Today In Sport

We have completed a week in the Stanley Cup playoffs and almost a week in the NBA so it would be a good time to see how everybody is going.  We have a couple of series that are over and some that soon will be but some others that might go down to the wire.

In the NHL, Boston completed their sweep of a very disappointing Montreal Canadiens.  The Bruins look to have the goods this year and big Tim Thomas is providing the great goaltending that every Cup hopeful needs.  Right Winger Michael Ryder is the playoff point leader at the moment with 4 goals and 3 assists.

The other sweep so far has been Vancouver over St Louis.  Unlike The Habs, St Louis although not expected to do anything at least put up a bit of a fight against The Canucks, save for Game 2.  They took the other three games to a one goal deficit and except for some Roberto Luongo brilliance might have taken a game.

The poor Columbus Blue Jackets are taking their inevitable beating from Detroit.  Chris Osgood is playing OsGreat and the Swedish starting line that Detroit has is making Swiss cheese out of Steve Mason.  It is disappointing for their first foray into the playoffs but when you play with the big boys who have lots of matches in their keeping they will burn you (that was bad but who cares).

The Rangers have bullied the Capitals and restricted Alex Ovechkin to one goal for the series.  They lead 3-1 and look to go to Washington to try and close it out.  Lundqvist is playing awesome and I’m sure is causing Ovy lots of nightmares.  New York’s problem child Sean Avery has coach John Tortorella tearing his hair out.  His antics helped cost NY game three and almost cost them game 4.  Leading 2-1 in the middle of the third period and Avery decides to lash out with a backhand as he spins into the boards, catching Milan Jurcina on the nose and causing a cut.

Avery thought he would get away with it due to being “off-balance” or something.  He didn’t and gave the Caps a free Power Play.  He was only out for a moment when he takes another dumb penalty.  Washington went on the attack and if not for some great goaltending from Lundqvist may have tied up the game.  Avery has some weird quirks like sitting on the end of the bench away from his teammates and things like that but when he wants to play he is an asset.  At the moment he is trying to screw up a sure fire series win.

Pittsburgh has been beating up on Philadelphia but in game three at home the Flyers got a bit of a boost and took a game.  But for the most part the Penguins have done as they pleased.  The barometer has been their third line.  Jordan Staal, Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy have made sure that the Flyers have no let up from line to line.  Not surprisingly in game three it was this third line that had a bad one.  They fought back in game four and the Flyers went down again.

Anaheim jumped out of the gates against San Jose knowing they had to try and break the President trophy winners spirit early.  They took both games at the Shark Tank but SJ have finally found some of their regular season form and took game three at the Pond.  The veteran and cup experienced Ducks are standing up to the Sharks and are giving them a big lesson in playoff hockey.  Let’s hope the Sharks are quick learners.

New Jersey and Carolina are locked at 2-2 after a last second goal in game four gave the Canes a 4-3 win.  This is one series that is certainly too close to call at the moment.  Another tight one is Chicago and Calgary also locked at 2-2.  Both teams are on fire at the moment and the only thing we can be sure of is more goals before this is done.

In the NBA, Lebron James and the Cleveland James Gang are 2-0 up on Detroit.  It would seem the Detroit dynasty is officially over.  The Lakers are also 2-0 up over Utah.  So it would seem that so far the two best teams in the league are on the money.

Chicago took game one away from Boston and almost stole game two if not for a last second Ray Allen shot.  It appears as though life without Kevin Garnett is pretty tough.  Philadelphia and Orlando are looking at a long series after splitting the first two games.  Superman Dwight Howard and AI Andre Iguodala are getting some good help from their respective teammates and the two teams seem evenly matched.

After a relatively quiet first game, The D-Wade show kicked into gear and tied it up 1-1.  If Miami are to have any shot at beating Atlanta then Wade needs to play like this every game.  Good thing he normally does.  After Dallas made off with game one, Tony Parker took it upon himself to win game two for San Antonio with 38 points.

The same could be said for Brandon Roy as his 42 points in game two helped his Portland Blazers tie up the series with Houston at 1-1.  Chauncey Billups and the Nuggets are giving Chris Paul and the Hornets nightmares as they lead their series 2-0.

Let’s see who makes the next round and who goes home during the next week.