Monday, April 26, 2010

“"Survivor" Contestant Accused Of Shoving A Woman - digtriad.com” plus 2 more

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“"Survivor" Contestant Accused Of Shoving A Woman - digtriad.com” plus 2 more

"Survivor" Contestant Accused Of Shoving A Woman - digtriad.com

Posted: 25 Apr 2010 05:47 PM PDT

Home-ice edge? Not in this series - ESPN.com

Posted: 25 Apr 2010 05:39 PM PDT

Burnside By Scott Burnside
ESPN.com
Archive

MONTREAL -- The playoffs have provided an interesting intersection of mythology and reality in this great hockey town.

Listen in on any scrum in the Montreal Canadiens' locker room this spring, and at some point you'll hear someone ask about the fans in Montreal. The response is invariably something along the lines of, "best fans anywhere."

And who can quibble? With perhaps the exception of their propensity for booing the U.S. anthem and moaning en masse whenever any opponent has the temerity to check one of the local heroes, it's as great a spot to be to watch an NHL game as anywhere on the circuit.

Except for one thing: Magical or not, the Canadiens don't really play all that well at the Bell Centre when it counts.

Certainly not this spring, as they've lost both games played on home ice, and neither were works of art. The Canadiens gave up four Washington goals in the second period in Game 3 to lose 5-1 and then blew a 2-1 lead late in the second period en route to a 6-3 loss in Game 4, a defeat marked by the rather peculiar sight of netminder Carey Price taking two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the waning minutes.

And so, it becomes quite simple: Win at home Monday night in Game 6 or close the doors on this season. Reward what may be the best fans in the league with a win or mark another season without a whiff of a championship.

"Obviously, there's no building in the league like this one. Obviously, it's the time of the year when the energy is at its peak," Montreal forward Dominic Moore said after a workout Sunday at the team's suburban practice facility. "Hopefully we can use that and channel that into some good things on the ice. But I think the focus needs to be on [us]."

When Moore was reminded of how much time is spent talking about the mystique of playing in Montreal, he interrupted to make a point: "Who spends a lot of time talking about it?"

OK, point taken. The media keeps asking about the electricity that is a home playoff game in Montreal, and the players dutifully keep answering the questions. Moore noted how the home team managed to win just one of six contests in the Pittsburgh/Ottawa series.

"I don't know what that is. That's for you guys to figure out," Moore said. "But hopefully we can channel that energy in the right way [Monday]."

Brian Gionta took a similar tack, suggesting the home-ice advantage is theirs for the taking.

"Obviously coming back home, we want to take advantage of our crowd and the atmosphere that's here, use that for our advantage," he said. "But obviously, some funny things have happened as far as home ice."

If it were just these two games, then maybe it would be a stretch to suggest the Bell Centre has become some sort of playoff jinx, but the Habs have actually lost four in a row at home in the playoffs and haven't chalked up a W since the first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2008. Since the 2004-05 lockout, the Canadiens are 4-7 at home in the postseason.

They're not alone in their postseason woes on home ice. As Moore noted, the Penguins closed out the Senators in Game 6 on Saturday in Ottawa, and it was the fifth road win of the series. Phoenix's 5-2 win in Detroit in Game 6 on Sunday, which forced a Game 7, made the home team a miserable 2-4 in that series. Overall through the first 43 games of the postseason, the home teams were a tepid 20-23.

Montreal coach Jacques Martin said some of the road success can be attributed to the structural difference in buildings. He cited buildings like the old Chicago Stadium, Boston Garden or The Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo as places where teams established a dominant record.

"Those rinks were different dimensions, small ice surface, fans on top of you. It was really an intimidating factor to play in those places," Martin said. "Now, you don't have that anymore. I mean, all the buildings are the same dimensions, the big crowds, so it's not as much as an intimidating factor anymore.

"For us, I think we're anxious to play at home. I think the fact that we've got your fans behind you and I think the fact that we're faced with adversity once more … we have to respond."

Perhaps Mike Cammalleri had the most interesting perspective on it. He said he didn't put any stock in trends or history or anything of the sort. "This is a new team," he said.

All they have to do now is come up with a new result at home.

Scott Burnside covers the NHL for ESPN.com.

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Phoenix Coyotes top Detroit Red Wings in Game 6, force ... - AZCentral.com

Posted: 25 Apr 2010 02:33 PM PDT

DETROIT - The word of the day was steal.

Somehow, the Coyotes would have to swipe Game 6 of their first-round playoff series in a hostile environment. Some way, goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov would have to resort to thievery to hold off an offensive machine, and in some fashion, the "pack mentality" would have to seize the spotlight from the big-name Red Wings.

It all fell into place Sunday.

The Coyotes stunned the Red Wings 5-2 in front of 20,066 at Joe Louis Arena - where die-hard fans were not hesitant about booing their heroes.

And now, eight years after the Coyotes' previous postseason appearance, they have the opportunity on home ice Tuesday to win the series and advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since their arrival in Arizona.

"I said before the series, home-ice advantage is only good if it comes down to Game 7," coach Dave Tippett said. "We worked awfully hard to get home ice, and both teams are going to play hard, compete.

"That won't change whether it's at home or on the road, but if you're going to play a Game 7, I'd rather certainly play in front of our fans."

There were many stalwarts Sunday, beginning with Bryzgalov and a penalty-killing unit that denied the Red Wings on three early-first-period power-play chances, including for 1:10 of 5-on-3. Adrian Aucoin swatted the puck up the ice to derail the final seconds of the third penalty.

Penalty-killer Lauri Korpikoski set the tone early as he secured the puck after a turnover and scored a short-handed goal that put the Coyotes ahead 1-0 with 4:10 elapsed.

The Coyotes' power play, meanwhile, came to life with three goals in a punishing game that they controlled after surviving the early onslaught.

"It was a helluva pressure," said Bryzgalov, who made 31 saves. "They got 5-on-3 power play; it was all about our penalty-killing, it was outstanding, and we scored a goal that gave us a boost.

"I saw the puck pretty well. It's my 'D' and my other players who were in front of me to help me see the shots. If you don't see the puck, you can't stop it."

Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard saw the puck in the back of the net many more times than he had anticipated after handcuffing the Coyotes in a 3-0 shutout in Game 5.

Mathieu Schneider and Radim Vrbata notched power-play goals in the second period - an 0-for-19 drought came to an end - and Wojtek Wolski added his fourth goal of the series to give the Coyotes a 4-1 lead after two. Taylor Pyatt also had a power-play goal in the third.

The bounces that the Coyotes have not been able to find on the power play came their way early when Schneider's shot bounced off Niklas Kronwall's hip and went into the net.

Brad Stuart cut the Phoenix lead to 2-1 in the second period, 24 seconds after Schneider's goal. The Red Wings' Darren Helm added a late goal.

"The first five minutes, we took penalties, and Bryz was excellent," Tippett said. "Our penalty-killers did a real good job for us, and we were to get a short-handed goal to boot, so we stopped their momentum.

"We got ourselves a lead in the game, and we weathered a huge storm there."

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said the Coyotes won the special-teams battle, and the three power-play goals "literally sucked the life out of our team."

Now it's on to Game 7, and a victory once again would silence detractors and keep the season alive.

"No one gave us any chance coming in here (Detroit), and we wanted to come out and play our best game," Schneider said. "I think we really simplified things.

"You look at some of the composure of some of our younger guys on this team, it's just tremendous, and I give them a lot of credit. It's certainly not an easy building to play in."

Report

Key player

Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov needed a huge effort, and he delivered, making 31 saves.

Key moment

The Coyotes killed off a 5-on-3 situation early in the first period that lasted 1:10.

Key number

3: Power-play goals by the Coyotes on Sunday.

View from the press box

The anguish hurt Shane Doan a lot more than his injury. Seeing him in a hooded sweatshirt in the pregame warm-ups more than showed that. And for someone who had waited eight years to return to the playoffs, nothing short of intense pain would have kept him out of the lineup. Teammates said his presence gave them a big boost.

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