The only game i didn' manage to take in last night or this morning was the Boston Bruins v Montreal Canadiens game. I have had a quick skim over some match reviews and watched the highlights and yet again Montreal's defence was superb. It seems that when it gets to playoff time they really up their game defensively and last night was no different.
Boston had to play without Chara who had been hospitalised Friday night with Dehydration. He had taken the pre game warm up but was a late scratch on the roster, obviously not fit enough to go in the game.
This seemed to shock the Bruins and Montreal raced into a 2-0 lead inside 2 minutes 20.
Wisniewski blocked an attempted pass up to the red line and rocketed a shot into the pads of Thomas, the rebound flying straight to Cammalleri to wrist the puck home after only 43 seconds.
At 2.20 it was Darche scoring the Canadiens 2nd, tapping in a feed from Cammalleri as he skated from behind the net.
A pretty looking goal engineered by Recchi and Marchand and tipped into the net by Bergeron from infront brought the Bruins back into the game 7.38 into the 2nd but the Canadiens had their 2 goal lead back by the end of the period. It was Yannick Weber who got the goal 17.21 into the 2nd, picking up on a rebound from Eller's shot and backhanding it in past a sprawling Thomas.
Montreal outshot Boston 35-26 and stood firm on defense for the 2nd game running. Boston have only managed the 1 goal in 120 minutes so far and this must be a concern for the Bruins organistion.
That finishes last nights round up, now for a quick preview of today's games.
Washington Capitals v New York Rangers
With the Caps 2-0 up heading into New York they will be hoping they continue to play well defensively. Apparently since the turn of Christmas they have adopted a more defensive style that they seem to be executing well so far in this series. Surely they will also be hoping they can get something going offensively as at some point they will surely need more than 2 goals to win a game.
For the Rangers they need to get everyone performing. They need Gaborik to become a factor in the series and they need the likes of Drury, Wolski, Ansimov and Dubinsky to start picking up points. Lundqvist has played well during the first 2 games but he can't win the games on his own. Ultimately you need some scoring to win games and this is what the Rangers need to find on home ice to try and get this series back in the balance.
3pm Eastern time face off means this is an 8pm face off time in the UK
Anaheim Ducks v Nashville Predators
Im really looking forward to be able to take in my 1st full game of this series tonight as action moves into Nashville with the series tied 1-1. Bobby Ryan has been suspended for 2 games after an incident last game where he stood on the skate of Nashville's Jonathon Blum. The League described what he did as "reckless and dangerous" and Blum was fortunate to escape without injury. Ryan had been an integral part of the 5-3 victory to tie the series and his loss could have some effect. The Ducks will need more scoring from Perry, Selanne and Getzlaf to get a 2-1 lead and home ice advantage back.
Nashville will be looking for a return to strong defense that won them game 1 and will be hoping Rinne can keep the goals against down to 1 or 2. Going forward they will be hoping Fisher and Hornqvist keep up the form they have shown so far and Erat / Legwand can step their game up as well. Shea Weber has been outstanding on the blueline so far this series - expect great defence from him and him to be involved in any goals scored by the Predators.
6pm Eastern start time means 11pm UK start time.
Vancouver Canucks v Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago need to find something back on home ice or face losing their grasp on Lord Stanley's trophy early this year. They need to get Kane, Toews, Sharp and Hossa going - all 4 players have only 1 assist between them in the first 2 games. They need to come up with a way to stop Vancouver's physical defence being all over them - maybe by taking the step up and leading with the physicality themselves. It is more likely and expected though that the improvement will come in the skills area and getting goals is what game 3 needs to be about for Chicago.
Vancouver will be happy with more of the same. A shut out in game 1 and good offensive out put in game 2. They haven't been behind at any point in the series so far and if Daniel and Henrik start this game the same as they played the 2nd i can't see them going behind in this one either. With the focus of all games now going to a different ice rink and home ice advantage swapping over we will begin to see if it's home ice that has helped the teams that are 2-0 up or if they are just better than the teams that they have been playing.
8pm Eastern time start for this game meaning 1am start in the UK - so if all goes well i might get all 3 games in tonight. Here goes - 3 hours until face off of game 1!!!!
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