Subban vs. Richards: Subban takes Round 1

A lot has been made about the trash talk coming from Mike Richards of the Flyers towards Montreal Canadiens rookie P.K. Subban.


Subban is "cocky", said the Flyers captain in a radio interview and added "he thinks he's better than a lot of people."

"You have to earn respect in this league. It takes a lot. You can't just come in here as a rookie and play like that. Hopefully someone on their team addresses it, because, uh, I'm not saying I'm going to do it, but something might happen to him if he continues to be that cocky."

What's funny is most of the coverage of this hasn't mentioned the fact that the KING of getting under the skin of opponents appears to be irked to the point where he needs to air his frustrations in public.

This is a player who basically went on a media strike last season, refusing to speak after photos and stories of the team partying ways was printed in the Phillie media. So the fact that he decided to say these comments in the public, proves PK is under his skin.

If he's such a forgettable rookie who has yet to earn respect, why waste your breath?

Is Subban really cocky? Or does he just know what to say to piss you off. Not to mention, Subban had an assist in that 3-0 win over the Flyers. A shutout would make me pretty sour, too.

If I were PK I wouldn't worry too much about "something happening" and take the fact that he irritated Richards to the point of trash-talking publicly as a compliment.

Jennifer Casey was born and raised in Halifax. She loves all sports but tries to stick to writing about hockey for sanity purposes. You can follow her on twitter @jenncaseyhfx or find her on her blog National Passtime

Win/Fail: Playoff Edition II

I am going to lock the doors of the Wachovia Centre from the outside so all the stupid:

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS FANS

are trapped amongst themselves and can't bother the rest of humanity any more.

Reason:

Class-less.

There's intimidating fans, the seventh player, they can make the difference in a series. They're loud, they're unified, and they can pick a team up when they need it. And then there's the Flyers fans, who act like a bunch of hooligan children who had too much sugar with their breakfast and their mom couldn't care less cuz she's hungover as hell.

"Crosby Sucks!"

Good lesson for the kids in the crowd.




Someone who IS allowed to eat some sugary cereal for breakfast are the designers at:

NHL.COM

and hell, have a Mimosa or Caesar while you're at it.

Reason:

The playoff version of the site is fantastic. I distinctly remember fumbling through the site last year after I had missed a few nights of games. I was trying to figure out what series was at how many games. It was gross. This year it's well-organized, and most importantly it has the updated series statuses in several easy-to-see places. Oh yah, and it looks real purrrty too.

Yuck.

I've seen Montreal play better.

They played the Philadelphia Flyers tonight. The final, 2-1, was much closer than the play actually was. Montreal forgot how to do that thing where the puck leaves one stick and ends up on the other.

The ice did seem abnormally bouncy, which puts a fast skating, passing team like Montreal at a disadvantage to a team that basically tries to skate directly through you. But nonetheless, much of the time it looked like the Flyers had a powerplay.

Alex Tanguay finally got the goal for the Canadiens, but not until midway through the third period. And they couldn't muster up much in the final half of the third to tie it, even with a man advantage with a few minutes left.

Mike Komisarek is out with a shoulder injury from the fight with Lucic on Thursday. There was a fight tonight, and it's the only thing Montreal won. Georges Laraque taught Josh Gratton a thing or two about fighting.

But if you're a Montreal fan and you're feeling sad, just think, you could be a Senators fan.

On Tuesday, after losing 5-0 to the Canadiens, I remember the TSN announcers saying, "well the good thing is, the Senators now have a home and home with the Islanders."

piece of cake, right?

Wrong. The Senators lost tonight, and they lost on Thursday. To the Islanders. I won't say anything else.

Don't worry Senators fans, I realize you need cheering up as well. Toronto lost to Vancouver 4-2. And here's a few duthie-isms from the Hall of Fame induction ceremony:

9:50—Post-show party. A guy asks me (and many others) to sign his dress shirt. I have two thoughts on this:
1. I hope it came from Winners and not Hugo Boss.
2. Why do women never ask me to do these things?

10:37—I am eating tofu (the buffet was bare) with Steve Yzerman, talking about women’s lacrosse.
My world is a strange, wonderful place.

Mike Richards is el capiton.

The Philadelphia Flyers made 23-year-old Mike Richards their Captain Wednesday.

Not a huge surprise, since he just signed a 12-year contract with the team. And the team's latest captain, Jason Smith, is now in Ottawa.

Oh yes, and Richards is also a former Captain Canada, leading the team to gold in the 2005 world juniors. (For the record, teammate Scottie Upshall, who started to really light it up since getting the trade to the Flyers, is also a former Captain Canada circa 2003).

Richards, has found his scoring touch, is tough as... hmm a dump truck? And seems wise beyond his years. Good choice Flyers. (I can't believe i just said that.)

"It's obviously a privilege to be part of such a prestigious organization and now be captain of it," ... "I am going to do my best" - Mike Richards.

all pennsylvania final.

The Penguins took their fans on a ride yesterday afternoon, needing overtime to win the series. The Penguins will face cross-state rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Looks like throwing the final game of the season to avoid playing the Flyers was to no avail. Jordan Staal triumphed over brother Marc for the second time, as the two faced off in Junior hockey as well.

The Dallas Stars placed the San Jose Sharks on the golf course and it only took them four extra periods to do it. Brendan Morrow scored the series-winning goal. Dallas moves on to face the Johan Franzen and the Detroit Red Wings in the next round (Franzen has 11 goals so far this playoffs, which is ridiculous).

And the Habs reflected on their playoff exit, but the team shouldn't dwell too long. The team really will not be losing any key players to free agency like some teams we know *cough cough Pittsburgh* and the playoff experience can only help going into next year. Of course you can't help but feel bad for Carey Price as he looked pretty tired after the loss,

"It's probably the worst moment of my career," Price said as he fought back tears. "I hate to lose."

overtime heroics.

Philadelphia came out and gave me that feeling I got in Game six of the Boston Montreal series... that "oh dear" type feeling. Well actually the feeling is potentially described with a few more colourful words than "oh dear" but let's keep it civil here.
As I was saying, Philadelphia built up a 2-0 lead after the first period, (this is after Andrei Kostitsyn missed a penalty shot and Brisebois got a goal three seconds after the period ended.

The Canadiens managed to tie it up by the end of the second period with a goal from Andrei Kostitsyn and Alexei Kovalev. Kovalev's goal brought a bit of controversy as it first appeared to have been put in with a high stick. But after some tense examination it was ruled that the stick was at crossbar level when the pick made contact with the stick. Then to start the third, the Flyers greeted the Bell Centre with a power play goal. Kovalev decided to keep it exciting by waiting until just 29 seconds left in the game. And then Killer Kostopoulous decided he didn't want to play overtime and scored 45 seconds into the extra period.

Montreal vs.

PHILADELPHIA.

After a grueling game seven overtime marathon the Philadelphia Flyers will be moving on and be facing the Canadiens as lowest available seed.

In.

Ottawa in. Philadelphia in. Boston in. Washington in (as long as they win tomorrow night). Which means that Carolina is out (unless Washington loses.)