Rangers Advance To Stanley Cup Finals For First Time In 20 Years

((HT: NHL.com/NBCSN))

And our man-crush on Doc Emrick manifested itself last night once again...


Now, the Rangers wait for (hopefully for them) a seven-game series between Los Angeles and Chicago.
Game 6 is tonight in Los Angeles

Pens Swept In 4 By Boston: Now What...??? (UPDATED: With The Last Minute Of Play)

((HT: NHL on NBCSN/CBC))

For the first time in over thirty years, the Pittsburgh Penguins have been swept in a playoff series- losing 1-0 in Game 4 in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Boston Bruins.

Tuukka Rask only gave up two goals in the four games in the series. And the Pittsburgh Penguins seemed stymied (and that's putting it lightly) when their high-flying offense met the physical Bruins team and were no match for their status and stature.

Here's your game-winner...
The questions now will be raised on more than one level in Pittsburgh... Will Dan Bylsma get to come back in the first place after being a top seed that gets bumped around and bumped out... Answer: Prolly not... Who stays from the free agent pool and who gets let go...??? Pascal Dupuis should get a raise from his US$1.5-million, but will it be in Pittsburgh...??? Jarome Iginla made US$7-million this season... does he stay...??? Brendan Morrow at $4.1-million...??? Matt Cooke at $1.25-million...??? Douglas Murray, Craig Adams, and Mark Eaton are all unrestricted free agents and the cap is supposed to decrease... But how much blame should be laid at the skates of Malkin and Crosby who scored NO points at all... Not just in Game 4, but in the entire series... It will be a long summer in Pittsburgh where tempers are short and expectations are always high... Bylsma said his team left it "all out there" on the ice, but the Bruins survived the last minute and 50 seconds with a lot of help...
And it's times like that to reinforce why Doc Emrick should call every hockey game on the planet at all times...
Unless, you're Bob Cole or something like that...

Eastern Conference Finals Are Already Chippy

((HT: NHL on NBC/CBC))

There was no disputing that the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins was going to be a face-to-face situation where neither side was going to flinch.

Evidence in that came in the form of the second period...

Boarding penalties on Matt Cooke (on Adam McQuaid) and then, with 30 seconds left in the period, by Brad Marchand (on James Neal) all hell broke loose. And when Evgeni Malkin decides to drop, then prevailing wisdom is that this is an extraordinary circumstance.


The HQ finds it interesting that Crosby made a point to woof with fellow captain Zdeno Chara.

But the talk went more toward:

1) Matt Cooke getting ejected for his hit on McQuaid and,
2) How some (Crosby) thought the officials let the game get out of hand and get to the point of having one of the games stars so frustrated that we was ready to drop...

Please review and discuss...
((HT: CSNNE.com))


Looks like Cooke will escape further punishment for Game 2, but odds are the HQ thinks he'll be on a short leash for the rest of the series...

Mystery: Masseuse dies at Chris Bosh's house

Cue the Who soundtrack and call David Caruso...

Chris bosh

According to multiple reports, a masseuse working on injured Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh at his Miami home, passed out and eventually died after working on him.

Bosh, who injured his abdominal muscles a couple of weeks ago had been vigorously rehabbing the injury and the hope is that he will return to the Heat for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals series. The Heat and Celtics are currently tied at 2 games each.

Bosh is apparently a game time decision for Game 5.

The reports say Miami Beach Police don't suspect foul play. They believe the masseuse was a recent cancer survivor who was already in bad health.