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Sunday, May 18, 2008
Kovy, Penguins, Wolves and Rule of 33
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kovy Comes Through vs. Canada
Ilya Kovalchuk only scored two goals for Russia in this year’s IIHF World Championship. But those turned out to be the two that decided the outcome of the tournament as Kovy and his Russian comrades defeated Canada 5-4 in overtime Sunday.
Kovalchuk scored the game-tying goal with about five minutes remaining in the third period. He then won the game and the gold for Russia 2:42 into the overtime period.
Despite the loss, former Thrasher teammate and current Ottawa Senator Danny Heatley was named the MVP of the tournament and top forward. Heater finished with 12 goals and 8 assists. The goal mark set a new record for the World Championships, besting Eric Lindros’ 11 set in 1993. The 20 points tied Steve Yzerman’s from 1990.
Kovalchuk returned to the lineup after serving a one game suspension for a match misconduct incurred during the quarterfinal game against Switzerland.
March Of The Penguins
Sunday the Pittsburgh Penguins spanked the Philadelphia Flyers 6-0 to take the Eastern Conference Finals four games to one. The Pens will skate into the Stanley Cup Finals with a post-season record of 12-2.
Former Thrasher Marian Hossa finished the game with a goal and three assists. For the playoffs the former Thrashers winger has nine goals and 19 points.
So much for the “MIA during the playoffs” bug-a-boo for Hossa.
Pascal Dupuis also scored a goal for the Penguins Sunday, his second of the playoffs to go with four assists.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 21 shots he faced to earn his third shutout of the post-season.
Wolves On The Attack
Meanwhile, in Chicago…the Wolves have taken the first two games of the AHL’s Western Conference Finals, thanks greatly to a few players that have seen time in Thrashers uniforms.
Game one played on Friday night saw Chicago defeat the Marlies 4-1 behind Jason Krog’s hat trick. Krog, the AHL’s leading scorer, assisted on Darrin Haydar’s goal that opened the scoring then tallied the last 3 scored by Chicago himself. Ondrej Pavelec stopped 26 of 27 shots.
Sunday’s game two wasn’t even that close as Chicago pounded Toronto 5-0. Krog was again instrumental as he notched 2 and added a helper. Joel Kwiatkowski chimed in with a goal and an assist, Haydar had 2 assists and Bryan Little got in on the fun with a goal himself. Opie stopped all 24 shots taken on him by the Marlies.
Game three is on Tuesday in Toronto.
The Rule Of 33
Are we about to witness something in the NHL playoffs so uncommon that it happens only once every two generations or so? What I am referring to is the so called “Rule of 33”. Only twice in the history of the league has a team blown a three games to none lead in a best of seven series.
The first time it happened was during WWII, in the 1942 Stanley Cup Finals. The Detroit Red Wings built up the seemingly insurmountable lead on Toronto only to see the Maple Leafs storm back and win four straights to hoist the cup.
Fast forward to the days of disco music, bell-bottoms and leisure suits in 1975 and you find the second time it happened. The New York Islanders spotted the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3-0 series lead in a playoff series match-up and then pulled the rug out from under them in the same fashion Toronto did to the Wings thirty-three years prior.
Now, 1975 plus an additional 33 years will land you in…well, today… 2008. And here we find the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars. The Wings built up the three game lead required for the “rule” to take effect and the Stars have followed it up by winning the next two. Game six is now set for Monday night in Dallas.
To find out why the Stars have bounced back, look no further than Marty Turco. In game four he stopped 33 of the 34 shots Detroit took in a 3-1 Dallas win. He bettered that performance with a 38 save outing to help Dallas take game five by a 2-1 score.
After Detroit was able to net 11 goals in the first three games, Turco is now stonewalling the high-powered Red Wing attack and giving his team a chance to win. And that is allowing the “rule” to possibly make yet another showing in the NHL playoffs after waiting the required 33 years.
So, is there something to this whole “Rule of 33” thingy? I dunno, but just this last week I witnesses LAC and GaVaHokie agree 100% on something, (bringing in John Anderson to coach and Dave Nonis to general manage the Thrashers). So, if these two can find some common ground on a given subject…something that some may see as a precursor to the Apocalypse… then surely just about anything is indeed possible.
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