The Winter Classic between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres drew a 2.6 rating and 5 share on NBC on New Year’s Day, the highest TV rating for a regular season game since 1996. In the stands, more that 71,000 fans braved the sleet, snow, and cold at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo to watch the Pens best the Sabres 2-1 in a shootout.

Meanwhile, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is still drawing up expansion plans to add hockey franchises in Puerto Rico, Cancun and the Bahamas. He is also considering rule changes to get rid of that pesky ice surface so the league can stage additional outdoor hockey events during the summer months.

The Pittsburgh Penguins snapped a two-game skid by beating the Devils 5-0 at the Prudential Center in Newark last night. Sidney Crosby scored two goals, giving him 22 points this season (3rd in the league). Goalie Dany Sabourin had 20 saves in his first career shutout.

It was a good night to be a Pittsburgh fan.

So me, you, and everyone else were thinking the Islanders were finished, right? They’re playing the top-ranked Sabres, they looked like crap in Game 1, it was just a matter of time. But no, the team from Long Island has proven us all wrong. Last night the Isles came out swinging and took a 2-0 lead over mighty Buffalo in the first period before Toni Lydman managed to stop the bleeding. But it was Rick DiPietro who gave New York a chance to win by stopping 24 shots on goal.

We all may have also been thinking that the Penguins were going to go down quickly after they got smoked by Ottawa in Game 1, but low and behold Pittsburgh too surprised everyone yesterday. Looking like a totally different team, the Pens jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Ryan Whitney goal in the first, and then needing some scoring in the final period they really stepped on the gas. Old man Gary Roberts scored a power play goal to knot the game 2-2, then the young buck Jordan Staal tied the game again with help from Roberts and Michel Ouellet. But in the end who scored the game winner? Who else but Sid the Kid; Crosby scored an amazing goal with an assist from Evgeni Malkin and Mark Recchi.

Yeah, you can’t tell me you weren’t stung by hockey fever yesterday, so don’t even try to deny it. Luckily we’ve got more great action today as the Flames try to turn it around against Detroit, the Pens and Sens take their show to The Igloo, and Vancouver and the Stars get their Game 3 on in Dallas.

• Ottawa fans were booing Sidney Crosby. Uh, hello? He’s the probably the best player in hockey right now. I don’t think a little boo-ing will really throw his game off. If it does we’ve found his Kryptonite.
• Vancouver fans yell ‘luuu’ whenever Luongo makes a great save. Maybe it’s just me but this sounds a little too close to Booo
• Vancouver fans chanted ‘Turco, You suck’. That’s a pretty mean chant but not quite as mean as ‘Ricci’s Ugly‘

Her picks this year are the Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Atlanta Thrashers and Pittsburgh Penguins and the Vancouver Canucks.

SO are you smarter then a monkey?   or know more about hockey then a monkey?    Then make your first round picks and see who does better.       Or just sit back and watch how the ‘experts’ lose to the monkey.

TSN will be covering up to 28 games in the first round of the playoffs!   While the CBC will be covering every Canadian hockey game.     The playoff eve and the first night of playoffs many people participate in playoff pools or playoff brackets.     BBQ’s begin, trash talking begins and city mayor’s make silly wagers.   Ahhh, the playoffs!

The Canadian teams / games are

Ottawa vs Pittsburgh:  This will be a FAST and EXCITING series.   Crosby, Malkin and Staal vs Alfredson, Spezza and Heatley.  Who can score more goals?   or which Goalie will stand out?
Vancouver vs Dallas:    Goaltending match-up.    Luongo is in his first playoffs while Turco has never done good in the playoffs.   Who’ll be the hero?
Calgary vs Detroit:      Which team can grind it out four games first?   This will be a hard-hitting tough series for both teams.
Ahhhh, the playoffs.   Wait there was nothing snarky about this blog.   I know, but seriously, aren’t the playoffs great?

The chase for the Cup gets underway on Wednesday when the Penguins of Pittsburgh face off against the Ottawa Senators. The Pens, of course, have that young phenom Sidney Crosby, who led the league with 120 points, including 36 goals. The Sens, meanwhile, have a bunch of players not named Sidney Crosby, but they do have Dany Heatley and goalie Ray Emery. Still, they don’t have anyone named Crosby or Jordan Staal or Evgeni Malkin, so I’m pretty sure Ottawa is going down in the first round (sorry Canada), but this could be the best series of the whole post-season.

Also on Wednesday, the Dallas Stars get their series underway against Vancouver. Now you might be thinking you heard once that Dallas is pretty good, but that was in 1999 when they won the Cup; this Stars team is the one that sorta just gets into the playoffs and then gets booted in the first round. The Canucks, with the Sedin twins and goalie Roberto Luongo will be tough to beat this year.

You’ve also got the Minnesota Wild kicking off their series against Anaheim. This should be a pretty good series, too, since this is Minnesota’s first trip to the playoffs since the first Bush was president and they had a team called the North Stars, so those fans in Minneapolis should be plenty fired up. It might even be enough for them to steal this one away from The Team Formerly Known as The Mighty Ducks.

Lastly, the San Jose Sharks take on the Nashville Predators. The Preds look pretty good on paper, but they play in a division with Chicago, Columbus, and St. Louis, so looks can be deceiving. Still, I’m picking Music City over Silicon Valley because Sharks fans cursed themselves last year by booing the Canadian national anthem.

On to Thursday night and more Eastern Conference action, the Buffalo Sabres start their run for the Cup with a little practice time against the Islanders, while the New Jersey Devils go through the motions against Tampa Bay. The Isles have no hope of making it past the first round, but it’s nice to see them back in the hunt, I guess. The only hope for Tampa is . . . well, there really is no hope for them either.

The last series in the East is the Rangers vs. the Thrashers. The who? That’s right, the Atlanta Thrashers are not only in the playoffs but they are in as a division champion. Of course, saying Atlanta had the best team in the Southeast is like saying you’re the smartest one on the short bus. Still, the mighty NY Rangers aren’t much better and will probably get booted in the first round.

That leaves us with Calgary and Detroit. Yes, Detroit is one of the best in the league and the top seed in the West, but how can you possibly root for the Red Wings? That’s like rooting for the Yankees, yawn. Plus, they’re owned by a pizza empire, a bad pizza empire at that. No, everyone out there should be rooting on the plucky Flames to score an upset here, and they just might, though it’ll mean they have to win at least one on the road, which they haven’t been able to do often this year. But this is the playoffs and everything changes now.

So America, are you ready for some hockey?

I for one am happy that they’re staying put.  Mostly because the cities they were moving to weren’t good for penguins.  Las Vegas, too warm and sandy for penguins.   Kansas City, what about a tornado, penguins can’t fly you know?   Winnipeg, too many bugs and how do they apply bug spray with no hands?

Great news for Pittsburgh and their Penguins!

The Eastern Conference is a much tighter race near the bottom of the with basically seven teams going for one spot. The Islanders, Rangers, Carolina, Toronto, Montreal, Boston and Florida. Currently the Islanders have 76 points while three teams are tied with 73 points.

So without further ado my quick list

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