ESPN NHL

From the official NHL release:

CHARA, KARLSSON AND WEBER NAMED NORRIS TROPHY FINALISTS


NEW YORK (April 26, 2012) -- Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins, Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators and Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators are the three finalists for the 2011-12 James Norris Memorial Trophy, awarded “to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position,” the National Hockey League announced today.

Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association submitted ballots for the Norris Trophy at the conclusion of the regular season, with the top three vote-getters designated as finalists. The winner will be announced Wednesday, June 20, during the 2012 NHL Awards from Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas. The 2012 NHL Awards will be broadcast by NBC Sports Network in the United States and CBC in Canada.

Following are the finalists for the Norris Trophy, in alphabetical
order:

Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins

Chara's strong two-way play helped the Bruins capture their third Northeast Division title in the past four seasons. The Boston captain led all defensemen and tied for third in the NHL in plus-minus (+33) -- matching his League-leading rating from 2010-11 -- and recorded a career-high 52 points (12 goals, 40 assists) to rank fourth among all defenders in scoring. In addition, he led the Bruins in power-play goals
(eight) and average ice time per game (25:00). Chara is a Norris Trophy finalist for the fourth time in the past five seasons and for the fifth time overall; he captured the award in 2009, finished second in 2004 and was third in 2008 and 2011.

Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators

Karlsson enjoyed a breakout season, leading all NHL defensemen in scoring with 78 points (19 goals, 59 assists) in 81 games. He recorded 25 points more than any other League defenseman -- the widest winning margin since Pittsburgh's Paul Coffey lapped the field by 38 points in 1988-89 -- and set Ottawa franchise records for blueline assists and points. The 21-year-old also is the youngest defenseman to tally as many as 78 points in a season since Coffey's 96 with Edmonton in 1982-83. Karlsson topped NHL defensemen in shots (261), was ninth in the League in average ice time per game (25:19) and posted a +16 rating.

Shea Weber, Nashville Predators

Weber ranked near the top of several categories, helping the Predators earn their seventh Stanley Cup Playoff berth in the past eight seasons. The Nashville captain placed sixth in scoring among all defensemen with 49 points (19 goals, 30 assists), with his 19 goals tied with fellow Norris finalist Erik Karlsson for first place. He ranked fifth in the NHL in average ice time per game (26:09), tied a career high and led all defensemen with 10 power-play goals and posted a team-leading and career-best +21 rating. Weber is a Norris Trophy finalist for the second consecutive season; he finished second to Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom in 2010-11.

History

The James Norris Memorial Trophy was presented in 1953 by the four children of the late James Norris in memory of the former owner-president of the Detroit Red Wings.

ESPNBoston's Joe McDonald and James Murphy recap an epic first-round series between the Bruins and Capitals and look ahead to a bright future in Boston.

• The Capitals beat the Bruins, 2–1, in overtime to win what was arguably the closest playoff series in NHL history. It was the first series in Stanley Cup history in which all seven games were decided by a one-goal margin, and only the second series to go to overtime in Game 7 with the two teams having scored the same number of goals in the series. (Washington and Boston had each scored 15 goals in the series at the end of regulation time on Wednesday night.) The only other series in which the goals were evenly divided heading into overtime in Game 7 was the first-round matchup between the Sabres and Senators in 1997. Game Seven at the Aud in Buffalo went to OT tied 2–2 on the night and 13–13 in the series; Derek Plante won the game and the series for the Sabres when he beat Ron Tugnutt with a slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle 5:24 into OT.

• Washington head coach Dale Hunter earned a unique distinction when the Capitals won Game 7 of their series against the Bruins in overtime. He’s the first man in NHL history to score a Game 7 overtime goal and coach a team to a Game 7 overtime victory. Hunter scored his Game 7 overtime goal for the Capitals against the Flyers in 1988.

• Braden Holtby made 31 saves to lead the Capitals to a 2–1 overtime victory in Game 7 of their series against the Bruins. Holtby is the seventh rookie goaltender to post an overtime win in Game 7 of a playoff series and the first since the Sabres’ Steve Shields did so against Ottawa in 1997. Two Hall of Famers are among the six other rookie netminders with OT wins in a Game 7: Frank Brimsek (1939) and Patrick Roy (1986).

Capitals Punishment: Tonight’s Capitals-Bruins game is the 141st Game 7 in NHL history. Washington has been less than stellar in these situations, posting a 2-7 record. Of the 22 all-time NHL franchises with at least five Game 7 appearances, only the Sabres (1-6) and Coyotes (0-5) are worse.

No Doubting Thomas: If Tim Thomas can hold the Capitals off the scoreboard, he will become the first goalie in NHL history to record three Game 7 shutouts. Only two other goalies have registered two such shutouts (Patrick Roy and Curtis Joseph). Thomas shut out the Lightning and Canucks in Game 7s last season.

What to watch for on Wednesday, 7:30 ET. The defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins host the Capitals in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. It's been a battle of the goalies, with 3 of 6 games going to OT.

ESPNBoston's Joe McDonald and James Murphy discuss what the Bruins need to do to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

From the official NHL release:

BACKES, BERGERON AND DATSYUK VOTED SELKE TROPHY FINALISTS


NEW YORK (April 23, 2012) -- Centers David Backes of the St. Louis Blues, Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins and Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings are the three finalists for the 2011-12 Frank J. Selke Trophy, which is awarded "to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game," the National Hockey League announced today.

Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association submitted ballots for the Selke Trophy at the conclusion of the regular season, with the top three vote-getters designated as finalists. The winner will be announced Wednesday, June 20, during the 2012 NHL Awards from Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas. The 2012 NHL Awards will be broadcast by NBC Sports Network in the United States and CBC in Canada.

Following are the finalists for the Selke Trophy, in alphabetical
order:

David Backes, St. Louis Blues

Backes had the highest average ice time per game among forwards
(19:59) on the club that allowed the fewest goals in the NHL by a wide margin. The 6'3", 225-lb. center again was a punishing physical presence, doling out a team-leading 226 hits, joining Los Angeles forward Dustin Brown as the only players to record 200 hits or more in each of the past five seasons. Backes led the Blues in face-offs (1,353), blocked 72 shots and posted a +15 rating. The Blues captain is an NHL Trophy finalist for first time in his seven-year NHL career and is the first Blues player vying for the Selke Trophy since Michal Handzus finished second in 2000.

Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins

Bergeron led the NHL in plus-minus (+36), posting a +18 rating both at home and on the road, helping the Bruins rank second in the Eastern Conference in team defense (2.39 GAA). Appearing in a single-season career-high 81 games, he topped all Bruins forwards in shorthanded time on ice (1:48 per game) and was dominant in the face-off circle, posting a 59.2% winning percentage (973 of 1,641) to rank second in the League behind Chicago's Jonathan Toews (59.4%). Bergeron is an NHL Trophy finalist for the first time and could become the second Bruins player to capture Selke honors, joining Steve Kasper (1982).

Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings

Datsyuk continued his mastery of separating opponents from the puck in 2011-12 by ranking third in the NHL in takeaways (97), and his stickhandling and passing skills helped the Red Wings' renowned puck possession game. Datsyuk posted a +21 rating and was the club's top face-off man, posting a 56.2% winning percentage (702 of 1,249) -- his eighth consecutive season posting a win rate above 53%. Datsyuk has been voted a Selke finalist for the fifth consecutive year, matching the streaks of Montreal's Guy Carbonneau (1986 through 1990) and Bob Gainey (1978 through 1982) as the longest since the award was introduced in 1978.

History

The trophy was presented in 1977 by the National Hockey League Board of Governors in honor of Frank J. Selke, one of the great architects of Montreal and Toronto championship teams.

• The Kings eliminated the Canucks, the team with the best record in the NHL this season, with a 2-1 overtime win in Game 5 of their first-round series. Vancouver was the sixth Presidents' Trophy-winning team to be knocked out in the first round of the playoffs since 1985-86, when the NHL began giving its award to the team with the best record in the league, but they were the first one of those teams to go out in fewer than six games. The other Presidents' Trophy winners who were one-and-done were the 1990-91 Blackhawks (eliminated by the Minnesota North Stars), 1999-2000 Blues (San Jose), 2005-06 Red Wings (Edmonton), 2008-09 Sharks (Anaheim) and 2009-10 Capitals (Montreal).

• The Bruins-Capitals series is the first one in NHL playoff history in which each of the first six games were decided by a one-goal margin. Boston has won by scores of 1-0 (in double overtime), 4-3 and 4-3 (in OT), while Washington's victories have been scores of 2-1 (in overtime), 2-1 and 4-3. Of course, the Bruins' and Caps' exclusive hold on that record might last only one day. Game 6 of the Phoenix-Chicago series is set for Monday night and each of the first five games were decided in overtime.

• Tyler Seguin scored the first playoff overtime goal of his NHL career to give the Bruins a 4-3 win in Game 6 of their series against the Capitals. The 20-year-old Seguin is the third-youngest player to score a playoff overtime goal for the Bruins, behind Don Gallinger, who holds the NHL record with an OT winner at age 17 versus Montreal in 1943, and Patrice Bergeron, who was 18 years old when he scored in overtime against the Canadiens in 2004.

• The Flyers finally got it right on their third try to eliminate the Penguins, wrapping up their first-round series with a 5-1 win in Game 6. Claude Giroux, who led all players on both teams with 14 points in the series (6 goals, 8 assists), recorded a goal and two assists in the clincher on Sunday afternoon. Giroux's 14 points were the second-most ever tallied by a Flyers player in one playoff series, behind Tim Kerr's 15 points (10 goals, 5 assists) in a seven-game series against Pittsburgh in 1989. Giroux is only the second NHL player since 1993 to score at least 14 points in a playoff series of fewer than seven games. Sidney Crosby registered 14 points in the Penguins' six-game first-round series win against Ottawa in 2010.

Flyers-Penguins series: The Flyers were decidedly better -- the 5-1-in-Game-6 kind of better. That's what you need to know. They will keep playing, the Penguins go home. Also worth knowing: Claude Giroux earned first-round Conn Smythe honors.

Bruins-Capitals: Tim Thomas is back. But so is Alex Ovechkin. Man, don't you love Game 7's?

Kings-Canucks: Goaltender battles can be entertaining too, especially those that pit two guys against each other who have been working a cage match since they were wee lads. But after the Kings clobbered the Canucks in OT, count on Jonathan Quick to be the favorite as the second-round Conn Smythe winner.

• Craig Anderson made 41 saves to lead the Senators to a 2–0 win at Madison Square Garden in Game 5 of their series against the Rangers. Anderson was the first NHL goaltender to make at least 40 saves in a road shutout in the playoffs since the Stars’ Ed Belfour made 48 stops in a 1–0 triple-overtime win at New Jersey in Game 5 of the 2000 Stanley Cup finals. Before Anderson, the last goaltender to do that in a road playoff game that did not go to overtime was Toronto’s Felix Potvin with a 42-save, 3–0 shutout at Chicago in 1995.

• Troy Brouwer's goal with 1:27 remaining in the third period snapped a 3–3 tie and earned the Capitals a 4–3 victory at Boston and a three-games-to-two lead in the series. It was only the second time in franchise history that a Capitals player scored a go-ahead goal in the final two minutes in the third period of a playoff game. The other Washington player to do that was Craig Laughlin against the Islanders in Game 1 of the 1984 Patrick Division finals. The only other go-ahead goal in the last two minutes of the third period in a 2012 playoff game was scored by the Bruins’ Zdeno Chara in Game 3 of this series. This is the first NHL playoff series in which each team scored a goal of that kind since the second-round matchup between the Penguins and Devils in 1995. Pittsburgh’s Luc Robitaille scored a go-ahead goal in the last two minutes of regulation time in Game 1 and New Jersey’s Scott Stevens did so in Game 2.

• Jose Theodore had his first playoff shutout since April 19, 2004, in the Panthers win over the Devils on Saturday. Only six other goaltenders have gone eight years between postseason shutouts, most recently Brian Boucher, who went just over 10 years (1999 to 2009).

The Panthers took the lead in their series against the Devils with a 3–0 win in Game 5. The Panthers’ final goal, a last-minute empty-netter, continued the trend of one team or the other taking a 3–0 lead in every game of the series (New Jersey in Games 1, 3 and 4; Florida in Games 2 and 5). The only other playoff series in NHL history in which one of the teams grabbed a 3–0 lead in each of the first five games was the Bruins versus Penguins best-of-five first-round series in 1980.

• Rookie Braden Holtby made 44 saves to lead the Capitals to a series-tying 2–1 win over the Bruins. In the NHL’s expansion era, the only other rookie goaltender to make that many saves while posting a win in a non-overtime playoff game was Montreal’s Ken Dryden on April 16, 1971, at Boston. Dryden stopped 46 of the 48 shots he faced in a 4–2 victory.

Washington has won 16 games over the last four playoff years and all of those wins have been recorded by rookie goaltenders: seven by Semyon Varlamov in 2009, three more by Varlamov in 2010, four by Michal Neuvirth in 2011 and two by Holtby this season. That’s one more playoff win than all rookies have posted for other NHL teams combined over the same span.

• It was the first playoff shutout in four days short of three years for Martin Brodeur, who will celebrate his 40th birthday on May 6. Over the last 40 years, only two NHL goaltenders as old as Brodeur have posted playoff shutouts: Dominik Hasek with two shutouts for the Red Wings at age 42 in 2007 and Dwayne Roloson with a shutout at age 41 for Tampa Bay last year.

NHL senior vice president of hockey operations Mike Murphy release the following statement regarding the operation of the game clock in the final seconds of the Capitals’ Game 4 win over the Bruins:

"With 9.5 seconds remaining in the third period, there was a stoppage and resulting face-off in the Washington zone. During the stoppage, the game clock operator and Series Manager determined that 0.9 seconds should have been added to the time remaining in the third period and attempted to contact the on-ice officials to delay the puck drop to accommodate making the necessary clock adjustment to 10.4 seconds remaining.

"The off-ice officials were not able to attract the attention of the referees or linesmen despite sounding the horn, which was not audible due to crowd noise, and the puck was dropped.

"The NHL Situation Room in Toronto immediately was aware that the clock had not started for 5.3 seconds after the face-off and, therefore, would have disallowed a goal scored with 5.3 seconds or less showing on the clock."

Just throwing this out there.

Projected second-round matchups, if all the series continue as they have begun, listed with seeds:

Eastern Conference
(If Rangers win their series)
1. Rangers vs. 5. Flyers
2. Bruins vs. 3. Panthers

(If Senators win their series)
2. Bruins vs. 8. Senators
3. Panthers vs. 5. Flyers

Western Conference
2. Blues vs. 8. Kings
3. Coyotes vs. 4. Predators

The Bruins attempt to increase their lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Capitals, who will be without the suspended Nicklas Backstrom.

Henrik Lundqvist made 39 saves to lead the Rangers to a 1-0 win in Game 3 of their series against the Senators, one day after the Kings’ Jonathan Quick stopped 41 shots in a 1-0 victory at Vancouver. Since the NHL began officially recording shots on goal more than 50 years ago, the only other goaltender to make 39-or-more saves in a 1-0 shutout in a non-overtime game was Martin Brodeur against Carolina in 2009 (44 saves). The Rangers’ 1-0 victory was only their second playoff win by that score since 1941. Lundqvist accounted for that other 1-0 win as well, beating the Capitals by a lone goal in Washington in 2009.

Brian Boyle’s third-period goal gave the Rangers a 1-0 win over the Senators and a two-games-to-one lead in their first round series. Boyle also scored a goal in Game 1 and Game 2. Since 1996, the only other Rangers player to score goals in each of the team’s first three games of a playoff year was Sean Avery, in 2008.

Zdeno Chara’s goal with 1:53 remaining in the third period snapped a 3-3 tie and earned the Bruins a 4-3 win in Game 3 of their series against the Capitals. He was the first Boston player to score a go-ahead goal in the final two minutes in the third period of a playoff game since Ken Hodge Jr. did that at Montreal in 1991. Chara was the first defenseman on any NHL team to score a go-ahead goal of that kind since the Red Wings’ Nicklas Lidstrom did so against the Ducks in 2009.