(no subject)

Alexander had his first skating lesson yesterday. Surprisingly, the instructor said he didn't talk too much. He did have a bit of a problem staying focused on what was going on in his group, though.

Something's coming into bloom now which is wreaking havoc on my allergies- i've now had a sinus headache and the other typical symptoms for three or four days now. Bleh.

Not really anything of merit going on, so i'll keep this short.

It's that time of year....

Playoff hockey!
[I'd ordinarily put this behind a cut-tag, but i'm finding myself missing my days as a sports reporter, so suck it up and read the hockey news or feel free to move on. ;-) ]

Nothing could be better, at least as far as seeing a high concentration of really good games. Today was excellent on that level. The New Jersey Devils beat the Boston Bruins 3-0 in a game that was a 1-0 nailbiter until the last half of the third period, when the Devils got a second goal on a partial breakaway that the Bruins' goalie almost kept out of the net. An empty-net tally closed out the scoring, sealing a 3-0 win and matching advantage in the best-of-seven series for Martin Brodeur and company.

The second of the days two games featured the Edmonton Oilers hosting the Dallas Stars. These two teams have met six of the last seven years, and the series are almost always closely fought battles. This one was no different. When Dallas went up 2-1 about three and a half minutes into the third, it looked like it'd be another Stars' win in a one-goal game. Just over a minute later, however, Edmonton got a goal on a shot through traffic which eluded Stars' goalie Martie Turco, and a minute later
the Oilers' Radek Dvorak scored a pretty goal to put the Oilers ahead for good, but there were more chances on both ends.

Now if the Red Wings would only get their acts together. Two one-goal losses to Anaheim in Detroit do not have things looking promising for the defending champs. Then again, this is a lot like the position the Wings found themselves in against Vancouver in the first round last year. The difference may prove to be goaltending- last year's edition of the Wings had Dominik Hasek in net, this year the retired Dominator has given way to Curtis Joseph, who, in spite of being a seasoned NHL veteran, has yet to really prove himself by winning the big game in the playoffs. It'll be time for CuJo and troops to rally and for the Wings to figure out how to solve the Ducks Jean-Sebastien Giguere in the post-season.

Recapping the rest of the NHL first-round matchups:
In the East, the top-seeded Ottawa Senators played up to the level which saw them capture the President's Trophy as the best team in the league in rebounding to shut out the New York Islanders 3-0 after an opening game setback by the same score. Sens' goalie Patrick Lalime demonstrated his two goals-against in last year's Sens' first round series against the Philadelphia Flyers was no fluke with a stellar performance in net.

Sixth-seeded Washington got the production it needed from its top line in defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 to take a 2-0 lead in that series. Neither the Capitals' Olaf Kolzig nor the Lightning's Nikolai Khabibulin was particularly on his game in a matchup expected to be more of a goaltending battle than a high-scoring affair.

The Philadelphia Flyers notched a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs to even that series at a game apiece, getting goals from their top forwards Simone Gagne, Jeremy Roenick, Mark Recchi, and John LeClair. Toronto's top star of the first game, Alexander Mogilny notched his fourth of the playoffs in a losing effort fot the Leafs.

Out West, the Colorado Avalanche evened their series with the Minnesota Wild with a 3-2 victory in a game which saw Av's goalie Patrick Roy thanking his goalposts as three seperate Wild shots eluded him, only to ring off the iron and stay out.

The Vancouver Canucks rebounded from a first game 6-0 thrashing at the hands of the St. Louis Blues with a pair of power-play markers from Trent Klatt and Ed Jovanovski and rode solid goaltending from Dan Cloutier to even their series with the Blues with a 2-1 victory. The Blues' are expected to be without the services of All-Star defenceman Al MacInnis for an indefinite period of time with what appeared to be an injury to his right shoulder after absorbing a hit from Canucks winger Todd Bertuzzi early in the first period. Vancouver is still without production from the line of Bertuzzi, Markus Naslund and centre Brendan Morrison; the top production unit during the NHL's regular season, and will need to get some scoring from this unit to go deeper in the playoffs.