Peter Laviolette: Master Of The Punch

The Flyers got off to a slow start tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes, and before anyone could blink, the Canes had a 2-0 lead. Angry, Peter Laviolette called one of his patented timeouts. Only, Peter Laviolette did not just call timeout. During the timeout, he let his hands get the best of him and he ended up punching Ville Leino in the noggin. Seriously.



Ouch. The good news for Leino is he seems to have quite the ability to take a punch and shrug it off. Even better news is it has given us a hilarious .GIF that will surely be revisited over and over again.

OMGWTF, Joe Beninati!

I don't think I have ever laughed out loud before as one of the hockey teams that I hate the most score what would turn out to be a game winning, series clinching goal, but that's exactly what happened tonight. Not only was this goal so soft that my grandmother could easily made the save even had her legs for some odd reason been shackled together, but when Daryl Reaugh used the phrase "OMG" to describe his disbelief at what he just saw, Joe Beninati was rather perplexed. Prepare for lolz.



ROTFLMAO!!!

I wonder what would have happened had Reaugh said "WTF" instead? Beninati may have ended up topping Eck from Friday night! And in the process may have gotten himself fired! Wait a minute!!!! Damn!!!! If only Reaugh had said, "WTF", this would have been the greatest day in NHL history!!!!!

Oh, and some advice to Beninati, please, do us all a favor, make a friend with someone who is under 30. He or she will help you a lot in life. Really.

NHL Playoffs Day 36 Open Thread (East Game 4)

Tonight's game....

Game 4: Pittsburgh @ Carolina 7:30 (Versus - Joe Beninati and Daryl Reaugh, SR: Christine Simpson) (CBC - Bob Cole and Greg Millen, SR: Elliotte Friedman) (RDS)

Enjoy the game and leave comments!

I'll try to have some live blogs up this week including Game 5 of Magic-Cavs regardless of tonight's result, I don't know about tomorrow yet.

NHL Playoffs Day 34 Open Thread (East Game 3)

Tonight's games.....

Game 3: Pittsburgh @ Carolina 7:30 (Versus - Joe Beninati and Daryl Reaugh, SR: Christine Simpson) (CBC - Bob Cole and Greg Millen, SR: Elliotte Friedman) (RDS)

Enjoy the game and leave comments!

NHL Playoffs Day 32 Open Thread (East Game 2)

Tonight's game....

Carolina @ Pittsburgh 7:30 (Versus - Joe Beninati and Daryl Reaugh, SR: Christine Simpson) (TSN - Gord Miller, ItG: Pierre McGuire, SR: Ryan Rishaug) (RDS)

Enjoy the game and leave comments!

NHL Playoffs Day 30 Live Blog (East Game 1)

Tonight's game....

Game 1: Carolina @ Pittsburgh 7:30 (Versus - Joe Beninati and Daryl Reaugh, SR: Christine Simpson) (TSN - Gord Miller, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (RDS)

Enjoy the game and leave comments!

What. A. Night

That was about one of the most exciting 4 hours of hockey I have witnessed in a long, long time. 2 Game 7s and one of them went into ovetime and the other only had a game-winning and series-winning goal with 3 minutes left in the game. Which quite frankly, for the NHL nowadays, is pretty much your average, run-of-the-mill day! But alas, I will allow the videos to do the speaking on last night. First up, here's Cleary!



And now, into overtime we go ahd Scott Walker, you who has never scored in ovetime goal in your NHL career, the ice is yours!



Just an incredible night and 2 incredible games. I will have the schedules up tomorrow, but we'v3e got the Red Wings and the Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals and the Hurricanes and the Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals. It should be good times, indeed and I will try to have some more live blogs up for you guys as we progress deeper into the playoffs (I won't live blog everything, but I'll do some on nights I'll be around all night). Oh yeah, one last thing. Who in the blue hell is this and why on Earth did Versus/TSN think it was a good idea to flash him on the screen for 2 seconds during the 3rd period of the Hurricanes-Bruins game?



JC guessed Boris Yeltsin and frankly I think he may be on to something. Your thoughts on 2 things here, first of all, is that Boris Yeltsin? And if so, then why on earth would the Versus/TSN even have a picture of him????????

NHL Playoffs Day 28 Live Blog

I'm going to do this anyway even though I will most likely be in and out for the evening (including possibly missing the start). I was hoping to do one last night but I got home literally 5-minutes until game time and I had not eaten yet (and I was starving, btw) and there was no time to set up the blog. Plus add on top of that the fact that I was exhausted and there was just no flipping way it was happening. But it is tonight! So get your comments and your funny ready, it should be a heck of a night (well, on the bright side, it can't be worse than last night).

Tonight's games....

Game 7: Anaheim @ Detroit 7:00 (Versus - Dave Strader and Darren Eliot, SR: Lindsay Soto) (CBC - Bob Cole and Greg Millen, SR: Elliotte Friedman)

Game 7: Carolina @ Boston 8:00 (Versus - will JIP TSN broadcast) (TSN - Gord Miller, ItG: Pierre McGuire)

Enjoy the games and leave comments (unless you're a troll named Nathan and/or a "sports reporter" from Detroit and/or Boston!)

When Fighting In Hockey, One Should Not Daydream

I'm not exactly sure where Aaron Ward of the Boston Bruins was as he was about to fight with Scott Walker of the Carolina Hurricanes, but it certainly was not in the TD Banknorth Garden. Hell, Ward may not have even been on Planet Earth. And for it, he was literally Knocked The Fuck Out by Scott Walker. Here's the video for your enjoyment.



I feel like a mean-spirited person for laughing at that, but I can't help but to laugh while watching that. Did he not see Walker with the gloves off? He must have thought that instead of fighting they were at a dance hall and were about to tango or something. And afterwards he may have felt that way too. It's like "Hey honey, let's dance!" and then BAM!!! Down goes Ward!! It's can be a common occurance at dances. Really. It can.

In all seriousness though, Ward would ultimately be given pretty much every penalty in the book for what happened (5 for fighting, 2 for instigating, and a 10-minute misconduct along with whatever else the NHL decides to hand out). But come on, should a guy be punished for another man's daydream?

Scott Walker apparently does not follow "Queensbury Rules" (Puck Daddy)

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun; Two Overtime Games Are Better Than One!

Sorry for the corny title. So sorry. But alas, it is true. The NHL Playoffs just continues to get better and better! And there are games that when you watch them, it just feels like you're watching an instant classic, even if the game may not have reached that level yet, some games just have that feeling. And tonight's Caps-Penguins game had that feeling to it all day long. Now whether or not it will be called an instant classic is for time to tell, but it went to overtime where Chris Letang buried it home to trim the series lead to two to one for the Capitals.



While I am pulling for the Capitals to humiliate the Penguins as much as possible and finish this off as quick as possible, I really want to see this one go seven games. Of course, I want to see the Caps win it in that 7th game (despite how I feel about their fans, who are in my top 3 for least favorite fan bases in the NHL; for reasons of hatred, see their classlessness at the end of the Flyers-Caps Game 7 after the Flyers beat them in OT) but damn, could we like maybe have that game go 5 overtimes or something, just so I can take it all in before the Pens finally lose (and besides, that may break their heart more than a sweep would). This series has been every bit as great as it has been billed to be.

However, that Letang goal was not the end of the night! We had overtime in Carolina and here's how that one ended. Cue Mr. Clutch himself, Jussi Jokinen!



Absolutely unbelieveable! And you can hear the disdain in Jack Edwards' voice as he is calling the Jokinen goal. Classic! And if the name Jussi Jokinen sounds a bit familiar, well, it should. This is the same Jussi Jokinen who did this.....



And this......(Jussi Jokinen is the tying goal, FYI)



Far be it for me to nominate anyone or put anyone in this position, but methinks that Jussi Jokinen ought to receive early consideration for the Conn Smythe trophy. Just incredible!

Videos Of Epicness: 2 Thrilling Game 7s With 2 Hilarious Choke Jobs

Well, they are hilarious for me at least, a Flyers fan. Forget the NBA playoffs, last night featured perhaps one of, if not the, most exciting and unpredictable hour that I can eve recall. The New York Rangers were up 3 games to 1 on the Capitals. The Caps had completely blown out the Rangers the next 2 games and what happened next was me seeing a team that I hate pull a 2000 Flyers Eastern Conference Finals. Your first video of epicness of the day: Highlights from Game 7 Rangers @ Caps from the Verizon Center.



And if you thought the Flyers blowing a 3-goal lead to lose a must-win Game 6, wait until you see what the Devils did in Game 7. Cue video of epicness #2: Game 7: Carolina @ New Jersey from the Prudential Center.



THAT.........WAS.......AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And no, I am not content on just showing that once. NHLVideos decided to use the Doc Emrick call from MSG+. But, John Forslund was admitted into the hospital last night after calling the Hurricanes-Devils game. Here's why.....



This will never get old!!! Good luck to the Carolina Hurricanes. You guys officially have my support to win the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And it does not hurt my new-found love for them that they have ex-Flyer Rod Brind'amour.

Conference Semifinals start tomorrow with the Blackhawks vs. the Canucks at 9:00 tomorrow (schedule will be up in a bit). And thanks to the Hurricanes comeback, it's Ovechkin vs. Crosby!!!!! I've never been this pumped for a non-Flyers NHL playoff series in my life!

Video Of Epicness: Carolina Buzzer Beater And Marty Brodeur Temper Tantrum

If there's one thing that will cheer you up when the Flyers play the game of their lives against the Penguins only to be denied by an even more specatular Marc-Andre Fleury and lose (the series score has been revised, it's now Pens 2, Flyers 1, Marc-Andre Fleury 1), it's seeing the New Jersey Devils get screwed over by the refs on a buzzer beating goal to win the game and then seeing Marty Brodeur throw a huge hissy fit. Wait.....what did he just say???? Cue the video!!!



HAHA!!!!!

And while Marty Brodeur certainly had a point that there was a bit of interference on that play, it is the playoffs and sometimes it is best to just let them play on, especially when it is sort of ticky-tacky as that was. I'm not saying there was no interference, I'm just saying that 9 times out of 10 that call in the waning seconds of a tied playoff game will not be made, regardless of who the official is.