin. Although he hasn’t hit the 40 goal mark in last two seasons, the 27 year old has already had netted 50 goals four times and 40 goals five times in his career. Easily one of the most electric players in the game today, Ovechkin finished the 2011-2012 campaign with 38 goals, good for fifth in the game. Even with the recent dip in production, no goalie would want to go toe to toe with this Cap.

3. Corey Perry (Anaheim Ducks)

On some nights he may not even be the star, sharing the spotlight with line mates Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan, but Corey Perry made his way to number three on the top NHL goal scorers list by filling the net. He trails only Steven Stamkos in goals over the past two years with 87. He may have only finished ninth in scoring last year, but he cracked the top five in all important power play goals. Look for the former first round pick to continue to blossom as he hits his prime in his NHL career.

2. Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburg Penguins)

The last two on the last are very predictable, however their numbers prove their dominance. The second Russian in the top five, Evgeni Malkin, put the Penguins on his back last year as the best player in the world, Sidney Crosby, was sidelined for most of the year. However, dropping his favorite assist man onto the IR didn’t hold back Malkin. The scoring machine put up 50 goals in only 75 games. Giving him an average of .66 goals per game, Malkin stood alone as the only player on the list to also crack the 100 point barrier. There was only one man on the planet that was more prolific when it came to hitting the twine and Malkin will have his work cut off for him to slide up from number two on the list.

1. Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay Lightning)

No surprises at number one with the Canadian, Steven Stamkos. This beast of a center has made a living ripping one timers on the power play and terrorizing defensive schemes from any where in the zone. Read some of his astronomical numbers during the last year. He totaled 60 goals, 12 game winning goals tying him for the league lead, had five overtime goals (number one in the NHL), scored on 19.8 percent of his shots (also number one), and found the goal column in 73 percent of his games (of course, best in the league). That’s not even his most impressive stat. He has scored an absurd 156 over the past three years. The craziest part: he is only 22. Stamkos has plenty time of add to his already high career total of 179 goals over four years and that’s why he earned the title of number one goal scorer in the NHL. 

That's Embarrassing

Corey Perry is a talented hockey player.

He's a perfect complement to the distributing style of Ryan Getzlaf, as Perry possesses an uncanny snap-shot that leaves even the league's best goalies shaking their heads. He's also known for his vision and passing ability, especially in tight quarters. Witness his distribution on this passing play to Ryan Getzlaf, where he just fires the puck off his backhand without looking to see where Getzlaf is. Naturally, it lands right in the middle of the stick for a goal.



And last night in Anaheim, Perry tried to make a similar play when faced with a 3-2 deficit late in a game. This time he circled to his forehand, looking for a player to make a move to the front of the net.

Unfortunately for him, the puck careened off the side of the Oilers net, and proceeded to slide 200 feet towards the Ducks goal, before bouncing in for the sixth, and final goal in the 4-2 Edmonton Oiler victory.

And though Tom Gilbert got the credit for the goal, Perry got a highlight that's going to easily qualify for #1 on the ESPN Not Top 10.
(That is, if ESPN showed any hockey)

Other thoughts:

1) Yes, that's 18-year-old Taylor Hall putting up the choking sign. In fact, the entire Edmonton bench basically erupts into laughter watching this play. Look for Head Coach Tom Renney stepping down from the bench to hide behind his players as he laughs.

2) It's not on the above version of the play, but the Edmonton feed shows Ryan Whitney giving a giant sigh of relief after this goal goes in. He did not want to be the repeat of Patrik Stefan, who missed an open net, only to have his opponent score on him.

3) The entire Edmonton bench stands up when this puck goes down the ice. Anaheim? They just sit there stunned at the turn of events. If you want to get a feel for a team, look at the bench and its reaction to plays.

4) Perry left the ice with 15.4 seconds left. It's one of the few times you'll ever see a hockey player leave before the game is over.

5) That song playing in the background? "Stranglehold", by Ted Nugent. Even the sound guy for Anaheim knew what was going on.