The Ottawa Senators battled bruising teams in the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers, but defeated both teams in 6 games in each series. This is the 3rd time the Sens have been to the conference final: Ottawa lost in 7 games to the New Jersey Devils in 2003 but won over the Buffalo Sabres in 5 games in 2007 on the way to the Stanley Cup.
Ottawa beat Pittsburgh in the opening round in the 2007 playoffs on the way to the Stanley Cup final. Since then, the Senators lost in the first round in 2008 and 2010 and the second round in 2013. Ottawa only won 3 games in those last 3 series.
Game 6 in New York City was the first time the Sens won by more than a single goal in the playoffs. The amount of time with the lead in Game 6 greatly surpassed the time with the lead in the other 5 games. If overtime is a theme against Pittsburgh, the Senators are 5-1 in OT during the playoffs.
The Ottawa Senators will be on CBC especially since Edmonton is gone from the playoffs. Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson should come back to the Eastern final. We know the #1 NBC crew will cover the Sens series. Game 1 is Saturday in Pittsburgh.
The Edmonton Oilers may have done too much in Game 6. The Oilers definitely didn't do enough in Game 7 despite scoring the game's first goal. But this series will go down as the one stolen by the referees.
We got a very strong taste of why Canada thinks the NHL is biased against their teams. The list of issues in Game 4 in Edmonton are too long but can be found here. Plenty of teams can focus on missed calls. but the sudden increase in looking the other way was alarming for a professional sport.
The goaltender interference that wasn't called near the end of regulation in Game 5 was still bewildering, especially when NBC Universal generally didn't think it was controversial at all. Chris Cuthbert said the word "controversy" on NBCSN before Game 6. Hopefully, NBC Universal didn't punish him for saying that on the air.
2 things on that non-call
- The referees cited the rule that once a player is pushed into a crease by an opponent, goaltender interference does not apply. While that rule exists, the actions of that player don't allow him to do what Ryan Kesler did in the crease. Kesler and the Ducks know they can away with that and other penalties because 1) they are the Ducks and 2) playoffs. The NHL will insist if some other team does the same thing (e.g., Edmonton) that such action isn't allowed. But Anaheim has immunity that doesn't exist for Edmonton.
- Brian Boucher was a NHL goalie but finds odd times to act like he never played in the league. Boucher pulled his "I can't see that" routine to discount any possibility of goaltender interference. I don't mind if a goalie is too biased for his position. Glenn Healy and Kelly Hrudey stand out in bringing an honest portrayal of goalies as analysts. Boucher continues to come across as completely dishonest.
Just because Gary Bettman is in denial and pressures others to be in denial, the fan base and the world around them knows what is happening.
2017 NHL Stanley Cup notebook: Edmonton crowd dazzles with U.S. anthem
2017 NHL Stanley Cup notebook: 2nd round preview
2017 NHL Stanley Cup notebook: Edmonton, Ottawa survive to Round 2
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2017 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs preview
Ask any woman about the bathroom ratios at a hockey arena and you will get a frustrated look on that woman. So imagine what would happen if 2 female washrooms were converted to male washrooms.
Edmonton Oilers fans ran into that for Games 3 and 4 at Rogers Place. The facility switches washrooms based on the expected gender demographic ratio for events.
Even in normal times, the ratio of women's washrooms had been debated.
The best solutions are troughs for men, which modern stadiums aren't allowed to do, or gender-neutral restrooms. Even if some people choose not to use the gender-neutral restrooms, the people who use them open up more room for those who prefer gender-specific restrooms.
Rogers Sportsnet brought Canadians a bit more of NBC and NBCSN in the second round.
We mentioned in the last update that Rogers picked up the NBCSN feed for the Pittsburgh-Washington opener. Rogers went with the NBC feed for Game 3 and Game 6 as well as the NBCSN feed for Game 4 of the "Norris" matchup. The company made a small concession with reporters Sean Reynolds and Dan Murphy to make it look like Rogers has some presence on-site.
Dave Randorf and Louie DeBrusk worked the Nashville-St. Louis series for games on the CBC, since those games on the public broadcaster have to be produced. Under the old contract, CBC and TSN were very happy to broadcast second-round games. Rogers isn't as interested in the quality of the productions: why subject Canadians to John Forslund and Brian Boucher?
We complain about the lack of imagination in shots of Ottawa by NBC Universal. At least Ottawa gets shown in some form. The Western games don't get shots of the city. We saw more of the Los Angeles and Calgary areas in CBC promos than from NBCU in the second round.
This isn't as anti-Canada as the policy is anti-West. If NBCU decided to showcase Edmonton, the cameras could show the West Edmonton Mall, South Saskatchewan River, and taking a camera down Whyte Avenue. The one of the fun parts of After Hours was showing the Western cities. So if NBCU discovers terrain west of the Mississippi River, they can call Scott Oake and the After Hours crew for some good locations.
2017 NHL Stanley Cup notebook: Edmonton crowd dazzles with U.S. anthem
NBCU is terribly consistent in being inconsistent in showing the anthems. NBCSN showed anthems in New York City in Games 3, 4, and 6 but not Game 5 in Ottawa. The anthems in Canada tend to be more beautiful, especially when the microphone breaks down. Hopefully, NBCU isn't afraid of a little French though other anthems have been broadcast from Ottawa in the playoffs. NBCU's priorities are a bit messed up.
2017 Stanley Cup playoffs scoreboard
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
CBC Vancouver blew off the Ottawa Senators series clincher for British Columbia election coverage. The move obviously also affected U.S. viewers in western Washington who had to rely on NBCSN. On the Canadian side, viewers could watch the game on Rogers Sportsnet or stream the game through CBC Sports.
The Nova Scotia election will be on May 30.
CBC will carry all of the Western final, starting Friday except for Game 2 on Sunday. Rogers Sportsnet will carry Game 2. This might be an extension of the Sunday night ban due to We Are Canada and Canada: The Story of Us. Anne has ended its primary run on CBC.
John Forslund kept going with the Ottawa series while Chris Cuthbert finished the Edmonton series. Brian Boucher and Joe Micheletti switched series. But that created a few problems. The Edmonton series was doing OK with Cuthbert and Micheletti so the move made one series worse and one series better. Also, while I suggested Cuthbert and Micheletti work the Ottawa, you did have the visual of a New York Rangers employee on a New York Rangers national game. Micheletti was more professional than either Forslund or Boucher, but it did look bad.
Game 6 for Ottawa and Game 7 for Edmonton took on 3-headed monsters with Pierre McGuire joining the crew in New York City and Micheletti go bi-coastal in back-to-back nights. The 3-person crew was a nice touch, especially if Mike Johnson had replaced Boucher.
Hell, Louie DeBrusk was available. As bad as he is on the Rogers telecasts, still better than Boucher.
photo credits: all through NHL via NBCSN
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