L.A. Kings D-Man Matt Greene Interviewed After The Game, Milbury Gives Him Props

Former Fighting Sioux and current L.A. Kings D-man Matt Greene is the epitome of a hockey warrior. Greene’s eye has about eight different colors, at least, if not more. With Greene in the lineup, the Kings have an 11-7 (.611) record and a 3-3 record without him in the lineup. Coincidence, I don’t know?

Mike Milbury responds to Paul Bissonnette tweet

If you haven't seen it, good stuff here. I think both Mike Milbury and Paul Bissonnette have a point

Knowing Mike Milbury has a job talking hockey makes me feel good about life after I'm done playing. Guy's a zero.
— Paul Bissonnette (@BizNasty2point0) March 31, 2014

Daniel Paille hit on Sidney Crosby

 Mike Milbury from NBC Sport Network didn't like this play and thought there should've been a penalty called on the play. I don't know. I looks like Sidney Crosby skated into Daniel Paille, but who knows, it really doesn't matter now since the Penguins didn't score on the power play anyways.

Did Mike Milbury and Jeremy Roenick call out Sidney Crosby for taking a dive?

I might have to admit, that I agree with Mike Milbury and Jeremy Roenick on this one here. I thought it was a bad call. I also thought that Sidney Crosby went down really easy. The word embellishment was on the tip of my tongue as well, after I saw the play live.

If I am not mistaken, they're kind of accusing Sidney Crosby of taking a bit of a dive there... Is that what others are hearing too? I am hearing buzz words here. Pittsburgh was the beneficiaries of a somewhat sketchy call at the end. Crosby also goes down a little bit too easy there. Hum!

Love reading all the tweets about today's games. Even all the bitching and whining those certain classless penguin fans r doing. Comical
— Jeremy Roenick (@Jeremy_Roenick) May 5, 2013

Mike Milbury calls out Ovie

Alex Ovechkin makes $9,538,462 a year to play hockey for the Washington Capitals and I think Mike Milbury is right to call him out on National television, he played like a bag of ass tonight. If I was the owner of the Washington Capitals I would be upset. If I was a team mate of Ovechkin I would be upset.

A "Dirty" Hit that wasn't (RW77)

Last night, I watched the Dallas vs. Pittsburgh game (unfortunately, Pittsburgh won in a shootout). However, during the game, there was a hit that got everyone talking.

I do not know how to embed but: Here is the video.

The Stars (and former Michigan star) Eric Nystrom hits Pens Defenseman Kris Letang high-ish.

Mike Milbury (aka the idiot in this post) and Jeremy Roenick (who usually is the idiot but in this case was right on) had an on air argument over this hit.

Here's the pros and cons on it being a dirty hit:

1. Pro: Nystrom makes no move to get the puck.
2. Con: If Nystrom made head contact, it was the brushing of his shoulder on Letang's chin.
3. Pro: Injury to the head occurred.
4. Con: Injury was more to the effect of the big hit rather than the shoulder.
5. Con: Main impact area is Letang's shoulder/collarbone. He got rocked and the impact alone would have knocked most guys out of the game anyways, imo.
6. Con: Letang was coming out of the corner and his head was down.
7. Con: Letang was away from the boards and his back was not turned to Nystrom at the time of impact.

In the end, Milbury ended up having a stroke on air (exaggeration) because even incidental or the brushing of the head should be a suspendable offense. Roenick correctly stated that if there is fault for the hit, it rests on Letang. Nystrom did not leave his skates nor made any distinguishable upward motion of the shoulders to attempt to headhunt.

Milbury went on to rant that hits like these should be eliminated from the game. This was NOT a head shot! It was whiplash due to the extreme and sudden change in direction of Letang's right shoulder exaggerated by the helmet hitting the ice.

This hit cannot be made illegal or the slippery slope will become a cliff.

Jacques Lemaire blasts Versus crew.

I was watching this game last night on Versus and I thought the move by the Flyers to just stand there and wait for the Lightning to come after the Flyers was interesting, I aslo thought it was funny that the Flyers got whistled for not moving the puck.

I have to admit that I hate the “Neutral Zone Trap.” Seriously the NZT is God awful hockey and very boring to watch and I would rather watch a game where two teams trade offensive opportunities up and down the ice. I can’t imagine a lot of fan bases that say, I want to watch a 1-0 defensive trap feast and watch my team line up at the blue line and wait for the opposing team to try and come across. Being ADHD it makes it very hard for me to stay interested in that type of hockey game.

Damian Cristodero; Lighting Strikes --- Here is what former Devils and Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said about the criticism of Lightning coach Guy Boucher from Versus commentators Mike Milbury, Keith Jones and Pierre McGuire Wednesday night about the team's 1-3-1 trapping system, which they said makes for such boring hockey the Lightning and Boucher should be embarrassed and even "punished."

"Myself, I laugh at this," Lemaire told the St. Petersburg Times in a phone interview. "I laugh at it this because are we supposed to coach as we please the people who are announcing the games or make comments on the games? Is that a new style or what? Do we have to please Milbury when we coach? It's the first time I hear of this."

If anyone knows about criticism, it is Lemaire. Lemaire's trap was vilified by hockey watchers and commentators all over North America as detrimental to the game because the defensive posture in the neutral zone was, when played correctly, very difficult to beat. It slowed down the action, critics said. It created boring hockey. But it also won, as Lemaire and the Devils captured the 1995 Stanley Cup.

I think the worst hockey game I ever watched was a game 1-0 snore feast between Cornell and UND. The Sioux outshot the Big Red 2-1 and the Big Red played their boring 1-3-1 style of hockey and collapsed around the net whenever they saw fit.

I also can’t believe that the Tampa Bay Lighting fans want to watch this style of hockey on a nightly basis, nor do I believe that the Lightning need to play that style of a game. There is enough high end talent on the Lightning that they can open the game up and push the puck up the ice.

Lastly, let’s make no mistake about it, Jacques Lemaire is in the hall of fame, he was a great coach, but his hockey teams were very mind numbingly boring to watch. The New Jersey Devils of the 1990's were about as entertaining as watching paint dry. That being said, I also think that Lemaire has a point as well, he isn't coaching to please the TV audiences and the pointed headed pundits, coaching hockey is about winning games and using the your personnel to the best of their abilities. 

Kevin Bieksa is whining now…

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeVancouver Canucks Defenseman Kevin Bieksa was whining to the media yesterday about the big bad Bruins. After watching last night’s game it would appear that the Boston Bruins have gotten into the Vancouver Canucks head’s.

That’s not the only whining coming out of the Vancouver Canucks locker room… I suppose you can mark it down as a “oh no he didn’t” moment or foot in mouth disease. Apparently the Vancouver Canucks hockey team aren’t very happy with Versus hockey analyst and former Boston Bruins player/head coach Mike Milbury; during the second intermission of last night’s game; Mike Milbury referred to the Sedins twins as "Thelma and Louise." I say if the ballet shoe fits, wear it!!! In all seriousness during the Stanley Cup Finals the Sedin twins have been invisible on the score sheet; however, the Sedin twins have been notorious for their constant and blatant diving, whenever they are tapped by the Boston Bruins player.

Douglas Flynn; NESN --- NHL vice president Mike Murphy announced on Tuesday that "the garbage that is going on" had been addressed and further displays, such as players shoving their fingers in an opponent's face, will draw penalties.

While the Bruins appear to have taken Murphy's warning to heart about the excessive extracurricular activity in the series, the Canucks refuse to take any responsibility for the ugliness seen so far. According to Vancouver defenseman Kevin Bieksa, they're just innocent victims being bullied by the big, bad Bruins.

"This group in here, we're fine with that," Bieksa said of the league's crackdown after Wednesday's morning skate before Game 4. "We know to stay away from it. Last game, yeah we were holding our ground, but I don't think you saw any scrums in front of our net. They were always in front of their net, their guys pushing and shoving after the whistle and flexing their muscles and proving how big and bad they are, but during the whistles we're the top-hitting team in the league so we're going to punish them during the whistles and we'll let them do that stuff after. The finger pointing and all that stuff, it's getting a little old really quick. When you're the sixth guy to do it, I don't think it's that funny anymore. We'll see if there's any more of that [in Game 4]."

So by Bieksa's logic, teammate Maxim Lapierre's initial taunt of Patrice Bergeron in Game 2 after Alex Burrows was not suspended for biting Bergeron in Game 1 was just fine. But Mark Recchi and Milan Lucic doing the same to Lapierre and Burrows, respectively, in Game 3 wasn't "funny anymore."

On that, at least, Bruins coach Claude Julien would agree. He was upset to see his players stoop to the Canucks' level and happy to hear that the league was cracking down on such antics going into Game 4.

"It's unfortunate," Julien said. "I was one of those guys that voiced my opinion that I wouldn't accept it. I certainly didn't share that with my team. Consequently, we were responsible for a couple of those. Obviously it was clear after the game what I expected from our guys. I'm certainly not a guy that encourages that kind of stuff