May 12, 2015
Thumbs up to standout playoff moments
Joel Ward's buzzer-beater, Tyler Johnson's later buzzer-beater, Alex Ovechkin's goal-scoring dive and Carey Price's save on Valtteri Filppula. TSN's Dave Hodge gives thumbs up to these and other standout playoff moments, as well as the ones to come.
By Dave Hodge
It has been said that the first two rounds of 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs have produced more standout moments than you'd expect to see in four rounds, and the second round isn't over yet. One reason for all the stuff that is memorable is that so many games have been decided by one goal, so it figures that many of them have turned on one great shot, save, call, non-call, injury etc.
Without one bit of research, I came up with a list.
Joel Ward's buzzer-beater, Tyler Johnson's later buzzer-beater, Alex Ovechkin's goal-scoring dive, Brent Seabrook's winner in the third overtime, John Tavares' winner that took 15 seconds of overtime, Carey Price's save on Valtteri Filppula, Chris Kreider's season-saver when the Rangers were 1:41 from elimination, the Calgary crowd, the Winnipeg crowd, Washington's disallowed goal that should have counted, Tampa Bay's offside goal that shouldn't have counted, Vladimir Tarasenko's hat-trick, Braden Holtby's save on Carl Hagelin's penalty shot, Hagelin's OT goal that eliminated Pittsburgh, Corey Perry's OT goal that eliminated the Flames, Jim Cornelison and Ginette Reno.
Thumbs up to those moments, the ones I left out and the ones to come.
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Ask anyone who knows him what Mike Babcock wants most and the answer will be "He wants to win."
Of course, there will be other factors that influence his decision, but if they're all attractive and the team's prospects aren't, Babcock won't be interested. So all he has to do is identify the best road to the Stanley Cup, or should I make that plural and say, Stanley Cups? Players try to do that all the time. It's not easy.
Remember Marian Hossa's need to win, which he couldn't do in Atlanta? Pittsburgh thought they'd have him for a a while, but he snubbed the Penguins and left for Detroit, and then tried again, this time successfully, with a third move, to Chicago.
Jarome Iginla changed his mind from Boston to Pittsburgh and then back to Boston, had playoff runs in both places and then hoped for another one in Colorado. Staying in Calgary would have seemed like a good idea this season.
Babcock will have more to do with the success of his chosen team that Hossa or Iginla or any player could possibly have, but his crystal ball is just the same - murky, and in need of the right guess.