By Hockey Guru
When things aren't going right, many choose to simply disappear. Not the Hockey Guru.
And apparently not the Montreal Canadiens. After two consescutive shutout losses, the Canadiens showed up last night at the Bell Centre and not only showed that they won't be going away easily - they once again gave the Guru a face full of egg!Well, being wrong in the playoffs has not kept the Guru from showing up and bringing forth his keen insight and analysis.
While the research is excruciating, the deadlines never ending, an editor that is never happy and always breathing down his neck - the Hockey Guru is dedicated to his ever-growing (and incresingly female) fan base, for whom he is wiping the egg off and offering once again to share the fruits of his enormous crystal balls.
For tonight's Game 3, the Guru is putting on the only suit in the world that Don Cherry wouldn't wear and is stepping out to pimp out his predictions for Game 3 in the Hawks / Sharks series.
Quoting Westfield State College Alum, Peter Laviolette, ".... in the playoffs, it's never about momentum, it's always about desperation .... desperate teams are tough teams". Montreal certainly proved that last night and tonight the San Jose Sharks find themselves in the same 0-2 hole. San Jose is not only desperate - they are talented. A league high eight Olympians, including the "top line" from the Gold Medal-winning Team Canada, come into the United Center with an absolute purpose tonight.Meanwhile, Joel Quenneville has taken steps to keep Chicago "desperate" - keeping the team toegether at a Chicago hotel, as if they were still on the road (where they've won 7 consecutive games).
The Guru postulates that what looked to be a comfortable position for Philly has certainly taken a sharp U-turn, and that the Montreal victory may have indirectly created a greater sense of "desparation" in Chicago, realizing that their "comfortable" position today can change very quickly with a loss tonight at home. You can bet that the more mature members of this young team are contemplating the same thing at the hotel bar.
The first goal of the game tonight will be especially huge. Both teams will come out playing a "road game" - that is, chipping the puck out, getting the puck deep, being very defensively responsible. The track meet up and down the ice will commence - but with limited scoring opportunities. These teams will be using their speed, size, strength and skills primarily for defense making goals rarer than reader comments on this site.
Having gone what seems like an eternity without an overtime game, the Guru is forecasting a lengthy OT tonight - double OT or longer is very possible. In a game this close, a bounce, a fluke, a penalty could be the difference. If that bounce comes early, it could snowball and once again smear egg on the Guru, but the fearless forecaster is going with .... [drumroll please] ....
Chicago 2 - San Jose 1 (2OT)
Now that's pimping quite the fearless forecast. Oh, and don't forget ....
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