The New York Rangers eased to a (7-3) victory in game six at Tampa vs the Lightning, forcing a seventh and deciding game of the NHL semi-finals in New York on Friday night.
It was the fourth time in this year’s playoffs that the Rangers responded with a victory in a game in which they faced elimination.
The Rangers’ Derick Brassard had a brilliant game, scoring the three goal hat trick and also picking up two assists.
In a similar situation in 1994, the Rangers’ Mark Messier also had a hat trick in a game six of an NHL semi-final series in which the Rangers trailed three games to two and won game six on the road.
So far this season, the Houston Astros, a franchise that has never won a World Series game, have played very well.
They actually have a nice lead (five and a half games) in the American League West division.
In my baseball preview, I was tempted to pick the Astros, a team with budding young talent, to win the A.L. West.
I picked the Angels and will stay with that prediction.
However, to this point, the Astros are the division’s big story and I believe they will contend for the crown and do not be surprised if they do win the division.
Tonight is game five of the NHL semi-final series between the Western Conference top seed Anaheim Ducks and the Chicago Blackhawks.
The series is tied at two games apiece with both Blackhawks’ wins coming in overtime games which totaled 5 overtime periods.
I predict the series will go to a seventh game on Saturday night.
Speaking of five, this is the third Chicago vs Anaheim major sports league semi-final and all were contested in a year ending in “5.”
In 1985, the Chicago Bears eased vs the L.A. Rams, whose home was in Anaheim in the NFC title game/NFL semi final. The Bears went on to devour the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
In 2005, the Chicago White Sox defeated the Angels, who played and still play in Anaheim, in the ALCS/ major league baseball semi-final.
The White Sox then swept the Houston Astros, winning 4 close games, to win their first World Series in 88 years, a year after the Boston Red Sox ended an 86 year title drought.
In sharp contrast to the NHL, where both semi-final series are tied at two games apiece, both NBA semi-final series are one sided and almost certainly will produce a Golden State Warriors vs Cleveland Cavaliers finals series.
The Warriors, who at (67-15) easily had the best regular season record, ripped the Houston Rockets, at Houston, to take a commanding (3-0) series lead. The Rockets did stay close in the two Warriors’ home games (games 1 and 2).
No NBA team has ever come back from a (3-0) series deficit and it will not happen in the Golden State/Houston series.
Hence the Warriors will make their first finals appearance since they swept the then Washington Bullets, now known as the Wizards, in the 1975 finals.
The New York Rangers bounced back, as they so often do, with a (5-1) series squaring win in game four at Tampa, vs the Lightning.
This is the third time the Lightning have made the NHL semi-final round, with the previous two Lightning semis going to the home team in the seventh game.
In 2004, en route to winning their only Stanley Cup and with current Rangers player, Martin St. Louis, a star player on their team, the Lightning won game seven of the “semis” at home, vs the Philadelphia Flyers.
In 2011, the Boston Bruins won at home in game seven of the semi-finals vs the Lightning, en route to winning the Stanley Cup.
All three Lightning semi-final series, this one included, have “stood” at two games apiece, after 4 games.
In the previous two, the home team won the next three games. If that pattern persists, it will be the Rangers in seven games, which is my “in series” prediction.
Last night I had the pleasure of seeing a truly riveting play, “A Queen for a Day” at the Theater of St. Clement, located at 423 West 46th Street in New York City.
The four person cast of David Proval, Portia, David Deblinger and Vincent Pastore all were superb. Richard O’Brien also appears in a minor role .
Proval’s performance was mesmerizing. Playing an organized crime figure with a complicated past, he was on stage throughout the 90 minute show and did some of the finest acting I have seen in “many a moon.”
He and his fellow cast member Vincent Pastore are best known for roles as organized crime members on the superb HBO show, “The Sopranos.”
Proval played “Richie Aprile” and Pastore was a character known as “Big Pussy.”
Portia also really stood out in her interesting, mysterious role. The excellent performances of the entire cast makes “A Queen for a Day” a play I highly recommend.
“A Queen for a Day” is directed by John Gould Rubin and written by Michael Ricigliano Jr. It is an exciting and thoroughly enjoyable production.
For more info, click here and here.
David Proval: Mesmerizing
Trust me, I have nothing against the city of Cleveland and its sports teams.
However, this LeBron James and J.R. Smith led Cleveland Cavaliers run through the weak NBA East truly diminishes the Cavs’ and James’ accomplishment to this point.
The series victory vs the Hawks is a virtual, foregone conclusion, though when the so called “experts” call it such, watch Atlanta rally a bit.
However, this is the NBA and television dollars “demand” James, not Atlanta vs the West winner in the NBA finals.
This is not to imply wrongdoing or that Cleveland is not the better team. It is that I “knew”/sensed James and the Cavaliers would be in the NBA Finals this season.
The “odds people” agree as the Cavaliers about a 2 to 1 favorite when the series began and are now 5 to 1 favorites to make the NBA Finals for the second time in the 45 season history of the franchise.
The NBA Eastern Conference Final series matches the East top seed Atlanta Hawks and the East two seed Cleveland Cavaliers.
Despite the lower seed and not having home advantage, Cleveland is roughly a 2 to 1 favorite to win the series, which begins tonight in Atlanta.
The Hawks moved to Atlanta beginning play there in the 1968-1969 NBA season. The team advanced to the semi-final round in each of their first two seasons, losing each series, going (1-8) in the games.
This will be their first semi-final round appearance since those first two seasons as the Atlanta Hawks.
Though the Hawks will exceed that one game win total in this series, I predict the Cavaliers to win the series in six games.
The “construction crew” will continue to “pave the road” for LeBron James in the so much weaker NBA Eastern Conference.
In coaching the Houston Rockets to a quarterfinal series victory vs the Los Angeles Clippers, in which his team overcame a (3-1) series deficit, Rockets’ coach Kevin McHale became the first person in NBA history to both coach and play on a team to accomplish such a come-from-behind feat.
McHale was a great player, playing on three NBA championship teams with the Boston Celtics, including the 1981 team that overcame a (3-1) series deficit in the semi-finals, to beat the Philadelphia 76ers.
In 1981, in a game six I recall staying up to about 2 am to watch (as it was a “delayed tape” broadcast beginning 3 plus hours later than the 8 pm start). McHale’s Celtics overcame a 17 point deficit, I believe in the second quarter.
This year McHale’s Rockets incredibly overcame a 19 point late third quarter deficit for a road victory in game six on the road.
By the way McHale and the Celtics went on to win the 1981 NBA title and as was the case in 1986, the team they beat in the NBA finals was the Houston Rockets.
Kevin McHale as a Celtic
Kevin McHale as a Coach
In 1994 both the NHL New York Rangers and NBA Houston Rockets won the seventh game of their league’s final series at home, to win the championship.
This year each team overcame a (3-1) quarterfinal series deficit and a dire situation in a game in which they faced elimination to advance to the league semi-finals.
The Rangers not only trailed 3 games to 1 in the series but trailed the Washington Capitals (1-0) with less than two minutes to play in game 5.
However the Rangers rallied to win that game, and the next two to sink Washington (and currently lead their semi-final series vs the Tampa Bay Lightning one game to none).
The Houston Rockets faced overwhelming adversity in game 6 at Los Angeles vs the Clippers when they trailed by 19 points with less than 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter.
However, the Rockets rallied, outscoring the Clippers (51-20) the rest of the way to win game six and then won game seven at home yesterday rather easily.
Andy B Sports 