Due to lack of internet access last night / this morning im just going to round up last nights games rather than do a full game review on 1 of them. I shall then bring you my views on tonights game as the Preds look to use home ice advantage to level their series 2-2.
First of all though i must congratulate any Tampa Bay Lightning fans out there. Their team finished off the Washington Capitals last night, winning 5-3 and completing a 4-0 series whitewash of the Eastern Conference's 1st seed.
In game 4 the Caps never got themselves into a lead and were chasing the game from th moment Ryan Malone put the Bolts ahead at 12.34. They did manged to level the game before the end of the period but 2 goals from Bergenheim within 13 minutes of the 2nd meant Washington were chasing a 2 goal deposit that was impossible to pull back. Bergeron and St Louis scored in the 3rd as well to make it a 5 goal game for Tampa bay, Washington had markers from Erskine in the 2nd and Carlson in the 3rd but were never troubling the Lightning enough.
I said from the start of the series that Washington had underperformed in round 1 and could get caught out here. They were. They got past the Rangers because New York had nothing going forward and they could win 2-1, 2-0 and not have to score 4 or 5. Against a free flowing forward line they would need to score more themselves to be in with a shout and they couldn't do it. Alas, lets not critiscise Washington and praise Tampa Bay as they have now won 7 in a row after being on the wrongside of a 3-1 series deposit to Pittsburgh and are in the Conference final for the first time since lifting Lord Stanley's Cup in 2004. They have been one of the most entertaining teams so far in this playoffs and whether it is the Flyers or the Bruins they play, it should be an entertaining series.
That leads nicely on to the Flyers and Bruins who played their game 3 last night in Boston. The Flyers didn't give themselves much of a chance from the start in this one as they conceeded 2 goals in 1 minute 3 seconds. Chara ripped one in after being left all alone infront and Krejci added a 2nd and his 4th of the series. 2 more goals in the 2nd period saw Boucher chased from goal again, 4 goals being allowed on 20 shots. Boston went on to eventually win 5-1.
Chara ended with a couple of goals, Horton, Paille and Krejci. Krejci ended with 2 assists as well and has been impressive in the 3 games against the Flyers.
Philadelphia were just outplayed. The Bruins won 43 / 55 face-offs and had some huge hits on the Flyers players. The Flyers did outshoot Boston 38-28 but Thomas and his defence were excellent once again. Boston now have to learn from last year and finish this series off as soon as possible because if the Flyers start to get games back then the demons will start creeping in.
I've purposely left the San Jose v Detroit game till last because i am personally gutted after seeing the highlights and reading about the game. I got up early to watch this before heading to work, knowing if i didn't i wouldn't last all day without either finding out the score or accidentally seeing it. Gutted when my internet access was off this morning and even more gutted after knowing Detroit are now 3-0 down in the series. Yet another 1 goal winning margin for the Sharks. Yet another overtime winner. I seriously don't know how they do it but they have a knack of getting the big goal when needed.
It seems to me Detroit were a lot better in this game and had 2 or 3 great opportunities early on in the OT period to win the game. The player who got the game winner and will take all the accolades though is Devin Setoguchi, whose strike 9.21 into the extra period completed his hat-trick in this 4-3 win.
Both teams exchanged PP goals in the 1st period as Setoguchi put the Sharks 1 up and Lidstrom equalised. Eaves had Detroit in the lead in the 2nd but Setoguchi levelled again until Datsyuk put the Redwings 3-2 up with less than 2 minutes of the 2nd remaining. Boyle levelled the game with less than 5 minutes left in the 3rd that brought about the overtime period. Detroit outshot their opponent 41-38 and Niemi pulled off some big saves when it looked like the Redwings were going to score. It's now the 5th game in overtime the Sharks have won in these playoffs and the 7th playoff game in 2 seasons against Detroit they have won by 1 goal.
Somehow they have the knack of just doing enough to get the win. Huge game Friday night now for Detroit to try and some way claw themselves back from the abyss.
This leaves me with just the Vancouver v Nashville game to preview tonight as that series moves into game 4 and the 2nd at Bridgestone Arena. Nashville will be looking to tie it at 2-2 so they go back to Vancouver level. They hve played sound defensively so far in this series and will need to do the same again tonight.
Each game so far has been wn by just 1 goal and the last 2 have both gone into overtime. Nashville will need to keep it close again to have a chance of winning as they haven't found the path past Luongo easy so far. Vancouver will be hoping to build on the 3 goals of game 3 and see if they can finally find some sort of fluent scoring rhythm that will send them 3-1 up heading back home for game 5. They will be looking for the Sedin's to get on the board as only Daniel has registered 1 assist in the series so far.
Nashville need to get the puck on net from early on and apply some pressure from the off. Vancouver outshot them 47-30 in game 3 and some help from the powerplay would be welcome too. It hasn't registered yet in 3 games and didn't in the regular season against the Canucks either. If Nashville can play their game and shut down the Canucks like they did in game 2 then they could take the series 2-2. I believe Vancouver will be pumped to take that 3-1 lead and could take this game by 2 or 3 goals and give themselves the golden chance of ending the series at home on Saturday.
21 year old Colin Wilson will come into the Preds line up for Sullivan who took an injury in game 3 and is unlikely to return this series whilst Sami Salo is still day to day for the Canucks.
Hopefully the internet will be on when i awake in the morning so i can watch and bring you the game review as well!
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