Stanley Cup and Calder Cup Update

Tonight is game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final in Pittsburgh where the Red Wings lead the series 2-1. However, Pittsburgh came back in a big way with a 4-2 win over the Red Wings on Wednesday to stay in the series. If the Penguins are going to win again tonight, they will need to play a complete game as the Red Wings were given them problems all over the ice during the 1st 2 games in Detroit. Superstar forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin need to find their touch that have been on top of the point charts during the post season with 34 and 33 points, but these games have been tough as the Red Wings D has been shutting them down especially in the 1st 2 games.

However, the big gripe from game 3 was that just before the 2nd PIT Goal, they was a time period of 21 seconds where the Penguins played with 6 players and the refs didn't even notice. Then the Red Wings got penalized, the Pens just a minute later scored to tie the game at 2-2 on th PP. This is what's so frustrating about the refs, they need to bring the consent to the playoffs and this is where all these conspiracy Theories come from and gets so frustrating when you see stuff like this happen.

Also, during the end of game 2, Evgeni Malkn was involved in a fight in the final couple of minutes where he also started the fight. Now the rule is that anyone who starts up a fight in the last 5 minutes of a game is supposed to be assed a 10 minute misconduct penalty and be suspendised the next game. However, it was also knowed that everyone on the ice was fighting and it was really hard to tell who actually started the fights on the ice just before the end of the game.

For game 4 tonight, Pavel Datsyuk is planning to come back from a foot injury that's kept him out since game 2 of the Chicago series by blocking a shot. This is going to give the Red Wings a much needed boost after losing game 3, Zetterberg has been playing some heavy ice time recently as he logged over 24 minutes and scored a goal and had an assist, he's also been one of the players for the Red Wings in this playoff run with 21 points in 19 games.

Contending wise, Marc-Andre Fluery will need to continue to play a huge game with Datsyuk and Zetterberg counting to play well. He will need to set up and use his great play making abilty to keep the Red Wings puck possession offense at bay and step it up to tie the series tonight. For Pittsburgh, take advantage of the PP as this could be the best way to beat the Red Wings as the DET PK is only at 76.5 %.

This is the dream final here in the NHL, we need to see some excitement tonight and for the Penguins to tie the series at 2-2 and it would force the series to go at least 6 games. This is the Stanley Cup Final for Pete sake and I don't want to see a short series with the Red Wings winning their 5th cup in the least dozen years (1997, 1998, 2002, 2008, 2009), We need some new blood winning the Cup.

Here's the schedule for the rest of the Stanley Cup.

Game 4 @ Pittsburgh on 6/4
Game 5 @ Detroit on 6/6
Game 6 @ Pittsburgh on 6/9
Game 7 @ Detroit on 6/12

AHL Calder Cup

Were 2 games into the AHL Calder Cup and the Manitoba Moose and Hershey Bears are tied at 1-1 with the Moose playing better in this series.

In game 1, a very exciting back and fourth saw Manitoba went into OT and in front of 2 sold out crowds of around 15,000. After Manitoba went up 3-1, the Hershey Bears scored 3 answered goals (2 of them by Oskar Osala) to put them up 4-3 with just 4:36 left in the game. Then on the PP goal by Maxime Fortunus scored only his 3rd goal in the playoffs, in the OT Period Alexandre Giroux who scored a hat trick in the game to win the game 5-4 for the Bears 13 minutes into OT. Hershey won game 1, but both teams proved that they could be able to win just about any kind of game possible to win the Calder Cup.

Back on Tuesday night turned defensive as the Bears got out to a 1-0 lead with another big goal by Alexandre Giroux. However, the game got pretty slow after the goal, that was until Jason Jaffray scored near the midway point of the game to tie at 1-1, then in the final minute to win it 3-1 for the Moose to get back in the series.

Some of the players to watch in this series include Mike Keane who's won 3 Stanley Cup's and at 42 years old, is showing that he can still play at a high level and has scored 4 goals in the playoffs.

Also, the goalies have been great as Cory Schneider has a strong 2.11 GAA and a very strong .921 SV%. As for Hershey goalie who's playing in his rookie season in the AHL also has a 2.11 GAA and a .926 SV%. These goalies will play a huge role in the championship.

Here's the schedule

Game 3 @ Hershey on 6/6
Game 4 @ Hershey on 6/7
Game 5 @ Hershey on 6/9
Game 6 @ Manitoba on 6/12
Game 7 @ Manitoba on 6/14