No full match review from last nights games due to me having to travel half the length of the UK early this morning to take up my residency for the next 10 days visiting family. This holiday time however will allow me to take in a few more games and hopefully a few live in the early hours of the morning here rather on demand at 5am in the morning!
Pittsburgh Penguins 1 v 5 Tampa Bay Lightning
Well, what a difference a day makes! After that superb 3-0 win in game 1 Pittsburgh are bumped back to with a 5-1 thumping and with it lose home ice advantage. It only took 2.02 in the 1st for Tampa Bay to get on the board, Brewer skating in over the blue line on a 2 on 1 and firing it into the top corner. LeCavalier made it 2-0 on the PP at 6.53 tapping in unchallenged in front of the net. It was 3-0 before the end of the 1st when Downie skated in from the wing, fired his shot across Fluery who got his pad down and created the perfect pass onto Thompson's stick, who had an empty net to puck the puck into.
It took until 9.08 in the second for the Penguins to get on the board, Adams picking up the puck in a scramble infront and putting it into the roof of the net.
15 seconds before the end of the 2nd period, Martin St Louis stepped up to effectively put the game past the penguins, putting the puck in off the stick of the sliding Martin fom behind the net. Ohlund finished the scoring off late in the 3rd with an empty net goal but the Lightning had won the game long before that point.
Fluery was a hero with the Penguins fans after game 1 and was hyped as being up for the cup run and that without Crosby and Malkin they could still sweep the Lightning. Oh how the fans will be hoping for Crosby's return before the end of this series.
Washington Capitals 2 v 0 New York Rangers
The Caps go 2-0 up in the series with yet another tight game. The explosive, attack-minded Caps have started this years playoffs conceeding only 1 goal in nearly 7 periods of play.
Not only was this game low scoring there were also few shots in it, the Rangers outshooting the Caps 22-18.
13 of those shots came in the 1st period as the Rangers tried to take an early lead but it was the start of the 2nd period where the Caps got 2 quick goals and set up the win. Laich got the puck behind the net and out infront to Johansson. He played the perfect pass across the front of the goal and Chimera got the quick release on his shot to put the puck behind Lundqvist.
Almost 2 minutes later it was Jason Arnott who put the Caps 2-0 up on the powerplay and ended the games scoing. The Rangers only putting 9 shots on goal after that 13 shot 1st period just wasn't good enough and they need to find a way to score goals against this Caps team and fast. Washington are not renowned for their defence and im sure it's a case of the Rangers being poor offensively that is making this seem like the Caps are being brilliant defensively.
Vancouver 4 v 3 Chicago
As i said in my preview notes to this game, the Canucks will need the Sedin's to get off the mark with their playoff scoring and that is exactly what they did. Both the twins assisted on the only goal of the 1st period at 7.30, with Hansen getting his 2nd of the playoffs. They had already been thwarted by Crawford earlier in the period, the netminder standing firm with them skating in on him 2 on 0.
Daniel deflected in the 2nd goal just 30 seconds into the period on a PP and despite Ben Smith pulling 1 goal back for the Blackhawks the Canucks went into the 3rd period 2 goals up with Edler scoring with only 15 seconds left in the 2nd. Chicago were back to only 1 goal behind early in the 3rd when a defensive error meant the puck coughed right into Stalberg's path and he fired the puck past Luongo. Daniel Sedin's 2nd of the night and game winning goal came at 10.06 in the 3rd, enterting the zone unchallenged and firing into the bottom of the net gloveside from between the circles. Smith got his 2nd at 12.50, picking up on a huge rebound from Luongo and sticking the puck easily into the net.
The Canucks defence were not as dominant in this game with a couple of errors creeping in but they got the scoring from the top players and that saw them come through and take the 2-0 series lead.
Anaheim Ducks 5 v 3 Nashville Predators
The Ducks tie the series 1-1 and as i said from the start, the key for the Ducks is the scoring from Perry, Ryan and Getzlaf. The trio posted 4 goals and 5 assists between them in this game. Powerplays were also a prominent feature tonight with both teams getting 2 a piece with the man advantage.
The Ducks got their 2 early in the 1st to give them a 2-0 lead, Perry slapping the puck in from close range with 7 seconds left on a 5 on 3 and then 38 seconds later Selanne picking up a rebound and wristing it in from between the circles. The Preds hit back less than 5 minutes into the 2nd period with their own powerplay goal from Weber, firing in from the side of the net and off the post.
This only spurred the Ducks to go and get another 2 goals. 7.12 in 2nd and Ryan tipped a puck infront of the ne from wht seemed a weak shot and at 15.54 Getzlaf capatilizing on some good play from Perry behind the net to stick the puck home. Back came the Predators in the 3rd with Hornqvist getting a PP goal a minute and half into 3rd, slam dunking the puck into a wide open net. They got to 1 behind at 10.17 with Ward, firing in a feed from behind the net although he seemed to be covered by 3 players.
Ryan hit an empty netter with less than a minute left to seal the win and tie the series 1-1.
Anaheim needed their big players to come through and they did. They now need to carry that into Nashville and get a win back on away ice.
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