The Fifth Liners

After looking like they had finally reached a break through, last season was nothing short of a disaster for the New York Islanders franchise. Mid season it looked as if GM Garth Snow had lost his mind after surprisingly trading star winger Matt Moulson to Buffalo in exchange for Thomas Vanek . Soon after Vanek became disgruntled and was then traded to Montreal! After limping across the finish line in 8th place in the Metropolitan Division, Islanders fans had only a move to the Barclays Centre to look forward to! But in the off season, a couple of moves have seen this team being pushed back into spotlight. Problem last season was that the Islanders were not a rounded team and aside from the star power of captain John Tavares and Kyle Okposo , the lower lines were not stocked with quality. In this off season alone they have in an amazing move acquired Boston D-Man Johnny Boychuk and Chicago Centre Nick Leddy who will aid both their scoring ability and will assist in adding qualit...

Brent Seabrook was the overtime hero once again; as the Chicago Blackhawks came from behind in an exhilarating 6-5 win against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden in game 4 to level the series at 2-2! After Tuukka Rask ’s shutout in game 3 on Monday, the Blackhawks have come back strong. The Hawks began the first period strongly when Brandon Saad set up Seven Days in Hockey favourite Michal Handzus on a 2 on 1 after 7 minutes, but Saad became the enemy soon after as his giveaway led to a long range leveler on a Power Play by Rich Peverley . But the game burst into life in the second period when Chicago skipper Jonathan Toews scored a tip after 6 minutes to put them in front 2-1, this goal was Toews first goal since the Western final against the Red Wings and two minutes later the in-form Patrick Kane pushed them further ahead!   Milan Lucic however, put the Bruins back in the game when he scored a backhand rebound off a Zdeno Chara shot before Marcus Kruge...

The Boston Bruins doubled their advantage in the Eastern Conference with a dominant 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Consol Energy Center! So far their sharp offensive play is proving the difference in this series and at the moment! In the first period- the Bruins ran riot with Brad Marchand' s break away goal after only 28 seconds putting them on their way and  after 14 minutes the lead was doubled by Nathan Horton before the in form David Krecji pushed the Penguins deeper under water to make the score 3-0! Coach Dan Byisma then proceeded to pull Tomas Vokoun from net and returned Marc-Andre Fleury to active duty! Despite Brandon Sutter 's snap shot pulling one back for Pittsburgh with 34 second left in the period, Fleury was to have an equally hard time, this was confirmed when Marchand bagged his second with only 9 seconds remaining! Scoring took a break in the second period but 27 second in the third period, Patrice Bergeron scored to put the game ...

The Boston Bruins claimed a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers last night at Madison Square Garden to push their advantage to a 3-0 lead in this series, but this win was decided by a moment in the third period where the puck bounced off Henrik Lundqvist to give Boston the game winning goal! After a scoreless first period, Ryan McDonagh's long shot in the early in the second period deflected off Taylor Pyatt to give the Rangers the early advantage. The Bruins however found a break through three minutes into the third period when Johnny Boychuk scored to level the scores. With time running out in the period, Hamilton's shot clipped the mask of Lundqvist and fell perfectly for Daniel Paille who drove the puck home to give Boston a deserved win! New York's offense in that game was clearly lacking as Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask was only required to make 23 saves where as Rangers goalie Lundqvist had a far busier night with 32 saves and single handedly kept them in the game. ...

The Boston Bruins welcomed the New York Rangers back to the TD Gardens arena for game two of the series tonight. First Period The Bruins were looking to capitalise on their first game victory but were pinned back for the first five minutes. Adam McQuaid made a desperate diving poke check to deny the Rangers. Boston immediately jumped on this and sent the puck up to Torey Krug who displayed some silky skills to pass the puck between his skates and slot past Henrik Lundqvist .  A few minutes later Ryan Callahan intercepted a stray pass and then won the foot race to go one on one with Tukka Rask . The Rangers' captain made no mistake in finding the net. Rich Peverley gave the Rangers a powerplay when his high stick caught Rick Nash in the face but Boston was not able to take advantage.  Shortly after, captain Zdeno Chara was given a minor for slashing. Bizarrely even though the offence was behind Rask's net, it was the official in the neutral zo...

Toronto Maple Leafs gave back strong against the Boston Bruins last night to tie their series at one game all with an entertaining 4-2 win at TD Garden. Nathan Horton gave the Bruins the lead early in the second period which was eventually given after a video replay confirmation. But they found themselves shocked soon after by a Joffrey Lupul double that put the Leafs in control! 53 seconds into the third period, former Boston man Phil Kessel raced away to beat Tuukka Rask and to leave his former fans in a state of silence and give Toronto a 3-1 lead. The Bruins briefly rallied with a goal from defensemen Johnny Boychuk which deflected off Bozak, but with three minutes remaining- James Van Riemsdyk scored a bizzare goal where as he fell to the ice he knocked the puck into the Bruins net to seal a 4-2 win! The Maple Leafs were aided by an impressive goaltending performance by James Reimer- Optimus Reim may have had his fair share of critics this year but this performance is the ki...