Dr. Dap's 2012 NHL Playoff Predictions

It all comes down to this. A four-round, best-of-seven, free-for-all in the postseason of the NHL. All these teams who worked tirelessly all year to get their seeding finally get to show their real grit on the biggest stage this side of the Olympics.

Two Conferences. Eight Teams. One Winner. Here's the Clinics personal predictions of the entire 2012 NHL postseason.

Rangers Recap vs. Boston Bruins 1/21/11

In what was probably the best game I've seen all season, the Rangers managed to pull off a big victory in Boston in overtime coming off Marian Gaboriks stick, on a powerplay no less!

The Rangers were deadlocked with the Bruins the entire game it seemed. Every time the Rangers scored, the Bruins seemed to come right back and answer to tie the game up. Eventually, the game when into overtime, and was decided on a mad scramble in front of Tuukka Rask when Marian Gaborik lifted it over him on a third attempt after Rack made two humongous saves, but could not collect himself in time for the third shot.

The Top 10 Rangers Games of the 2010-2011 Season: Part 3

#3: April 9, 2011 (Rangers 5 - Devils 2)


In dramatic fashion like the previous year, the final game of the season would have decided the Rangers fate. This year, they had to face the New Jersey Devils, and a win was necessary to get two points on the Carolina Hurricanes who had the tiebreaker for the final playoff spot with the Rangers. The Rangers got backed up a bit, as Ilya Kovalchuk snapped an early goal past Henrik Lundqvist early on. His goal was promptly followed up by the man regarded as "Captain Clutch", Chris Drury as he got his first goal of the season after coming back from an injury. Late in the period, the Devils would get another goal coming again from Ilya Kovalchuk, the final goal of the game they would get. Nearly two-minutes into the 2nd period, Wojtek Wolski converted on a 2-on-1 to deadlock the score at two. Ten minutes later, another Ranger would get his first goal of the season, and his first NHL goal, as Ryan McDonagh got a brilliant pass from Vinny Prospal behind the net and put the Rangers ahead 3-2. Five minutes later, Brandon Prust got a lucky slide that went in, and in the 3rd, Vinny Prospal got one more to cement a victory on the last game of the regular season. It was a must-win game for the Rangers, who needed help from the Tampa Bay Lightning to get into the playoffs. The chants of "Lets Go Lightning" rang up from the crowd as the game would down and a victory was almost certain. The Rangers got that help, as the Lightning defeated the Hurricanes, and sent the Rangers to the playoffs, but none of that could have been possible without this one goal.

EA's NHL: What Your Team Selection Says About You

Like any other hockey fan, I like to enjoy some leisure time by playing some of EA's NHL series on my coveted gaming system. I normally like to just play a quick game between another person, and like most online communities, a majority of player I face are huge jerkoffs. Having played NHL 11 over and over again against multiple douches, I've noticed a trend among the type of players, and their playing style coincides with what team they choose when selecting the match up. Some people are fun to play as, and pick their favorite team like me (a majority of the time I play as the Rangers), or they choose a random team regardless of stats (is this a good time to mention my 7-game win-streak with the Thrashers?). However, others you can pinpoint their personality by the team they select/their lobby mannerisms. Here's a full breakdown of the social phylum of the EA's NHL franchises online community:

If a Person Selects The Team in First Place In Real Life At the Time


Chances are they suck, and are looking to compensate for their lack of skill by selecting the best team. A majority of my time this season went into playing the same three teams because people don't have enough faith in their own skill. Here's a pro-tip for all those people: the teams good stats does not make up for the lack of skill and motor functions you fail to possess. Any player can select the real-life first place team and win, selecting them on a consistent basis shows that you admit you suck at the game.

If a Person Shuffles the Preset Lines to Put the Best Players on the Top Line


This one pretty much goes with the first one; the person sucks at the game and wants to compensate for their suckage. Again, this is not real-life, and shuffling the lines will only marginally help you if you are bad at the game, like most people who do this are. Anybody who has a competent understanding of the basics of the game can score a hat-trick with Donald Brashear if they tried hard enough.

If a Person Plays as the Pittsburgh Penguins


Something about choosing the Penguins makes everyone who plays as them become like them. The Penguins are widely regarded by NHL fans as being one of the most whimpy teams in the league, thanks in majority to their centerpiece Sidney Croscussion...er... Crosby.

Press "Y" to be a bitch.

The people who choose the Penguins are some of the holiest of the assholes you'll find online. The Penguins are the team that the guys who will spend more time diving to get the puck from you then actually on their feet will choose to play as.  These are the people who will do nearly anything (diving, spamming the hook button) to win, no matter how womanly their play style is.

And Thus Ends the 2011 NHL Season

The Bruins have won the Cup, and Vancouver is rioting again.

As a mainly New York sports fan, it's normally taboo for us to root for a Boston team. But today, I don't feel that same animosity that I do toward Boston with the Bruins. The Bruins battled, and battled, and hit, and checked, and stayed composed through the toughest times, having to win three Game 7's to win the Stanley Cup. They played their game, and never wavered in the face of adversity.

I didn't end up watching the game, but I'm looking at the replays and there are a few things I wish to comment on.

Numero Uno: Canucks; what happened? Sedins; where were you? What happened to this team that won the Presidents Trophy, and one of the goalies who was nominated for the Vezina in Roberto Luongo? Was Aaron Rome really a pivotal point in this teams performance, or was shutting down Nathan Horton the only game plan they had going into this series? Either way, one fact is certain in my mind: The Canucks got scared. The Bruins were noticeably tough and bigger than most of the Canucks, and they got intimidated. After seeing Dan Hamhuis go down early in the series, the players like the Sedins didn't want to risk personal injury and played conservative hockey. Had they showed some testicular fortitude and played with a reckless abandon, they would be the ones holding the Cup right now.

Numero Dos: Canucks fans need to chill, and quickly. After rioting after the 1994 series, it's now become a custom in the NHL that if your team loses, we expect you to act like savage neanderthals and break everything in sight. Is that really the reputation you want in this league? Also, during the Cup presentation, it upset me to hear as many boo's as I did. Yes, I understand the frustration of losing on home-ice, and having to watch the team who just beat you celebrate and spray champagne right in-front of you, but show a little class for Christ's sake. Not even Flyers fans were as disrespectful last year when the Blackhawks won the Cup on Philadelphia ice. The Flyers fans sat there and gave a gallant golf-clap to their team, and the team that won, and that's exactly what should be done. Now, whenever someone goes back and watches the replays of the Game 7, they're going to remember two things: how much the Canucks choked, and how sore the fans were afterwards.

In all, the playoffs this year were pretty good, but my attention sort of faded once it got deeper. There were no heavy underdog teams that came up through the ranks, and no team that overcame a miraculous deficit (although we had two teams come close). The Championship round also lost most of my attention. It was either I sat down and watched a 1-0 snoozefest, or a 4+ goal blowout. Game 2 was the only interesting game for me, but again, that's just my opinion.

Now, we wait on summer activities, like the Draft, and free-agency to open up. Congratulations to the Bruins, from The Clinic!

Rangers Pull Off Comeback, Beat Boston 5-3

I'm telling you, this team is trying to kill me.

The Rangers pulled off a remarkable comeback at Madison Square Garden tonight, erasing a 3-0 deficit to win 5-3. The Rangers, who were separated by no more than two points from the Carolina Hurricanes who sit in 9th place in the Eastern Conference, have jumped into the 7th place spot, four points away from the trailing Hurricanes and have tied with the Montreal Canadiens.

The Rangers looked deflated to start the game, having played in a shootout win over the Flyers. the Rangers surrendered two goals in the 1st period from Daniel Paille and Nathan Horton. The Bruins held the Rangers to just five shots in the first period. The Rangers then carried the same drudge over to the 2nd period, giving up a goal to Chris Kelly to make it a 3-0 game.

A minute and two seconds later though, Vinny Prospal decided it was time to stop messing around, slapping home a goal that managed to get through the legs of Tim Thomas. Seven-minutes later, Prospal did it again cutting the lead to just one to end the 3rd period.

The Rangers came onto the ice in the 3rd a better team then the one that started the game. Henrik Lundqvist stood tall when needed to, and the defense really shut down the opposition. With four minutes remaining in the game, Brandon Dubinsky got the puck directly in front of Tim Thomas, and slid a backhander underneath him to tie the game up. Less than a minute later, Michael Sauer got a shot off that managed to squeak between the legs of Thomas yet again, and trickled just over the goal line to give the Rangers the lead with three minutes to go in the game.

Derek Stepan sealed the victory with an empty netter to win the game 5-3. The Rangers had never come back to beat Boston after trailing by three goals since the league began. the Rangers showed courage, passion, and will in this victory as they improve their chance of making the playoffs with a big regulation win with only two game remaining in the season.

3/4/11 Rangers vs. Bruins

And just like that, were back again.

Rangers against the Boston Bruins.

For the final time this season, these two rough and tumble teams will take the ice against one another. The Rangers have managed to take two of the three games played against the Bruins so far this season, most recently, Henrik Lundqvist getting his eleventh shutout of the season on March 26th in a 1-0 hard fought and brilliant game by both the Rangers and Bruins. The Rangers have fought, and fought, and fought to stay in the playoffs these past two weeks. With two more games remaining after tonight, and the standings being so close with the Buffalo Sabres ahead of the Rangers by one point, Montreal ahead by two, and Carolina sticking around two points behind the Rangers, every point matters. The Rangers proved that in another classic yesterday against the Philadelphia Flyers. In deja-vu circumstances, the Rangers went to a shootout against the Flyers like the way they were eliminated last season, only this time coming out victorious and earning that very valuable extra point. One Ranger that has caught my eye recently has been Artem Anisimov. Anisimov has been noticeable a majority of the times he's on the ice, and has been doing fairly well recently despite not scoring. Anisimov has managed to make something out of nothing in a few circumstances over the past three games, so I would look out for him to be a big catalyst in tonights game.

The Bruins have already clinched their division and a spot to go to the post-season, their only job now is getting there in one piece. Two out of the three times the Rangers have faced the Bruins this season, Tuukka Rask has been between the pipes. Rask has been the goalie that has lost both games against the Rangers this season, while Tim Thomas has the only win. Therefore, I would believe that it would only be logical for Thomas to get a start tonight due to Rask's track record.

My Diagnosis


The Rangers and Bruins are two very similar teams. Both are very physical, and have a solid foundation in the goaltending department. In fact, the Rangers and Bruins are first and second for least goals allowed this season, the Bruins getting the 1st place slot. I expect a lot of what I saw from the last meeting between these two teams: a low-scoring, hard-hitting game of hockey. Tonight is a true test of courage and grit for the Rangers, and if they execute the way they did last time, they can come out with a victory once again.

My Predictions


Rangers win 2-1.

Brian Boyle will tally the first goal for the Rangers early in the 1st.
Milan Lucic will get the only goal for the Bruins to tie it in the 2nd.
And finally, Artem Anisimov will get the game winning goal for the Rangers half way through the 3rd.

Enjoy they game, its bound to be a real doozy!

Recapping the Rangers/Bruins 3/26/11

The Rangers managed to stand tall in the face of adversity once again, shutting out the Boston Bruins on away ice. The Rangers scored a lone goal once again, coming off of a face off deflection by Derek Stepan in the 1st period.

The Rangers were superb defensively throughout the first two periods, doing a wonderful job of fore-checking and getting takeaways in the neutral zone.

Sean Avery returned to the lineup today, subbing out Mats Zuccarello. Avery threw some punches with Gregory Campbell early in the 1st, and helped out quite a bit on the defensive side of the puck. Despite being sat the past six games, I feel that this was a good idea to sup bout Zuccarello with Avery. Not to say that Zuccarello doesn't have skill to play in this league, but the Bruins are a massive MASSIVE team, and putting Zuccarello out on the ice against players like Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic would have been kamikaze for Zuccarello.

One thing the Rangers really performed well in was they were blocking shots from ever getting to Henrik Lundqvist, who recorded his eleventh career shutout, a new career best, in his 400th NHL game. Lundqvist performed well through the shots he faced through the first two periods, and then really turned on the jets when the barrage of shots came in the 3rd to hold the shutout in tact.

In all, it was a good bounce-back win to keep the playoff push going for the Rangers. The Rangers are now currently tied with Montreal in the standings, and if the Rangers manage to overtake the Canadiens, there is a good possibility of the Rangers having to play Boston in the first round of the playoffs. Hold tight, things are about to get really interesting in the Eastern Conference.