Haggerty's Stanley Cup Playoff thoughts

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The Stanley Cup playoffs roll on, and it was an interesting weekend where all four teams continued to stay alive. Here are a couple of thoughts from both series while wondering just how stringy and weird Los Angeles Kings Captain Dustin Browns playoff beard is going to become by the end of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Great playoff performance by Phoenix Coyotes Captain Shane Doan when his Yotes teammates needed him most. You could sense his intensity when he was speaking with NBC rink side guy Brian Engblom prior to Sundays Game 4 in Los Angeles, and he went out and scored two goals in a 2-0 victory that allowed Phoenix to stay alive. Doan might be the most compelling Lets win it for fill in the blank theme that we see develop during every Stanley Cup Finals, and he showed exactly why in pushing the series back to Phoenix for at least one more game. Hes being criticized in some corners for the penalties that hes taking against the Kings, but Doan has to play with that unrelenting physicality that can sometimes push him into the penalty box. Otherwise he isnt playing Shane Doan playoff hockey and matching the intensity of guys like Dustin Brown, Justin Lewis, Brad Richardson and Willie Mitchell on the Los Angeles side.

Henrik Lundqvist still hasnt allowed a bad goal during the playoffs. There is zero shot the Bruins were going to get by New York even if theyd squeezed by the Capitals and the Flyers. Its already down to Lundqvist (1.57 goals against and .942 save percentage) and Jonathan Quick (1.46 goals against and .948 save percentage) for the Conn Smythe Trophy at this point with Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar as dark horse candidates.

Pretty amazing that Claude Giroux is still leading the postseason field in scoring with 17 points even though he was eliminated by the New Jersey Devils in the last round of the playoffs.

Nine points and a minus-3 in 15 games for Zach Parise has been a little eye-opening with the New Jersey forward on the cusp of unrestricted free agency. It got so bad that he stormed out on the media after a loss to the Rangers last week, and is showing everyone just how much pressure hes putting on himself. While his numbers arent terrible Parise hasnt really done himself too many favors when it comes time to talk contract this summer.

Seeing plenty of talk about the Bruins being up close to the salary cap for the upcoming seasons. Theres no way of knowing given up the upcoming CBA battle between the NHL and the NHLPA, and the Bs still have yet to put Marc Savard on long term injured reserve. That would free up 4 plus million in salary cap space for the Bruins that theyre still currently carrying on their cap for a player that doesnt appear likely to ever return to hockey. That combined with a potential deal moving Tim Thomas away would free close to 10 million in salary cap space, so the Bruins have plenty of flexibility to make plenty of moves if necessary.

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