A day of rest

Sunday was a day of rest, just as it should be! Toni and I watched a load of Judge Rinder with Pam and did not a lot else! Very nice it was too!

Garden centre, rude marshmallows and House Of Cards

It was a rare Saturday as we had Pam's volunteer here (she usually only comes every other Friday) which meant that Toni and I were free to go and do some things. We opted for a garden centre to get some nice things for the garden. Yes I know I don't do garden centres but it appears that there is change in the air LOL.

We bought some marshmallows while we were there and then got incredibly silly in the car:

Toni and I ventured on to pastures new with our TV viewing and picked up House Of Cards after some recommendations. We have seen the first couple of episodes and were quite impressed.

Day off, Wicca Moon, Practical Magic and Rangers blow it in the Eastern Conference Finals

I had a day off today which is always nice. Toni and I spent it at Wicca Moon completing module five of our Wicca Moon School Of Witchery course. There was divination using objects and cards and lots of hard work. Some of my preconceived ideas were challenged but I went with it and had my ideas reshaped. This usually happens to me but I am happy to be proved wrong when I have evidence presented before me.  There was also a lot of validation for me based on messages that I have been receiving over the last couple of weeks. It was a fantastic day with so much more to come!

When we got home we persuaded Aaron to buy dinner as he had just been paid so Rishta was in order. Following on from our day doing magickal stuff and because Shirlee had made reference to a scene from it we decided to watch Practical Magic again.

A couple of documentaries were watched on Netflix to kill some time as we waited for the start of the New York Rangers v Tampa Bay Lightning game. This was game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals series. The winner is crowned king of the Eastern Conference and then progresses to the Stanley Cup Finals (the grand prize).  Make or break time for both teams, do or die! The series so far has been completely unpredictable so say who will win this one was not obvious!

Rangers had the better first period of the two teams despite the shots on goal. Lundqvist made some great saves. First period ended 0 - 0. Shots on goal were NYR 5 and TBL 9.

Two failed power plays for the Rangers was disappointing. Lightning managed to mount more offense but couldn't beat Lundqvist who made some more fantastic saves. Second period ended still tied at 0 - 0. Shots on goal were NYR 6 (11) and TBL 10 (19).

Not unsurprisingly it all came down to the last period (or overtime) to get this series put to bed. One thing was clear, Rangers needed to shoot more! At 01:54 the Lightning broke the stalemate to make it 0 - 1 with a trickle through the five hole. Sadly this could be enough. The Rangers didn't start playing like a team that was about to be eliminated after that like I had expected them too. Lightning then start the twist the knife taking a 0 - 2 lead at 11:17. Rangers pulled Lundqvist for the extra skater with about four minutes left. They still didn't seem desperate. Third period ended with the Lightning winning 0 - 2!!! Shots on goal were NYR 10 (21) and TBL 6 (25). 

Well done to Tampa Bay Lightning, they came to win and win they did.  So the win the Easter Conference Finals series 3 - 4 and will face either Chicago Blackhawks or the Anaheim Ducks in the Stanley Cup Finals series.

Good day at the office and Tomorrowland: A World Beyond

Busy day at the office today which was good. Got lots done and was involved with lots of things.

Toni, Aaron, Zoe and I did the Bexleyheath run tonight. We started off dinner at Frankie and Benny's and then went to Cineworld to see Tomorrowland: A World Beyond.

It's not a bad film overall. It is definitely aimed at the kid market but there is lots to enjoy. The message is fantastic and there was some great ideas contained in the film. It's not a smash hit for me but is worth a watch.

Lila - Mermaid Magic

This is Lila's fourth release but her first actually under the guise of just Lila. Mermaid Magic is a bit like a Greatest Hits album as it contains a selection of water chants from Return Of The Goddess and Sisters Of The Moon plus three brand new ones.

Yemaya is an upbeat high energy chant. The chant is catchy and simple and has a South American vibe to it. Yamaya is the Queen Of The Oceans originating from the Orisha tradition. Somehow Lila has managed to capture a feeling of sweeping across the oceans hinting at it's magnitude and beauty.

Dolphin's Cry is a more laid back chant. There is a graceful and majestic feel to the melody. Some of the backing chants on this actually have a dolphin like vibration to them and I'm not even sure what I mean by that LOL. It's actually very hard to describe it but it is certainly an amazing sound to create.

Spirit Of The Ocean is another mellow chant with a trance like feel to it. It's easily to take yourself off into a meditation while listening to this track, be warned!

The previously released tracks are all strong offerings and fit very well under the Mermaid Magic water chant banner. Most of them should need no introduction as they are popular chants that are used by people of all paths.

The tracklisting is:
01 - Yemaya (NEW)
02 - Dolphin's Cry (NEW)
03 - Lorelei (from Sisters Of The Moon)
04 - The River Is Flowing (from Return Of The Goddess)
05 - Spirit Of The OCean (NEW)
06 - Lady Water (from Sisters Of The Moon)
07 - We All Come From The Goddess (from Return Of The Goddess)
08 - Goddess Fertility (from Sisters Of The Moon)
09 - Born Of Water (from Return Of The Goddess)
10 - Aphrodite (Serpentyne Mix) (from Sisters Of The Moon)

Ordering the Mermaid Magic CD also gets you a link to an immediate download of the album so you can start listening straight away.

The CD can be ordered from Lila's website here:
http://www.lilagoddess.com/#!mermaid-magic/c5n5

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists:

Back to work, banjo Battery, redneck Avengers and Spooks

Well it was back to work today after a Bank Holiday weekend. The downside is having to go back, the upside is a shorter week (made even better by having this Friday off too). Nothing to report, it was a reasonable day, but sometimes I wish I wasn't caught in this current rat race and could find a way to support the family doing something more worthwhile.

A couple of fun things came past me on my RSS news updates today that I thought were well worthy of sharing with you all.

First up, redneck Avengers courtesy of Bad Lip Reading:


...and while we are on the redneck theme, here's a video of someone covering Metallica's Battery on the banjo:


The day finished off with Toni, Sam and I heading off to Cineworld in Bexleyheath to see Spooks.

It's not a bad film at all. Toni described it as a TV movie rather than a cinema one but maybe that's because of it having its roots in the Spooks TV show. Definitely worth going to see on the big screen rather than wait for it to come out on DVD!

Mad Max: Fury Road

Sam and I were off to Cineworld in Bexleyheath to watch Mad Max: Fury Road. Having been reminded how bad the original was last week I watched Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior  today as a warm up so that I had better hopes for this one.

There was NO disappointment, it's a fantastic film with a great story and strong characters. I have nothing bad to say about it at all.

If you aren't convinced that a bit of post-apocalyptic mayhem is your thing then check out the trailer!

Chilling at Leanne's, Balls Of Fury, reggae hat and New York Rangers fail in game five

It was over to Leanne's reasonably early today to go and pick Pam up. We ended up staying for a fair while and had a nice catch up and chill out.

While browsing through Now TV I came across a film called Balls Of Fury. It was described as a huge comedy with tiny balls! It was clear that it wasn't going to be a cinematic classic but did just beg to be watched. It verged on the so bad it's good scale. It had it's moments with some fun one lines and silly scenes. Well worth a watch for a mindless chuckle just don't go expected award winning material!

Toni completed her latest commission, a reggae hat/wig. It looks awesome!

Following on from the enjoyable show last night we decided to watch the movie adaption of Phantom Of The Opera. 

With the New York Rangers struggling in the Eastern Conference Final series we last left them trailing to Tampa Bay Lightning 1 - 2. Today we watched the game from Friday where they managed to bounce back, trounce the Lightning 5 - 1 and even the series 2 - 2. Tonight it was game five from Madison Square Garden. Rangers power play had some good chances but came up short. The Rangers penalty kill was strong and kept the Lightning from making the most of the one man advantage. Rangers had quite a lot of dominant runs during the period. First period ended 0 - 0 (or Zip Zip as our awful commentators like to say). Shots on goal were NYR 6 and TBL 4.

Second period started with some good play from the Rangers. An atrocious power play by the Rangers almost ended in disaster but Lundqvist was running hot! The Lightning penalty killers were awesome during the next Rangers power play. A quick rush from the Lightning and the Rangers were 0 - 1 down. The Lightning then mounted some serious attacks boosted by their goal. A Lightning power play puts them 0 - 2 up. Second period ended with the Rangers trailing 0 - 2. Shots on goal were NYR 10 (16) and TBL 11 (15).

Rangers started the third at least looking like they might want to win the game, sort of. A stupid penalty early on put Lightning back on the power play which was thankfully killed off. The desire to skate for the puck seemed to have disappeared from the Rangers. As the period went on it became more and more depressing. With three minutes left the Rangers pulled Lundqvist for the extra skater. Third period ended with the Rangers losing 0 - 2. Shots on goal were NYR 10 (26) and TBL 7 (22). Really wish I hadn't bothered staying up to watch this. Shut out at home, pitiful!!!! The Lightning now lead the series 2 - 3 and are one win away from winning the Easter Conference Final and progressing to the Stanley Cup Final. Rangers need to win two.... can they do it? They've bounced back from worse but they are really struggling against the Lightning.

Forbidden Planet, steak and Phantom Of The Opera

A fun day out in London was planned today. Pam was spending the night at Leanne's and Toni, Sam and I  hit the engineering work laden trail to town. This involved a bus to Eltham, train to Victoria and then the tube. Not quite as smooth as planned but hey ho LOL.

En route to Forbidden Planet we discovered one of London's less well know productions:

Who knew this even existed? I have to admit that I didn't put it near the top of my must watch list but it did tickle me.

The problem with a shop like Forbidden Planet is that it is full of so much shiny pretty stuff that can cause a real drain on the old bank account. I showed restraint, a LOT of restraint. Admittedly some of this was just because we were off to the theatre later and it would have been difficult to carry a lot. The other reason was that space is at a premium at home at the moment. I did come away with a copy of Chris Taylor's new book "How Star Wars Conquered The Universe" as it wouldn't have felt right not buying anything *grin*.

Toni and Sam both came away with bags of goodies too and then we set off to Covent Garden to find a nice cafe to have a sit down, some coffee and to do some reading. We spent a nice bit of time just chilling, chatting and reading before it was time to go an forage for food. An Angus Steak House was our eatery of choice.

Toni and I shared a starter:

This was accompanied by the most amazing sweet potato fries:

It was a unanimous decision on the main course. 16oz t-bone steak!

Amazingly we still managed to squeeze pudding in as well, just! Suitably stuffed and barely able to move we took a slow stroll on to Her Majesty's Theatre via Trafalgar Square.  We were quite surprised to see a Thestral from Harry Potter on our travels. It's good to see London being kept interesting.

We arrived at our destination in good time.

Sam had bought tickets for us to see Phantom Of The Opera as an early birthday present for Toni. He missed out on our last trip to see it in 2011 as his work wouldn't let him have the time off but nothing was going to stop him this time.

The performance was amazing, absolutely brilliant. Some of the actors had changed this time but they were just as good as the last time we went. Sam absolutely loved it.

It was an amazing day and we all had great fun and headed home very tired.  

Marvel digital comics and Maze Runner

Yesterday I discovered that my recently bought Marvel comics all came with bonus digital editions. Not sure why I hadn't spotted it before but it was a bit embarrassing as I had a bought a few on the iPad before realising my folly. So, if you buy Marvel comics and want free digital copies look out for something like this on the cover:

or this on the inside:

Tonight we watched Maze Runner. I'd seen the trailer at the cinema and though "meh" but I was pleasantly surprised. Apparently it's based on a popular series of books. The film was like a cross between The Hunger Games and Falling Skies. It was actually pretty good and I do like films that aren't frightened to end on a bit of a downer rather than just going for the Hollywood joy thing. Thomas, a teenager, arrives in a glade at the center of a giant labyrinth. Like the other youths dumped there before him, he has no memory of his previous life. Thomas quickly becomes part of the group and soon after demonstrates a unique perspective that scores him a promotion to Runner status -- those who patrol the always-changing maze to find an escape route. Together with Teresa, the only female, Thomas tries to convince his cohorts that he knows a way out.
Here's the trailer:

The reason that I wanted to watch Maze Runner was because I had seen the trailer was out for the sequel but I wanted to watch the first one before getting a sneak preview of part two. There's the trailer for Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials which looks like it could be pretty damn good.....
  

Popping shoulders and more on the Game Of Thrones musical for Red Nose Day

It was an interesting day in GlitzVille. Toni managed to turn over her ankle as she left the house yesterday morning and then popped her shoulder trying to break her fall. She managed to get it back in again but needless to say she was in a lot of pain. I was at work at the time so was on standby for a recall but she managed to keep things under control. This was a picture that she used on Facebook this morning LOL

Lots of painkillers and rest have been the order of the day.

Following on from the Peter Dinklage Red Nose Day trailer yesterday here is a further clip on Coldplay's Red Nose Day project Game Of Thrones The Musical:

Now I'm now fan of Coldplay but well done Chris Martin and co, well played!

Sharing some fun things.... plus trailers for Pan and Pixels

As I am in a caring sharing mood, here are some things that I have found around the interwebs. First up is a new burger from Zombie Burger in Iowa. This is there Human Centipede inspired called Martin's Revenge. It looks absolutely delicious!

Here's some fun Red Nose Day advertising that I have given a great big thumbs up to! William Shatner can do no wrong!


Peter Dinklage sings about Game Of Thrones

Anna Kendrick reboots Indiana Jones!


I will finished off with a couple of cool looking trailers for upcoming films.

First up is yet another Peter Pan reboot. This one looks quite interesting and Neverland looks AMAZING!


Next up is Adam Sandler's video game nerdfest Pixels. A NASA time capsule gets intercepted by Aliens and they send video games back to Earth to pixelate us all. This actually looks hilarious.....

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists:

Rangers choke, positive vibe day and A Million Ways To DIe In The West

Woke up to the depressing news that the New York Rangers had managed to turn a 2 - 3 scoreline into a 2 - 6 loss in one period. This now means the Eastern Conference Final series is tied 1 - 1 with Tampa Bay Lightning. Reading the reports was depressing news and some serious turn around needs to happen for the game tomorrow. I made the active decision to not let this put a real downer on may day so went into positive thinking mode!

Before hitting the office I had a nice little walk and did some chanting for twenty minutes to to instil some calm and to focus me on being positive. Job done and everything was quite pleasant at work even when things weren't going as planned. You can't knock the effectiveness if taking a positive spin on everything even when it doesn't seem that way.

The plan had been to go and see Mad Max: Fury Road this evening but as there was a general level of tiredness (well apart from Sam) we decided to postpone it and we are now going to see it on Monday instead.

As a consolation we took advantage of our Now TV trial (an app which had just appeared on the Apple TV) and watched A Million Ways To Die In The West.

Mild-mannered sheep farmer Albert Stark (Seth MacFarlane) feels certain that the Western frontier is trying to kill him, then he loses his girlfriend, Louise (Amanda Seyfried), to the town's most successful businessman. However, a beautiful, pistol-packing woman named Anna (Charlize Theron) rides into town and helps Albert find his inner courage. Then Stark must put his newfound bravery to the test when Anna's outlaw husband arrives with plans to plant him in an unmarked grave. The film was a massive flop and got terrible reviews but we thought it was hilarious and well worth watching more than once. Different strokes eh?

Day off, guilty pleasure, silly videos and Mad Max (the original)

It was another day off today which was nice! I am really getting used to these short weeks! Toni was out and about so I was on granny duty which involved me not having to do very much other than provide breakfast and tasty beverages from time to time.  I did take the opportunity to indulge in one of my guilty pleasures.... Judge Rinder!

I stumbled across this marvellous video today that is described as the best Jar Jar Binks toy review ever! What do you think?


While we are talking about funny Star Wars related videos I thought I'd drop in this one too. A shorter version has appeared on Facebook but this is the full thing with an Ewok stealing something important and then running away!

I watched the original Mad Max film in the afternoon as a lead up to going to see Fury Road tomorrow. I'd forgotten how terrible it was. Sure it has it's moments but it is certainly not ninety minutes of pure joy! I was tempted to do 2 and 3 as well but decided that was a bad idea LOL.

Gardening, fire gazing, Ducks and Wicca Moon study

It was a very productive day today. After a trip to the cafe for breakfast Toni and I hit the garden to start getting things into shape. I mowed the grass while Toni did some weeding. Following that we broke out the fire bin and burned up loads of confidential waste and masses of dried out wood that we had cut down during our last hit on the garden. There is something very satisfying about watching all that stuff burn. Fire gazing a-go-go.

Indian food accompanied watching the Anaheim Ducks beat the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals series. The Rangers will be facing one of these teams once they have finished off Tampa Bay Lightning. Positive thinking right!

Toni and I then dedicated the rest of the evening to doing some of our Wicca Moon coursework. We came up with some great exercises to utilise what we were learning and our first session was very successful (and also eye opening).

Breakfast, Warhammer battle, Rangers lead Eastern Conference FInals 1 - 0 and Ex Machina

The morning started off with a nice big breakfast at Richard's Cafe. After this we all went out into the garden to catch some sun. Pam just chilled and slept, Toni did crochet and Sam and I played Warhammer Fantasy. My Dark Elves took on Sam's High Elves in game of skirmish, beasts and magic. It was pretty close but I just managed to beat Sam.

Three cheers for my Supreme Sorceress and War Hydra! (Pics are from Games Workshop and aren't my models LOL)

A big thumbs up goes to Sam's special character Alith Anar who did considerable damage to my ranks! (same as above on the picture front)

Today the Conference Finals series began as New York Rangers took on Tampa Bay Lightning. First period started off a bit cagey but the Rangers soon picked up the pace and pushed the Lightning hard with lots of scoring chances. The Lightning just didn't seem ready for the Rangers team that came out. The post kept the Lightning in it after denying the Rangers a great chance. Rangers owned the first period ended tied 0 - 0. Shots on goal were NYR 11 and TBL 7.

Second period started with the Rangers coming out flying. The Lightning then managed to drum up some offence and put the Rangers under pressure. Penalty kill went to 4 on 4 and then to power play but neither team could put the puck away. A bit of end to end play was then followed by the Rangers going on the power play. There were lots of attempted shots but sadly no goal. The Lightning managed to mount a serious attack towards the end of the period but couldn't get ahead. Rangers were then plagued with a flurry of near misses. With 13 seconds left Derek Stepan broke the stalemate to give the Rangers a 1 - 0 lead.  Second period ended with the Rangers leading 1 - 0. Shots on goal were NYR 11 (22) and TBL 12 (19).

Third period had some end to end action with some hard hits from the Rangers. A high stick put the Rangers on the penalty kill. Unfortunately the Lightning made it count and tied the game 1 - 1. Rangers went back on the attack but couldn't take a lead. Another penalty kill came along. This time they got the job done and there were no shots on goal for the Lightning. A bit of end to end play and then the Rangers were back on the penalty kill for another time. Successfully killed off the Rangers then pushed forward and mess up a 3 on 1 before Dominic Moore made it 2 - 1 with 2:25 left. Lightning pulled their netminder with 1 minute remaining but the sixth skater was no use. Third period ended with the Rangers winning 2 - 1. Shots on goal were NYR 8 (30) and TBL 5 (24). Rangers lead the series 1 - 0 which was a great way to kick things off.

The day finished off watching Ex Machina. This is a very good film that should serve as another stark warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence and playing "god".

Ransomware, lunch with dad, catch up with Dan and Electric Wizard

It was an interesting day at work today as we discovered that a section of one of our network drives have been somehow subjected to a ransomware attack. this basically meant that a load of files were encrypted and a text file left that said to get them decrypted we need to go to some iffy URL and pay some money via a Bitcoin code. Closer examination of the text file revealed the name of someone who works elsewhere in the company so we contacted him and asked if he had encountered any issues. He then replied yes, sent us a copy of a screenshot of the ransomware popup and said that he had just killed the screen off using Task Manager but hadn't reported it to anyone! Hard to think that we are an IT company when thinks like that happen! We now have to go through the painful process of a big restore exercise to get everything back as it should be.

I popped out at lunchtime to meet dad at Barbican for a bite to eat and a catch up. It's always good to meet up when he is in town.

After work I headed out to Camden to meet Dan Symmons. We haven't seen in other in around twenty years so there was plenty to catch up on! Fortunately it was one of those meet up with old friends that was like we'd never had a break. Great talking about old memories and music.

We missed Moss due to drinking and talking but did manage to catch some of Purson's psychedelic set. They were pretty good and I'd like to go and see them in a more intimate venue.

The Cosmic Dead were up next and I was less than impressed with them. I had my fill of experimental noise in the 80s/90s and what Moss started off with just seemed tired and dated with none of the flair of the noise pioneers. In this day and age it's not cool to do a performance and just not even look at your audience!

The rest of the set might have got better but they blew their chance as we went out onto the terrace for more drinking and talking.

Which then led us on to Electric Wizard who are described as stoner/sludge doom metal (whatever that is supposed to mean). I had listened to a few tracks before in the lead up to the gig and they were OK. Live however was a different kettle of fish. They were really good, the sound was huge. If you like Black Sabbath then there is lots for you to enjoy here. Slow paced doomy riffs with the whole building vibrating with the bass but the sound was crystal clear. The entire show was backdropped by cheesy occult porn and some dodgy biker clips.

It was a great night of catching up and live music and Dan and I intend to be doing this more often in the future!

Day off, playing Wolfenstein, new trailers and time out for a meditation

I had a day off today which was a great relief after going to bed at really stupid o'clock following on from the Rangers spectacular overtime win last night. There was a nice long sleep before getting out of bed which was much needed.

I did have a few things that I had planned on doing. Instead I opted for a good session on the PS4 playing Wolfenstein The New Order. I haven't played it for quite a while but I got back into it straight away and make a lot of progress (well by my standards anyway LOL).

It's been a good week for trailers and here are two more for the collection. First up is the latest trailer for the upcoming Minions movie. This one needs no explanation:


Next up is the follow up series to Arrow and The Flash. CW are getting the team together and making DC's Legends Of Tomorrow as a series. This one shows great promise:

I finished the day off with some meditation to gain some insight into some things. Glad I took the time out to do this. It is so easy to put things off and then use the, "I didn't have time" excuse. Well today I made that time and the results were good :)

Awake, IPL, Wicca Moon coursework, Supergirl and New York Rangers take Game 7

Despite being awake at silly o'clock in the morning and doing Reiki sessions I actually managed to get up for work with no trouble. This was a novelty but was definitely down to the positive energy that was flowing.

Work was work, an OK day with nothing untoward to report. Everything muddling along nicely.

After work it was off to The Avalon Laser Clinic for my next round of IPL. It was a little ouchy this time a everything was turned up a notch. It still went pretty smoothly though with my meditation technique once again proving to be a successful way to push through it.

Once we got home Toni went into crochet mode while I wrote up a load of my Wicca Moon School Of Witchery coursework. I had a nice sense of accomplishment after that :)
Another addition to the coming soon list of TV shows is CBS's Supergirl. It's hard to get a full feel for it based on this trailer but it might be OK.


The day finished off with some NHL ice hockey goodness. The New York Rangers have fought their way back from a 3 - 1 series deficit against the Washington Capitals and the series is tied 3 - 3. Tonight it's Game Seven! Do or die time. A win tonight and it would be on to the Eastern Conference Finals against Tampa Bay Lightning, a loss and the season would be over.......

First period started slowly with the Capitals starting to show their physical edge. It was going to be a game of strength v speed. Sloppy play from the Rangers had me running a tad nervous. A stupid penalty had the Rangers on the back foot and on the penalty kill. Having successfully killed off the Rangers then went on the power play. Don't pass, shoot! Rangers power play units continue to disappoint. Ovenchicken put the Capitals 0 - 1 up at 12:50 due to some poor play from the Rangers. Another Rangers penalty kill was successfull with a failed Rick Nash shorthanded attempt. Rangers were then back on the power play again *sigh*. First period ended with the Rangers 0 - 1 down. Shots on goal were NYR 10 and WSH 15.

Rangers had 1:34 of power play heading into the second period. Nothing doing on that one despite a couple of chances but it wasn't long before they were on the power play again. I hate the sound of the goal post! Capitals obviously adopted a new strategy after that. Go on the penalty kill and the Rangers won't score as another power play chance arrived for the Rangers. This time though the Rangers made it 1 - 1 as Kevin Hayes converted at 06:22! Phew! It seems that Too Many Men is not  a penalty in a Game 7 as the Capitals get away with murder! After a bit of end to end play the Rangers found themselves back on the penalty kill again. Thankfully they got the job done. For the final two minutes the Capitals got quite intense. Second period ended tied 1 - 1, not where I wanted to be. Shots on goal were NYR 15 (25) and WSH 7 (22).

With the game tied at 1 - 1 the third period was going to come down to a battle of the wills. Which team wanted it more? So here we go.......

It was a cagey start to the third but the Capitals started to push forward. Five minutes in and both teams were going end to end but the Capitals looked more dangerous. I had expected more intensity from the Rangers in this period but maybe they were saving it LOL. I guess neither team wanted to make that first mistake so there was a lot of long plays. A non-call on Boyle (probably a clean hit) had the Rangers start to try and up the pressure. Ten minutes in and the game was still tied 1 - 1. Kevin Hayes lost a tooth/teeth and still the game rumbled on. I'm hoping the NHL do a good review of the officiating that has taken place during the play offs as it has been shocking at times. Five minutes left and the stalemate continued. With two minutes remaining I was definitely reaching for the oxygen. Third period ended still tied at 1 - 1. Shots on goal were NYR 9 (34) and WSH 6 (28). Into overtime we went.......

Have to pinch this quote from Twitter: "Being a fan of this team is like being punished for something you don't quite remember doing." - @FoReyRays

Heading into the first overtime period the Rangers were 3 - 0 on overtime wins with the Capitals 1 - 2. Never mind the stats, play hockey! Both teams came out with a bit of a jump in their step with the stakes so high now. The Capitals went into overdrive and really piled on the pressure. There was a quick return by the Rangers before the Capitals were back on the attack again. I was actually feeling physically sick after about ten minutes and had to keep my breathing under control. Both teams were really going for it. The dream was kept alive at 11:24 as Derek Stepan banged one passed Holtby to win 2 - 1. Game ended with the Rangers winning 2 - 1. Shots on goal were NYR 5 (39) and WSH 8 (39).

Bring on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday! 

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists: