Month: June 2019

The one thing game officials don’t want to miss on the ice is a goal or a missed call which leads to the game winning goal no less. Unfortunately—that’s what happened in Boston in Game 5 when the obvious trip in the Bruins’ zone led to a turnover and what turned out to be the game winner by Perron.

You can’t miss that call, but all four game officials did and the St. Louis Blues head back home with a chance to clinch their first ever Cup in Game 6.

Having written this…I would also add the Blues have played great hockey these past two games with Jordan Binnington and Ryan O’Reilly leading the way.

Binnington has been fabulous in net after the Game 3 meltdown and O’Reily has been the best hockey player on the ice these past two games scoring a game winner and notching a game winning assist as well.

Boston’s powerplay went thud in Game 5 and their first line did not produce. The lines were tinkered with and the Bruins went with only eleven forwards. Yet…the puck still did not find the back of the net.

In the last two games combined—the Bruins have scored but three goals as a team.

My three leading candidates for the Conn Smthye heading into Game 6 in St. Louis are in this order currently…1 Binnington, 2 Rask, and 3 O’Reily.

Championship teams often take on the persona of their head coach and these Blues very much have the look of Craig Berube intertwined in their game.

The Boston Bruins simply have to put the puck in the back of the net or else the Blues will be hoisting the Cup.

My beloved Bruins and the St. Louis Blues are now tied at 2-2 in a pretty good Stanley Cup Finals. The NBA Finals now move to Oakland with the Warriors and Raptors tied at one game apiece. Originally—I had the Warriors in six games and I’ll stay with that pick.

Klay Thompson has now played in 120 straight playoff games. He’s no Cupcake—he plays through the aches and pains unlike some we know. I would think he plays in Game 3 in Oakland. He knows his body. He’s a champion with a championship pedigree. He would never fit in with all the dysfunction in Oklahoma City in the spoiled culture of Sam Presti’s pampered players.

Klay Thompson would never allow Little Nick Gallo to rub his crotch against him in a post game presser. Klay Thompson would answer every Berry Tramel question. Klay Thompson would help the college level media in Oklahoma City help understand the finer nuances of the pro game from a mental standpoint.

It’s going to be tough for me next season to go back to covering the overpaid, over-hyped Thunder of Sam Presti, but I feel a moral obligation in that the Daily Thunder became so horrific this past season someone with a moral compass needs to be recording this for the basketball archives in Oklahoma.

I’ve come to respect both the Warriors and the Trailblazers as my feelings for the Thunder are fairly obvious.

But of course Little Nick Gallo and Low Energy Royce Young will be back to chronicle the Thunder for the novice level Thunder fans who only started following the NBA after Katrina.

Hope Klay plays. He’s my favorite NBA player and he’s a huge part of what the Warriors have become.

For all of our talk of the Warriors being loaded they just keep proving there’s much more to them than just a loaded roster. It doesn’t matter who has gone down in these NBA Playoffs—they just find a way to overcome it and move on to the next game.

Still no Durant and then Thompson and Looney go down in Game 2 on the road, yet Steph leads and they follow. They follow.

With the series hanging in balance perhaps, Andre Iguodala nails a clutch three point shot to get the Warriors back in Oakland with the series tied at 1-1.

Do you really see a Thunder role player taking that shot in that situation? Would you have seen say Jerami Grant given the green light in that situation with five seconds remaining on the road? I don’t think so.

If I were a Thunder fan inside the Peake I’d stop booing the Warriors and start admiring them for the mental toughness they possess which the hometown Thunder can’t seem to instill in their system.

It’s hard to be too critical of the St. Louis Blues for a lack of energy in this game as three of Boston’s first four shots found the back of the net and in essence the game was over before it ever got out of the first period.

The final score was 7-2 in favor of the Boston as the Bruins won back home ice and have a 2-1 series lead. Boston now needs two wins to become the city’s third major league champion this season. Not that home ice means that much with the Blues in that they are 5-6 at home in this post season run of theirs.

Blues’ rookie netminder Jordan Binnington was horrific. He couldn’t stop anything. Of Boston’s seven goals they came on a total of fifteen shots in sequence.

It’s hard to be too critical of the Blues given that when your goalies can’t stop anything in front of them it’s hard to establish much trust with the remainder of the team.

There is a silver lining in this in that I don’t have to play the Gloria song on here in my Game 3 recap.

Patrice Bergeron, Tory Krug and Tuukka Rask are my three stars of the game. Boston’s fourth line was once again excellent.

Tuukka Rask is my leader on the board currently for the Conn Smythe if the Bruins do indeed go ahead and close out the series.

I’m not sure what St. Louis coach Craig Berube should do in net in Game 4. I guess you roll Binnington out there and see what happens.

Back to basketball tonight in Toronto as the Raptors lead the finals 1-0 after Pascal Siakam’s great Game 1 performance. I would guess Kevin Durant will be playing in Oakland when the series heads back west.