Happy Monday, everyone. I hope your weekend went well.

Since we last updated you on Saturday morning, all sorts of games have launched everyone towards game six or seven in the second round. Everyone but those Jerks, that is. All the rest are going the distance.

Game Recaps

Sunday

Blues Vs. Stars Round 2 Game 6 Recap - St. Louis Game Time
A lineup shuffle and a huge third period...FORCE  A GAME 7 IN ST. LOUIS. WE WILL SEE YOU TUESDAY NIGHT.

Controversial Calls And Missed Chances As Blues Beat Dallas To Force Game 7 - Defending Big D
You didn’t think it was really going to be that easy, did you?

Saturday

Recap: Bruins survive a wild third period to take Game 5, 4-3 - Stanley Cup of Chowder
That, my friends, was an intense 10 minutes.

Round 2 Game 5 Recap: Blue Jackets’ rally falls short, faces elimination - The Cannon
From a goalie exhibition to a rampant offensive third period, this one was wild to the end.

Colorado Avalanche lose goalie duel, fall down 3-2 in series with San Jose Sharks - Mile High Hockey
I didn’t know Joe Thornton was a goalie.

Colorado Avalanche at San Jose Sharks Game 5 recap, score: Playoff Jones, Playoff Hertl hold off Avs - Fear The Fin
The Sharks are one win away from the Western Conference Final.

The Sharks and the Avs are playing in the late game, and it’s possible the Sharks have joined the Jerks in the third round.  I have no idea why I thought they were playing last night. Sunstroke, I guess.

Marlies

The Marlies played yesterday in Cleveland, and that was some game. It was too nice out to stay in, so I watched it in my backyard, so I’ll give you my sun-drenched thoughts.

The Marlies have a habit some games of struggling to control the puck at five-on-five, and this was one of those games. Sheldon Keefe is still playing Kasimir Kaskisuo, riding the hot hand, even though the better goalie is sitting right there. It’s how it’s done, I suppose. It’s lucky the hand stayed hot, though. The refs decided to swallow the whistles, and that’s something in an AHL game, to see only the direst dirty deeds draw a call.

You can’t fault Keefe for his willingness to play the rookies on the blueline with Rosen hurt. He’s likely to miss all of this round, which might be code for “and the next one too”. The kis are alright, mostly. But the breakouts are crisp and effective with Rosen, and a little ragged with the youngsters. Rookie Egor Korshkov is 22. All those defenders except the 23-year-old Andreas Borgman and veteran Vincent LoVerde are younger than Korshkov.

While getting hopelessly outshot in the first period, the Marlies scored one goal:

Sweet feeds are a Marlies hallmark. They played better in the second, and slacked off in the third again, but it really wasn’t until that third period when the penalties had to be called that Cleveland had anything like real scoring chances. The Marlies power play was nothing much, which just happens some time. But Kaskisuo was on his game again, and with the net empty, Dmytro Timashov got the insurance goal, and the Marlies won their sixth straight playoff game to go up 3-0 on the Monsters.

The top two lines were very good, and the third line with Korshkov is a bit hit and miss so far, but maybe once he’s had more than two practices, he’ll move on from the simple game he’s playing so far where mostly, he just drives the net.

I don’t think this series is going to a game seven. The Marlies have three lines that can score goals and a fourth line that can handle the defensive tough stuff. They have a squad of modern, new age defenders, and rumour has it Joey Duszak and Mac Hollowell are developing Swedish accents. As long as the goaltending holds, they can score their way out of any jam.

The Growlers play today and can get to round three with a win:

There’s a new Back to Excited out, with a special guest, and you should listen to that.

Toronto Maple Leafs Free Agency Preview - Pension Plan Puppets
We welcome a guest to talk about Leafs free agents

In other Leafs news... there might be some today. I have this feeling something might just happen today or tomorrow.

You must have heard about the Ken Holland to Edmonton news, but did you catch this one:

At this rate, Patrick Roy and Randy Carlyle will be running the Sabres by the end of the week.

Have a great Monday, everyone.

From The Branches