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Around the League: Vancouver staves elimination, Pittsburgh and Boston look to close out series

Vancouver vs. Chicago : Chicago leads 3-2

  • Game five recap: Bieksa scores twice; Canucks cut series deficit against Blackhawks [TSN]
  • Luongo answers critics with vintage performance [NHL]
  • Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun is one of those critics mentioned above. Here’s a snippet of his full Luongo-bashing article published before yesterday’s match [Toronto Sun]

This is not the next Patrick Roy or Martin Brodeur. The statute of limitations has run out on that happening. You can’t allow 11 goals against in two home playoff games and expect to win anything, let alone be anything.

Luongo leaves you expecting more, wanting more. The great goalies win games when it matters most. He doesn’t.

  • Sami Salo, in one of the most painful looking injuries ever, appears to have ruptured a testicle as the result of a blocked shot. Ouch [TSN] (Update: No ruptured testicle. I bet Salo still doubles up on the cup next time)
  • Second City Hockey recaps game five; points to penalties taken as the culprit for the loss [Second City Hockey]

Make the jump for more links for the other series, and some post series win links for the Sharks.

Pittsburgh vs. Montreal: Pittsburgh leads 3-2

  • The always awesome Pensblog with their always awesome coverage: Game five recap [Pensblog]
  • Couple of things that my Penguins-fan friend Terry Kelly (a must follow on Twitter for any sports fan, specifically Pittsburgh area fans @kellytm) pointed out to me: 1) The Penguins last five series wins have all been clinched on the road, six if they win tonight. 2) The Penguins are god-awful in the face-off circle. Only Crosby, Pascal Dupuis (4 draws) and Ruslan Fedotenko (2 draws) have a better than 50% success rate. The next highest is Jordan Staal, with a 47.8%. We’re spoiled, Sharks fans [NHL]
  • Crosby is the youngest captain in NHL history to win a Stanley Cup, led Canada to Olympic Gold, has earned practically all the major awards in the NHL… but he hasn’t scored in six games. Let the hater parade begin [FOX]
  • Hal Gill is doubtful for game six. Losing the big 75 would all but seal the Habs’ fate. They do have that Halak guy, though [ESPN]
  • No link here, but thank god PK Subban has been a pleasant surprise for the Canadiens (with the exception of the delay of game in game five). Without him, the Habs would have had some major holes on D. They already lost Andrei Markov earlier in the series.
  • Plekanec seems to have earned himself a nice offseason deal based on this postseason, at least according to [Habs Eyes on the Prize]

Boston vs. Philadelphia: Boston leads 3-1

  • As an aside, is anyone on the west coast really paying attention to this series? I watched game one, but have tuned in for only snippets since. Just hasn’t grabbed me at all. Maybe I’m still bitter about New Jersey losing.
  • Stanley Cup of Chowder recaps Philly’s OT win [Stanley Cup of Chowder]
  • Broad Street Hockey dives into some Corsi-based analysis of the OT win [Broad Street Hockey]
  • Carcillo not practicing, according to beat writer Anthony SanFilippo [@AnthonySan37]
  • Weird parallel to Karate Kid. You don’t see people telling their team to act like Kobra Kai often, especially since they get kicked in the face and lose before the movie is over [CSN New England]

San Jose Sharks links

  • So many of these out there, so this isn’t a comprehensive list. Feel free to post anything you come across. (Including our series recap, which will drop sometime today)
  • Murray’s hit on Franzen under fire, Lidstrom unsure on future [Puck Daddy]
  • Sharks are chokers no more [Puck Daddy]
  • San Jose is back in the Western Conference finals. But no matter how far the Sharks go this postseason, they’ll still face some tough decisions this offseason [John “Marleau to the Kings” Buccigross]
  • I’ll update more as the day goes… except I’ll probably forget.

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