Damn, has Pittsburgh broke out the broom?

 

Sooooo, the first ever Stanley Cup Final game in Nashville is in the books and the 5-1 final for the Pred's tells the whole story. Pittsburgh started out strong with an early goal but that didn't come close to taking the crowd out of the game and at about the halfway mark of the 1st period the Pred's woke up, got their sea legs and took it to Pittsburgh in every aspect of the game and put on a clinic so to speak ...

Rinne stood on his head as his team went to work and took the Pen's apart piece by piece until there was nothing left to take lol.

The referee's let them play and Pittsburgh couldn't leave well enough alone and frustration set in as they got chippy and then downright dirty until the ref's had no choice but to send a bunch of them packing in the last 5 minutes before someone got hurt. The guys from "player safety" were at the game and WILL have something to say about the last 5 minutes of that game and this is not the end of that story so stay tuned for more on that later ...

Nashville was the far better team tonight and it showed as the 19,000 in the stands and another 40,000 or so on the streets watching the game on big screens were no disappointed. Well done Nashville both on and off the ice ...

I will post a recap commentary later once it is finished ...

 

If you need a reason as to why the Pred's were the better team tonight look no further than the SOG for Malkin and Crosby combined ... their combined total tonight was a big fat zero !!!

 

Nashville flips first game score, gets first win. Home ice is nice.

 

That last line change is a nice bonus but can backfire too, it worked well for the Preds last night but they did fuck up a couple times doing line changes while the Pens were doing the same and had they gone on the attack the score could have been higher. One thing I noticed all night during the game is how hellbent the Pens were to keep getting the Crosby line back on the ice and considering they didn't register a shot on goal the entire game I would say it was a fuck up of epic proportion and will be looked at for game 4 ... they call it a team sport for a reason and there are 20 players to spread around.

 

I really thought that the Pens would have learned something from the beating they took in game 3 but apparently not ...

 

Gaudreau, Fisher lead Preds over Pens to tie series

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Frederik Gaudreau's third goal of the Stanley Cup Final was the game-winner and the Nashville Predators ran their home playoff record to 9-1 on Monday with a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The series is tied 2-2 heading back to Pittsburgh on Thursday.

 

Jerry Bruckheimer investing in Seattle arena renovation
SEATTLE — For more than a decade, Seattle has spun in circles in the quest for an upgraded sports arena, never finding a solution that didn’t face multiple obstacles.

Seattle may have finally found its path to an answer and with it the culmination of a saga that could land either an NHL or NBA team in the city.

With KeyArena in the background, Mayor Ed Murray discussed his reasons Wednesday for selecting the Oak View Group, headed by industry leader Tim Leiweke, to do a $564 million privately funded renovation of the former home of the SuperSonics. The renovation would bring the building up to the standards of the NBA and NHL.

"I think the proposal they have put forward is absolutely the best that we’ve got of any of the proposals," Murray said.

While concerts and entertainment will be a significant part of the calendar for the proposed venue, and the NBA is a dream for the future, it was clear the NHL is the immediate target.

Seattle’s history is as a basketball town but the completion of an arena could be the ticket for getting an NHL team into the market first. The NHL has not hidden its interest in Seattle, the No. 14 media market in the country and the only market in the Top 25 nationally that does not have an NBA or NHL team.

But the NHL has also grown frustrated by the starts and stops of an arena process that’s seen more roadblocks than successes.

OVG may be the group to solve those frustrations.

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OVG is already partners with Delaware North, whose chairman Jeremy Jacobs also is the owner of the Boston Bruins. Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini was in attendance to the side of the stage and acknowledged the league’s interest in Seattle.

"It’s a very strong desire," Aquilini said. "I don’t think there is anybody opposed to it."

Leiweke had one more card to play Wednesday, announcing that billionaire David Bonderman and filmmaker Jerry Bruckheimer were joining the investment group with the primary task of acquiring an NHL franchise.

Bonderman has been a minority owner of the Boston Celtics since the early 2000s and was among those looking into purchasing the Golden State Warriors less than a decade ago. That franchise eventually went to Joe Lacob.

Although he lives in Texas, Bonderman has significant Seattle ties. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1963 and has a fellowship in his name at the school.

Bruckheimer has no sports ownership ties but was rumoured to be involved in talks about the expansion NHL franchise in Las Vegas that eventually went to Bill Foley.

"We’re listening to what we’re told. Let me emphasize that. It’s been nine years since Seattle had its heart stolen so when the Sonics moved this has been a chase ever since," Leiweke said. "We’ve listened to the commissioners, we know what they are saying, we know how they feel about expansion, we know what the opportunities are out there and we’re going to follow the lead of the commissioners. I would say the first shot that is most likely to happen is an NHL team."

OVG was the only remaining group from the proposal process that started earlier this year, making Murray’s announcement anticlimactic. A competing bid from Seattle Partners — a group that included arena giant AEG — withdrew its proposal Sunday amid criticism of how the city handled the proposal process.

Seattle Partners proposed a $521 million remodel that required using $250 million of the city’s bonding capacity to complete the financing, which was deemed a deal breaker after the city demanded the project be privately financed.

The decision to go with OVG is subject to both sides agreeing on details of the proposal and the finalized transaction must receive approval from the City Council, which might prove tough. There’s also the question of how much influence Murray’s decision will have since he is not running for re-election in November.

Murray said he hopes to have a signed memorandum of understanding with OVG by the end of 2017. The MOU can’t be signed until after a similar agreement with investor Chris Hansen expires in November. Leiweke said the tentative plan would be to start construction after the 2019 NCAA men’s basketball tournament games at KeyArena, with the hope of opening in 2021.

While Hansen’s competing project across town isn’t dead, it may be in its final stages with limited city support. Hansen’s proposal only requires city approval of a street closure to move forward, but he has said he will not start construction until a franchise is acquired.

 

2-0 Pens 7 minutes into the 1st ...

 

The Pens are systematically taking the Preds apart 4-0 2 minutes into the 2nd period ...

Guentzel is a machine ... scoring in almost every playoff game so far including tonight.

Update: 5-0

 

Last time I saw a slaughter like this I was watching a documentary about the Roman's throwing Christians to the Lions LOL ... 6-0 Pens after 2 periods.

 

So game 5 is in the books and the Penguins are one game away from defending the Cup ... not an easy task since neither team has a road win so far in this final.

 

Now back to the slaughter of a different kind in the UK election results lol.

 

Crosby, Penguins cement legacy with back-to-back Stanley Cups

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Sidney Crosby lead the Penguins in scoring in his most productive Stanley Cup Final, with one goal and six assists, so it was fitting that the 2016-17 season ended with Game No. 87 of the playoffs and a second consecutive Stanley Cup heading to Pittsburgh.

 

Almost football season lol.

 

McDavid wins Ted Lindsay award.
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Connor McDavid , The Canadian Press

Brent Burns and Sidney Crosby were the other finalists. This award is for the best player in the league as chosen by the players themselves so it actually means more than most awards ...

 

Connor McDavid wins Hart, Ted Lindsay trophies


Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid took home the Hart and Ted Lindsay trophies Wednesday night. He won the Art Ross trophy as the NHL's top point earner at the end of the season. (Courtesy of Sportsnet)


Calling Edmonton fans the best fans in the leauge, Connor McDavid thanked Oilers owner Daryl Katz for building a contending team and a "beautiful new building" in a speech after winning the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player.

"I'm so proud to play in Edmonton," McDavid said Wednesday evening at the NHL's annual post-season awards show at T-Mobile Arena, the new home of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.

"I'm so proud to be an Oiler, and so proud to play with the guys."

McDavid's win capped a breakthrough sophomore season for the 20-year-old centre, who won the league scoring title and led the Oilers back to the Stanley Cup playoffs after an 11-year absence.

The former No. 1 pick beat out fellow finalists Sergei Bobrovsky of Columbus and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby.


Connor McDavid awaits Wayne Gretzky's announcement of the Hart Trophy winner (Courtesy of Sportsnet)

The Oilers captain is the first Oiler to win the Hart since Mark Messier in 1990.

Wayne Gretzky, who presented the trophy to McDavid, won the trophy himself eight times while playing for the Oilers.

Earlier in the evening, McDavid won the Ted Lindsay Award, given to the most outstanding player chosen in a vote by NHL Players' Association members.


The Oilers' Connor McDavid graces the cover of the EA Sports NHL 18 game. (EA Sports)

"To my teammates, I owe it all to you guys," he said. "Honestly it means the world to play with you guys each and every night. I love you guys."

If the awards were not enough, McDavid learned Wednesday he will appear on the cover of the EA Sports NHL 18 video game.

He was also voted to his first career spot on the post-season NHL All-Star Team.

 

On another Oilers note, Jordan Eberle has been traded to the NY Islanders ...