There may have been a point early in the second round where fans of Canadian-based teams could get excited — and in a parallel universe, Gary Bettman might have wet the bed — where you could imagine Montréal and Vancouver meeting for the Stanley Cup.
Those fantasies, and Bettman's potential wetness, are the furthest thing from anyone's mind right now. The Canadiens and Canucks now have something unfortunate in common: the next loss in this round will be the last game of the year for these teams.
Montréal can say it can keep up with the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Except for Game 1, where the NHL forced them to play so soon after beating Washington, the Canadiens have been in every game. Close means nothing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Vancouver has itself turned around and doesn't know which way is up. Some of why this is true stems from continuous infractions — goaltender interference — that Chicago is allowed to do against Vancouver in this series (and last year). This is itself looks bad when penalties aren't called. But what seems mysterious is that Chicago doesn't do this against any other team and usually not in the playoffs.
The NHL is certainly aware of allegations that goaltender interference is occurring in this series against the Canucks — and last year too — but seems to think this is acceptable behavior.
There will always be teams — American or Canadian — that complain about calls in a playoff series. Washington and Detroit certainly had their fair share of complaints. What Chicago is doing against Vancouver is systematic, a key part of their strategy, and they have received the unofficial nod of the officials, the NHL, and Gary Bettman.
If you think there is an air of whining here, consider this: Chicago in last year's playoffs got away with this behavior, and they advanced to the Western Conference final. Yet, they didn't do the same thing against the Detroit Red Wings. And Chicago lost. Why would you stop a behavior that was working? Why would you sacrifice a key part of your playoff strategy when it's working.
One could offer that Chicago wouldn't get away with it against Detroit because the referees would call it. They should start making the call against all teams — American or Canadian.
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Versus "learned" its lesson after people in Chicago were complaining about the anthems not being shown on TV. Versus "forgot" that lesson in last night's coverage of Montréal-Pittsburgh, and didn't show the anthems.
As Versus play-by-play announcer John Forslund noted, "We know the anthems are very special." Versus executives, listen to Forslund. You clearly don't want to listen to me.
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The theoretical Montréal-Pittsburgh Game 7's starting time is still listed as TBD. The theoretical Game 6 with Boston-Philadelphia for Wednesday night is also at TBD. The NHL's scheduling, combined with NBC's refusal to carry a game this weekend, has screwed up scheduling for the playoffs.
There was a collision course set for Monday night with three games set in the same time zone (Eastern). San Jose eliminated one of those contests by eliminating Detroit. As it is, the two games mentioned in the previous paragraph will play at the same time Monday night. Boston-Philly, thanks to NBC, got two days off. Why Versus can't carry a game on Sunday afternoon might be contained in the fine print of the contract.
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