It's Hockey Day in America!

From banner-barren San Jose to Boston, from Newark to hockey's newest-home-to-be in Las Vegas. From the cathedral that is Joe Louis Arena in Detroit all the way to the wasteland that is hockey in Miami and the Panthers.

We love the game, some of us live the game, and we around these parts all pull hard for the USA.

It's a national holiday in the US and Canada!

Or rather, it should be.

The NHL playoffs begin today (Hey Jeff Vanderbeek, enjoy them on teevee, you have nobody to blame but yourself) and so many first round series' have intrigue and involve long-time rivals.

Johnny's first round picks you ask?

Chicago over Minnesota in 4 because it can't be 3.

Detroit over Anaheim in 6 or 7. These teams meet like clockwork in the playoffs don't they?

San Jose over Vancouver. It's the playoffs and like always the Canucks are a mess. Sharks in 6.

It'd be great if St. Louis won. Johnny would like to see the Blues win a cup one day. But the Kings have had the Blues number. Kings in 7
___________

Pittsburgh over the overmatched Islanders in 4. Unless Darius Kasparaitis and David Volek plan on suiting up.

Boston over Toronto in 5. Toronto would have been better off playing Montreal but Ottawa ganked that up.

Capitals and Rangers. Hmmmmm, for five minutes Johnny think the Caps will win and for the next five he thinks it'll be the Rangers. Just flipped a coin. Rangers in 7.

Montreal and Ottawa. And CBC will STILL show the Leafs. Montreal in 6.

So dear readers, who ya got?!

Will the Stanley Cup be given out tonight?

Can the city of Vancouver's hippies celebrate their first Stanley Cup since the Millionaires did it in 1915? This would be the first for the Canucks franchise. Can Boston stave off elimination and force a game 7? Will Tim Thomas perhaps become a rarity of rarities, the Conn Smythe winner from the losing side?

Johnny doesn't much care for pro basketball but wallowing in LeBron comeuppance is so very very sweet. It's starting: I asked Lebron for a dollar but he gave me 75 cents. Apparently he doesn't have a 4th quarter. LeBron said he was taking his talents to South Beach. Someone should have told him the games are in Miami. Today is National LeBron James Day. Everyone gets to leave work 12 minutes early.

Go Bruins.

TV Guide, because TV is getting more complicated all the time

That actually used to be a TV ad tag line for TV Guide in the 80's. Uh huh. Like Zagat's but only for your living room.

Anyway here is all you need know today dear readers:
12:00 Penguins vs Lighting
3:00 Rangers vs Crapitals
7:00 Canadiens vs Bruins
10:00 Kings vs Sharks

You've got a mere half hour to make enough sammiches and make a quick bodega run to lay in more chips and Buckhorn beer. Stop reading this crap and get going.

And don't forget the Cheez Whiz boy...

Let's talk some Devils hockey this morning

Johnny was stunned and then distraught that the Devils coach Jacques Lemaire was considering resting players for the playoffs vs. trying to top Pittsburgh for the division crown in this last weekend of the regular seaon. The Devils and the Flightless Birds are dead even. Even Steven. Exact same record. BUT The Devils gave Pittsburgh a red ass beat down every single time they played this year.

The New Jersey Six hold the tie-breaker.

Would you rather face a tough hard nosed Ottawa club in the first round? No, in Johnny's opinion Johnny would want the Bruins in the first round. They have a glass jaw. It's not as famous as the glass jaw worn by the San Jose Sharks but it's there and if the Devils could win the first two at home the B's might just go away. Sure Chara is a beast but the Devils could easily work around that.

The Canadiens in the first round wouldn't be a horrid matchup for the Devils but they do score on the powerplay at a clip that could win a game and send one or two to overtime. Always a good idea to stay away from hot powerplay teams in the tournament. Halak has used his strong Olympic performance as a springboard to much better play in the NHL.

The Flyers have just enough up front to win a game or two. Mike Richards seemingly scores 1 or 2 shorthanded goals a series. Their netminding might as well be that Capital One goat that goes skiing only on skates but their forwards can score. Then there is the Pronger factor. Take it from a lifelong die hard Red Wings fan; Chris Pronger is capable of any evil. The Wings have been playing against Pronger since seemingly the dawn of hockey time. He will and does take cheap shots and is capable of injuring ANY Devils player. Plus, looking at those orange sweaters would make your eyes bleed by game 4.

All of this speculation is out the window if the Devils shut some players down and don't win the division. Excuse me Mr. Lemaire but didn't the core of this team just get a couple weeks off for the Olympic break? Marty Brodeur certainly didn't wear himself out. Patrik Elias didn't play a ton of games either. Parise is the Energizer bunny so he needs no break.

Johnny thinks it'd be a horrible error to rest guys at this point and not spend the energy to win the division. A couple games now could mean 4-5 days off before the second round when you REALLY need to rest guys.

Around the rink on a Sunday afternoon

Well Boston sent a message this afternoon dropping the Devils to 5 points back in the race for top slot on the Eastern Conference 4-1 in Beantown. The Devils had their shots, 42 in fact, but many were from the outside of the faceoff dot and not the high quality scoring zones the Devils have been scoring from. The Devils also made an uncharacteristic mistake in the first period taking a too many men on the ice penalty which led to Boston's first goal on the powerplay. At that point the Devils were playing from behind which plays to the Bruins confidence level and allows them to play a bigger, tougher style they enjoy. The race in the east isn't over but it's looking like a #2 or #3 seed for New Jersey. To that end Johnny would say the Devils are for more likely to be a successful road team in the playoffs than Boston. A team MUST be able to win on the road come playoff time? Want proof? Last season Detroit on their way to Stanley Cup glory won 1 game at Nashville, 2 at Colorado in sweeping the Nordilanche, 2 more in Dallas in the Western Conference Finals and 2 in Pittsburgh in the Finals. The Devils will be a far better road team is Johnny's guess than the Bruins will.

Now, across the Hudson, the Rangers are playing with fire, and confidence as they make a late season push to secure a playoff spot. Since they changed coaches to John Tortorella, the Rangers are giving effort, effort that wasn't there before. The trading deadline provided some more depth but the real story at MSG is the fact supposed team leaders like Chris Drury, Markus Naslund and Scott Gomez have improved their games under Tortorella. Johnny thinks indeed the Rangers will make the playoffs, it may be as a #6, #7 or #8 seed but they'll get in. We'd hope for a first round matchup against New Jersey of course, one the Devils would win. The difference? The Rangers defense corps isn't scaring anyone or fooling Johnny.

Flying under the radar this time of year lost in NCAA tournament madness is the NCAA college hockey tourney, a true gem in the world of college sports. The seedings and brackets were announced today (click the image for a bigger bracket)

New Jersey Devils 3, New York Rangers 0

Well sports fans, the New Jersey Devils knocked the New Yawk Rangers down and took their lunch money at the Prudential Center bus stop tonight by a score of 3-0. It was quite apparent the Devils were bigger, stronger and more determined to make something of their lives. Zach Parise was a stud for the Devils scoring twice and was a constant threat in the Rangers end all night. The Rangers defense, when they weren't making horrid outlet passes were losing battles for loose pucks in the corners.

A lot is made about the Broadway Blue Shirts lack of offense, and the forwards have come under a lot of media scrutiny lately but take it from this in-the-know hockey fan, the problem with the Rangers forwards is their defensemen. The Rangers have nobody making good outlet passes hitting forwards with speed out of their own zone, their D to D passes are slow and lazy in their own end and they lack the ability to pick up the pace of the Rangers attack. They also don't have the defensemen to make a quick tape to tape pass on a neutral zone turnover. When you're New York and you have forwards named Drury, Gomez, Naslund, and Zherdev you have two good scoring lines. No, what you're lacking is the back end to help them shine.

The Devils defense on the other hand, while lacking a superstar DO make the smart outlet passes. They dig hard in the corners and take opposing forwards off the puck with smart positioning and moving their feet. Even though he wasn't named one of the three stars tonight, Devil Paul Martin did a great job at holding pucks in the Rangers zone, he won battles for loose pucks and was a smart +1. Martin also led all Devils in ice time with a yeoman-like total of 24:03.

We'd be remiss to not mention amazin' Scott Clemmensen's first shutout in the NHL since March 26, 2004 with Atlanta. He didn't give the Ranger many second chances on rebounds and really has been the lifeline the Devils needed this season. He'll get zero votes for league MVP, but there hasn't been a player more valuable to his team this year. A guy who was third on the Devils netminding depth chart heading into this season, Clemmensen now sports a cool 23-11-1 record.

So, the Devils have opened up a 6 point lead on Sillydelphia and an 8 point bulge on the Rags in the Atlantic Division.

New Jersey is home for an abysmal Islanders team Wednesday, and then the competition gets bigger and better with Boston coming to town Friday and San Jose on Sunday. Speaking of the Sunday game, Johnny will again be there patting kids on the head, and signing autographs under the big old Bon Jovi mural in his Charlestown Chiefs sweater.