Another episode of the Redwing77 Good, Bad, and Ugly

Hello again, everyone. It's time for a second round playoff series of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

THE GOOD

Jaroslav Halak - Uh... Hey Crosby, whatcha think of me now? I know they typically give the playoff MVP to a player who plays in the Stanley Cup Finals, but I'm not sure if it won't be the true this year should the Habs lose to the Flyers. This guy has been THE goaltender of the post season. PERIOD. He's simply outstanding. He's also laid to rest the debate about Carey Price, who is just a different version of current (perhaps now ex-) Avalanche goaltender Peter Budaj. Big hype, no game. In any case, I may not be the biggest fan of the Habs, but I am a big fan of a goaltender who is dominant. Hello Halak. Please bolt Montreal and come to Detroit. Not likely nor would Detroit (I think)...but...

The Flyers - You have to be good to win 4 straight in the playoffs. Especially when you have 2 career disappointments as your starting goaltender and 1 career disappointment (and probable nutcase) either injured or in reserve (Ray Emery). Now, I'm not down on Michael Leighton. I think he's a quality guy, but I never thought he'd be #1 material. Ok, he still isn't. However, he and Brian Boucher get the Ty Conklin Award for the postseason (most unlikely career backups to win a series with a team). Simon Gagne was fantastic. Michael Richards again proves he's a good leader. Danny Carcillo is still a worthless hack that should be banned from the game.

San Jose - Detroit wasn't really in this series, but they were playing awfully well coming into it. And the Sharks simply blew them out of the (frozen) water. Nabakov has always (to me) been a good goaltender with some unfortunate streaky tendencies and bad luck but he managed to hold things together for another round.

Chicago - Don't know if they belong here or in the bad category, but I put them here for two reasons. Reason #1: They advanced. It doesn't have to be pretty (and it wasn't, I assure you) but it just has to happen and it did. Reason #2: Jonathon Toews. Patrick Kane always gets top billing and Toews always gets the last laugh. Captain Serious has been SERIOUSLY good this post season, even out point scoring Bettman's Golden Godchild Sidney Crosby. He's surely a contender with Halak for playoff MVP. They face a test against the Sharks. Chicago won the regular season matchup against the Sharks winning 3 of 4, but required OT to win 2 of those 3 wins.

Jonathon Toews - See "Chicago" but yeah. He deserves his own record. Halak may be the goaltender of the playoffs thus far, but Toews is the skater of the playoffs thus far. He's outscored Crosby and all others. He may not have the playoff lead in goals, but he's done very well all things considered. I guess what I like about him the most is that, though he can score highlight reel goals, most of his playoff goals seem to be of the "hard work bang to the net" variety. Detroit has a huge problem with players who can't seem to get it through their heads that a garbage goal and a Sportscenter #1 play of the day goal is still worth the same amount of points.

THE BAD

Detroit Red Wings - You gotta play for EVERY playoff round in the books, not just the opening round. We squeaked past the Coyotes and got gobbled by the Sharks. Oh well.

Vancouver - Supposedly dominant, surprisingly undisciplined. Luongo was ok. Team D was meh. Season is over.

Pittsburgh Penguins - What can I say? Luck isn't everything, but apparently that's the only way the Pens fans can term their series loss to the Habs. Oh yeah, giving up 4 goals in 2 periods and really not even showing up to Game 7 might be something to look at. By the way, if you want to know why Fleury made my list of Top overrated goaltenders, you can look to Game 7 as a great example. Getting beat is one thing, but not even playing your best in Game 7? SIEVE!

THE UGLY

Boston Bruins - HEY! We've got a 3-0 game lead in this series. The Flyers will roll over, right? RIGHT? Anyone? Blake Wheeler was awful. The Bruins offense was pathetic. Tukka Rask was human. Boston Bruins choked so bad that Buckner (thanks for the analogy Goon) said "WHEW! I only screwed up once! I'm off the hook now!"

Danny Carcillo - At least Matt Cooke is out of the playoffs. This utter disgrace to the game still gets to go on to play the Habs. Well, maybe he'll go pick on Scotty Gomez or Plekanec and then fall down holding his face the next time Hal Gill hip checks him? Or maybe he'll hold his finger and cry the next time he two hand slashes a Hab player and the player takes exception? Who knows, but if Cooke is a lowlife bully, Carcillo is a cowardly nancyboy hack artist. I loved the fact that he dressed up for halloween as the GEICO caveman. It's a perfect match for his intelligence.