Monday Night Previews

I'll try and keep these short and brief for tonights games, so here goes:-

Philadelphia Flyers v Buffalo Sabres

It looks likely that Boucher will remain in the Flyers goal for game 3 after replacing Bobrovski in game 2 and impressing, saving 20/21 shots. The Flyers will still be without Pronger, still listed as day to day with his injury. Some reports today say he might have had a 2nd break to his hand which has delayed his come back, others from the club say the original injury is just taking longer to heal than expected.
What sort of game will we see in game 3? A repeat of game 1 - a slow, drab game won by defence rather than attack or a wild game in the style of game 2 - a 9 goal shoot out with almost 20 powerplay situations between the 2 teams?
What both teams won't want is the bad individual penalties that were taken in game 2 to be repeated. The way to win this game is to stay out the box and keep your players on the ice.

Detroit Redwings v Phoenix Coyotes

Detroit will want to return to the play that sent them flying into a 4-0 lead at the start of game 2, with Datsyuk seeming to create chances every time he touched the puck. What they won't want is to run into stupid penalty trouble like they did at the end of that game 2, which allowed Phoenix to score 3 times on the powerplay and make the game closer than what it should have been. Phoenix will want Shane Doan to play a big part on home ice. He turned trying to get Phoenix back into game 2 into a 1 man mission and nearly acheived it, getting 2 of the 3 goals for the Phoenix. If Detroit can keep out of the box they should be able to limit the chances for the Coyote's and they have enough players hot at the minute to ensure they get goals at the other end. What will be interesting to see will be if Detroit head out for any revenge on the hit that left Franzen with a nasty cut in game 2 that needed 21 stiches. He will be fine to go in game 3, returning to game 2 infact after missing about a period in getting stiched up.

Boston Bruins v Montreal Canadiens

The Bruins need a performance. They need it tonight. Montreal have snook into a 2-0 series lead, winning both games on away ice, the only team to do so in round 1. They have ripped the home advantage from the Bruins hands with some outstanding defensive play, limiting the Bruins to shots from the outside and only 1 goal in the series so far. If Boston don't get a performance they will be hoping for a scrappy win, because its a win they need more than a performance. Whatever they do they cannot afford to lose this game. If they can't get any offense going then they need to steal the game somehow. Montreal will be relying on what they have relyed on so far, great team effort, getting their noses infront and putting up a wall.

Pittsburgh Penguins v Tampa Bay Lightning

How will the Pittsburgh players react to game 2's shock result which saw the biggest winning margin in a game so far, a 5-1 win for the Lightning. Tampa will have Simon Gagne back in the lineup tonight, adding to the already lethal Stamkos, St Louis and LeCavilier. These players stepped up their game last time out after the 3-0 shut out in game 1 and Tampa will certainly be wanting more of the same. Pittsburgh need to get 1 win in the next 2 games to get their home ice advantage back and will be looking for a more miserly defence mirroring that of game 1 and will need Fluery to step it up once again in net.