No need to wait until June- Alex Ovechkin is your Hart Trophy winner. Here are the winners for Round 2 of the 2008 NHL Playoffs:
The “thanks for showing up” award goes to Sean Avery’s spleen, which ruptured along with the Rangers playoff hopes in Game 3 at the Garden. In a series where the Rangers needed to find a way to get uberstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin off their game, Avery was held in check. Luckily, he all but wrapped up a new contract in the previous series against the New Jersey Devils.
Humanitarian Award: After a two-faced performance in Round 1, Carey Price looked more rookie than phenom in the Conference Semis against the Philadelphia Flyers. Credit is certainly due to the Flyers, as nobody makes the Conference Finals on a bye, but only Jose Theodore of the Colorado Avalanche posted worse 2nd round numbers. Theodore can at least take comfort in being steamrolled by the Detriot Red Wings, with Henrik Zetterberg scoring goals only a child would think possible, between tallies from the invincible Johan Franzen. Brick wall Marty Turco will now try to impede this immovable object.
Better Staal: After outplaying his brother through round 1, Marc struggled to break the mold of adequate playoff hockey, even taking a couple costly penalties in a series decided on special teams. Jordan showed real poise and a nose for the net, cashing in on a heady fake up close on Henrik Lundqvist for the deciding goal in Game 2. You had to know the winner of this award would be the guy moving on to the Conference Finals.
Better Richards: Brad Richards would have helped his case by not being stymied on multiple golden, post-regulation opportunities of the series clincher versus San Jose. Mike also tasted bitter misfortune, after being whistled for a questionable hit on Alex Kovalev in the waning seconds of regulation in Game 2; Kovalev scored on the ensuing Powerplay and set up the Overtime winner. Overall, Mike gets the edge for leading his team instead of merely adding depth.
Honorable Mention: A playoff award should not be affected by regular season play, but the Boston Bruins persisted through an adversity mired season, watched by Patrice Bergeron. Marc Savard stepped in as the centerpiece of Beantown’s blue-collar Bears, who secured their playoff spot with a run bested only by Washington’s history making push. Phil Kessel has emerged as a star, while Milan Lucic and David Kreici allow Claude Julien to cycle three playoff quality lines.
The Man With the Golden Gun: Brendan Morrow seems to be involved in every important goal for the Dallas Stars. After watching Brad Richards get shut down and Mike Ribeiro flub the puck in front of his own crease, Morrow put the nightcap home in the 70th extra minute. The series clincher was his second overtime winner of the series. Much ado was made about the Stars reallocating the Captain’s “C” from Mike Modano, but Morrow has become the heart and soul of this playoff bracket-buster.
Soup Nazi Award: Remember when playoff performance was the bane of Marty Turco’s career? Last year’s grueling defeat by the Vancouver Canucks had all the benefit of a month at Fight Club and now Turco is one of the game’s surest clutch netminders. After stunning the defending champs in the first round, he stonewalled the San Jose Sharks, who many figured would challenge Detroit in the Western Conference finals. The early knock on Turco resembles criticism of a young Peyton Manning, both in how true it was and how silly it seems now.
Wake up Naked in the Barn Award: Two weeks earlier, they were flying high after dispatching their cross-river rivals in New Jersey. Now, the New York Rangers have to scrounge for details to file in the police report, after their second round mugging by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Unable to recover from a narrow defeat in a raucous barn-burner in Game 1, their downfall holds eerie similarity to that of the Phoenix Suns. Both teams undoubtedly had the talent to come out on top, but found themselves on the short end of three more gut wrenching defeats, with only a comfortable Game 4 win to show for it. As they look to recoup, the Rangers have the awkward task of negotiating with their captain, Jaromir Jagr. The organization lost not only the series, but any hope for Jagr to return on the cheap. After a disappointing regular season, he was one of the league’s most productive playoff performers, going out with the courage of a true warrior.
Keywords: Alex Kovalev, Alex Ovechkin, Boston Bruins, Brad Richards, Brendan Morrow, Carey Price, Claude Julien, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, David Kreici, Detroit Red Wings, Evgeny Malkin, Hart Trophy, Henrik Lundqvist, Henrik Zetterberg, Jaromir Jagr, Johan Franzen, Jordan Staal, Jose Theodore, Marc Savard, Marc Staal, Marty Turco, Mike Modano, Mike Ribeiro, Mike Richards, Milan Lucic, New York Rangers, NHL, NHL Playoffs, Patrice Bergeron, Peyton Manning, Phil Kessel, Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Suns, Pittsburgh Penguins, Sean Avery, Sidney Crosby
