Well, after watching Detroit comfortably beat the Phoenix in the end last night i have now had chance to look at last nights other games and highlights. Here is a run down of the 4 games and a preview for Friday night's match ups.
Pittsburgh Penguins 3 v 0 Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Penguins flew out of the blocks in this series, lead by the excellent netminding of Fluery and some brilliant, big hitting defence. From the 1st couple of minutes when Orpik obliterated Stamkos into the boards Pittsburgh approached the game hard. Fluery was outstanding in the 1st period, pulling off numerous saves to keep the Lightning at bay. The Penguins had a brighter 2nd period with the best chance coming from Letestu, hitting the post but the game remaining 0-0.
The 3rd period saw the Penguins remain strong and take the lead 6 minutes into the period. Kovalev was knocked down in the corner and looking for a penalty, when the call wasn't made he got up to his feet to find himself wide open in front of goal and on the end of Neal's hard pass to one time the puck into a half empty net as Roloson couln't make the save moving side to side. Less than 30 seconds later they moved into a 2-0 lead, Asham deking in on goal, faking out Roloson on a slapshot, taking the puck around the net on a wrap around, stuffing the puck into the side of the net but picking it back up to fire it home. The home crowd were immense in this game, so was Fluery and the game was finished off with Kunitz firing into an empty net.
So to Friday's game and one thing i never realised was the noise the Pittsburgh fans make. I can't say i have experienced it in Penguin games i have seen before but they were almost like an extra skater out there for the team. Pittsburgh played with energy and stifled the high scoring Lightning. Maybe the extra noise comes with it being playoff hockey time but after predicting Tampa Bay to win this series i expected them to win one of these 1st 2 games. Im not sure if they can pull that off Friday night. They will need to treat it as a game 7 as if Pittsburgh get 2-0 up and Fluery remains hot, this series could be over very quickly.
Washington Capital 2 v 1 New York Rangers (OT)
Another game from the opening night in the East that went 0-0 through 2 periods of hockey, indicating how close some of these match ups are going to be. Washington brought a physical edge to their game, more so than the Rangers and won through with an OT winner. Ovechkin lead the way with 6 hits all night, a big one at the start of the game on Dubinsky and another one towards the end on Marc Staal.
It was the Rangers who took the lead though with Prust chasing a dumped puck into the corner,winning it on the boards and moving it to Wolski who got it from behind the net and in front to Gilroy to fire in from the slot.
It wasn't until 13.44 that Washington managed to finally get on the board with Ovechkin's 1st of the playoffs. It was a scrappy goal. Lundqvist seemed to have his pads stacked against the post but Semin's attempt wasn't covered and Ovechkin who was stood at the side of the net all alone just whacked at it until it crossed the line. Into OT then and the Rangers had some early chances to win this but nothing really clear cut but it wasn't until 2 minues before the end of the extra 20 minutes that Washington put the game to bed.
Eric Staal made a bad play in trying to clear the zone, not lifting the puck over Jason Arnott who quickly got the puck onto the stick of Semin and his one time effort rocketed past Lundqvist in goal.
Come Friday's game Washington will be hoping for more going forward. They didn't test Lundqvist enough and need to create more quality chances otherwise in these tight knit games the Rangers could steal a couple of victories. Im going for a Rangers steal on Friday night with them shutting down the offense of the Caps once again and the game being another low scoring affair.
Vancouver Canucks 2 v 0 Chicago Blackhawks
Another shut out on opening night, with Luongo seeing off all 32 shots he faced from the Blackhawks.
All the scoring in this one however, was done in the 1st period. Vancouver took the lead around 7 minutes with Higgins redirecting a Bieksa slapshot high past Crawford as he lined himself up to glove the original shot.
Barely 3 minutes later and Hansen gave the Canucks a 2-0 lead, Samulesson poking a puck forward mid ice for him to skate onto 1 on 1 with Crawford, dekeing and putting it glove side on the rookie playoff goalie.
Both teams continuted throughout the game to create chances but the stars of the game were Luongo and Crawford. Both netminders pulled off numerous great saves as well as getting lucky at times - i think there were at least 4 shots bouncing back off the frame of the net in the 2nd period.
Vancouver's defence, 3rd and 4th lines were brilliant in the game though and the difference come the end of the game.
Friday's game will bring more of the same for me. If the Sedin's can get going on the scoring front and Vancouver get the same play from the team as a unit they will take a 2-0 lead in this series. Crawford played a solid game Wednesday night but can he perform like that every night. I can't say i have seen much of him all season but looking back at Chicago's results and league position im gathering he didn't bring that level of play every night.
Anaheim Ducks 1 v 4 Nashville Predators
I've saved this game as the last one to summarise as i might need to eat some humble pie here. When i looked at the match up's before starting to share my views i thought i had to plump for one series to be a straight 4-0 result. There usually is one in the 1st round and i stuck my neck on the line and picked this one for the reasons that Anaheim are a destructive team when on form and can score for fun whilst Nashville have found scoring tough to come by all season. I thought, Western Conference, lots of goals, Ducks to shoot past the Preds. Oh how wrong can one be??
Shea Weber started the scoring on the PP, rifling a long range shot from long range and this was to be the ony goal of the 1st. Anaheim had some good chances through the 1st and the start of the 2nd but Nashville blew them apart at the end of the 2nd with 2 goals in 4 minutes to get a 3-0 advantage going into the 2nd.
Firstly Sullivan picked up his own rebound and stuffed it in followed by Mike Fisher wristing one into the top corner from the wing with Ellis slightly mis-sighted by his own defender infront of him.
Fisher picked up his 2nd and Nashville's 4th less than a minute into the 3rd period, his wrist shot from range beating Ellis stick side. Selanne buried the puck 5 on 3 with 8 and a half minutes left but the damage had already been done by the Predators. A little scuffle on against the boards at the end showed Anaheim's frustration but a solid display from the Predators sees them 1 up in this series.
Anaheim must bring goals to the table Friday night. They need to get a lead in the 1st period and build on it, get the home fans behind them and drag themselves back into this series. If the Ducks can get that momentum and get the better of this stout Nashville defense they should be able to build through the series. ashville will be hoping for more of the same, a steardy defensive showing and scoring from across the team. I'll go for the Ducks to come out pumped with the likes of Perry, Getzalf and Ryan lighting the lamp.
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