Montréal, Calgary split Game 7s; And then there was one

Montréal wins its Game 7, and Calgary doesn't. I wondered out loud whether Canada would have any teams get past the first round of the NHL playoffs.

Then when Montréal won Monday night, I tried to hold out for 2 teams, but that didn't quite work out. So the Habs are Canada's last shot with Detroit as a border team. The ideal matchup: Detroit-Montréal going 7 games with the Canadiens pulling it out in overtime.

I hate to nitpick this (again), but why was Versus only giving us the 2nd round scenario if San Jose won. What a cheap shot. And don't give me that it was 2 vs. 7, since San Jose was the favored team. Versus would have been better off not giving any scenarios.

And then Versus turns around and doesn't even give us Game 1 of the Montréal-Philadelphia 2nd round matchup. There will be no U.S. television for a 2nd round game -- unbelievable. I love how there is no assigned television in the U.S. for the potential 7th game. There is no other game in that time slot, and yet no one sure whether the game would be broadcast. That will change if there is a Game 7, but wow.

By contrast, Pittsburgh and Detroit will have full coverage, including games on NBC. I figure the first games NBC will do from Montréal will be the Stanley Cup Finals if the Canadiens make it.

As badly as Versus is about ratings, NBC is even worse. The Penguins and the Red Wings are the security blanket to NBC's Linus.

While we were fortunate to get CBC coverage on some of the first-round games, notably the Calgary series, I doubt we would get CBC in the 2nd round; the only prospect for that is the Montréal series. CBC and RDS will carry all games in the Montréal-Philadelphia series.

Since NBC has the U.S. over-the-air rights, it would seem fair that the network should carry games missing from the U.S. market on extra digital channels on its NBC stations. But perhaps that is thinking before its time. If NBC were able to run its advertising and carry the CBC feed on an alternative digital channel, the network would actually make money since they would pay zero in production costs.