So all you genius that had Michael Cammalleri in your playoff pools are looking pretty good right now, as the winger now sits atop the goal leaders alone with 11 goals in 13 games. The “Mule” Johan Franzen finally woke up this postseason with a four goal outburst in Game 4 vs Sharks, than bowed out afterwards. And Sidney Crosby finally scored his first goal of the Eastern Conference semifinals to tie him for the league lead in points. With those scorers in mind the Pucking Awesome Top Shelf, or snipers we have our eye on this week, breaks down some heavy action in both the Stanley Cup playoffs and upcoming Memorial Cup.
Game 7:
We have said it many times on this site that nothing is better in sports than a Game 7 do or die. Now the Candiens face their second consecutive game 7 when they travel to the defending Stanley Cup champions’ house on Wednesday. Scott Gomez has the most experience in Game 7’s with playing in seven in his career with a 5-2 record; he added his second career assist in these pivotal games in a 2-1 win over Washington. Ironically the leader in goals in these games is Andrei Kostitsyn, who had two goals in 2008.
The Penguins faced two game 7’s in their run towards Lord Stanley’s Cup last season winning both of them on the road (Capitals and Red Wings). Their last home Game 7 was a 1996 decisive loss to the Florida Panthers. They are led in goal scoring by Pascal Dupuis, Ruslan Fedotenko and Bill Guerin who all have three career goals in game 7’s.
Showing those stats tell you that usually a unheralded player comes through in the clutch for a team in these critical games like Maxime Talbot, who had two goals in the Stanley Cup clincher last year or like Dominic Moore and Marc-Andre Bergeron who had the only two goals in the massive upset of the Capitals. Keep one eye on the top players like Crosby, Malkin, Cammalleri and Gionta but don’t be surprises if a Jordan Staal, Matt Cooke, Maxim Lapierre or Benoit Pouliot ends up scoring the big goal.
Blackhawks Up:
The Blackhawks march towards back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances has had a different feel about it and the biggest change has been Jonathan Toews reclamation as a big time player. Toews is tied with Crosby for the league lead with 19 playoff points and has 11 points in the series vs the Canucks. Though Patrick Kane has gotten most of the press around the league for his flashy goal scoring and smile, it had been the captain Toews lead by example that has driven this team to be one win away from the Western Conference Finals.
Remember this is a kid that was named the captain at 20-years-old becoming the third youngest ever to be named captain and he once scored three times in a shootout for the Canadian team in the 2007 World Junior Championships and was awarded Best Forward in this years Olympics. Toews has made a knack of coming up big in the biggest situations and will continue to as the Blackhawks march to their first Stanley Cup final in 18 years.
Memorial Cup:
The 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup begins in Brandon on May 14. The teams this season are the host Brandon Wheat King, the WHL Champion Calgary Hitmen, the QMJHL Moncton Wildcats, and the OHL Champion Windsor Spitfires. The tournament will obviously put more pressure on predicted top draft pick Taylor Hall, playing for Windsor, but will feature other top Juniors scorer.
For the host Brandon, they will be led by Kings first pick, fifth overall Brayden Schenn, who followed a 99 point regular season with 19 playoff points in 15 games.
The Hitmen have two prolific scorers who were both fifth round picks, Brandon Kozun was picked by the Kings 179th overall in 2009 and had back-to-back 100 point regular seasons. Joel Broda, picked 144th overall in 2008 by the Capitals, had 39 goals this regular season and added 13 more in the Hitmen run towards the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
Moncton has been led in scoring by two mid-season pickups. Nashville’s 5th round pick in 2009 Gabriel Bourque, not related to Ray, but led all the QMJHL with 19 goals in the postseason and Kelsey Tessier, an Avalanche 4th round pick in 2008, who has 30 point in 21 games.
That brings us last but certainly not least Taylor Hall of the Windsor Spitfires. All the top prospect has done this postseason is lead the league in points (35 pts in 19 GP), dispatch Tyler Seguin, the other top prospect, in a head-to-head matchup and win the Robertson Cup as OHL Champions for the second straight season. Another top scorer to keep your eye on is the Devils 3rd round pick of 2008, Adam Henrique who lead the team with 20 goals and won the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.
