STANLEY CUP SO FAR..

Spot that break from tradition up there? Usually my blog titles are three words only. Couldn't quickly make up a 3 worder today. Sorry.

Anyway, the Stanley Cup is well into the first round of the playoffs. 16 teams playing for the ultimate cup. 8 teams from the Western Conference, 8 from the Eastern.Each round is best of 7 games - an exhausting haul to mid-late June with teams playing every other day, home or away. They're earning their dollars right now.

All for this..

My teams, New York Islanders and the Montreal Canadiens are both faring ok - little early to tell but the NYI at the very least are doing incredibly well given they were drawn against the favourites from the East Coast, Pittsburgh Penguins (PIT in chart below). Three games in, won one, lost two - but only just to be honest and the last two games being high scoring - proving the NYI can score against the Penguins. And a lot when they get their act together. 

The first game was a write off as they lost 5-0 but they came back to a 4-3 win and then took the Penguins into overtime in game 3 to win 5-4.

Here's the run down so far (at early evening 7 May). Eastern Conference on the top row, West on the bottom for the uninitiated!

The other team I follow closely, Montreal, are faring a lot worse against Ottawa Senators (OTT in chart above).

The surprise so far has been the New York Rangers, not my team but I like to watch and they are 'mini-me's' favourites. They seem unable to start the playoffs proper against the Washington Capitals (WSH above). 3-1 down in game 1, then a very uneventful game that went all the way into overtime (OT) with a score of 0-0 until the Capitals scored 8 minutes into OT. Then a 4-3 win for them in game 3.

Their school report says "must try harder". Especially when they get Power plays (the other team have a player off ice for a few minutes - again for the uninitiated).

Also watching Detroit Redwings (second on bottom row above) closely as they have failed to ignite their star players so far (lots of late night catching up on my tablet in bed with Gamecenter Live!)

If you want to keep up with progress, the NHL have a great, constantly updated results chart here.

More soon..