First Round Mania! Pens and Canucks In The Hole

Recap of Thursday Night Games
Caps vs Bruins:   1 - 0 Bruins
Game 1: What always happens to my boyfriend in the post season?  He stops scoring.  Ovechkin had one shot Thursday night.  He was hard on himself in the post game presser but words don't score goals, Ovie.  This game was a goalie duel that went into OT to determine the winner.  Braden Holtby, rookie goalie in his first playoff game, was in net for the Caps and he was a warrior with 29 saves.  Bruins got the only one needed past him just 1:18 into the OT.  Chris Kelly got the goal with assists from, ahem... Benoit Pouliot and Brian Rolston.  #previouswildplayerreference  

Hawks vs Coyotes:  1 - 0 Coyotes
Game 1: This was an amazing game!  The Yotes are going with "Hockey The Hard Way" for their slogan this season.  Boy, they aren't kidding.  The desert dogs almost had this one in the bag but Chicago scored to tie the game with just 14.2 seconds left in regulation.  Martin Hanzal got the credit for the win in overtime, deflecting a shot from Aucoin.  Chicago played hard but true to their slogan, the Coyotes played just a bit harder. 


Sharks vs Blues:  1 -0 Sharks
Game 1: Martin Havlat (Mr. Half Assed in Minnesota #previouswildplayerreference) is The Man in San Jose.  He's still half assed, having missed 43 games after being traded to the Sharks, but he came through in a big way in game one against the Blues.  The game went to double overtime and my eyes are still bloodshot from having stayed up for the whole thing.  Marty scored his second goal of the game in the second OT to finally let all the fans go home for a quick nap in the wee hours of the morning before heading off to work.  

Sens vs Rangers:  1 - 0 Rangers
Game 1: The Rangers had the 1-0 lead through the halfway mark of the second period Thursday night but they were starting to get pinned down in their own zone and you just feel the momentum starting to turn for the Sens.  Rangers took a time out, got their poop in a group and got their game back on track.  Dammit Stanley - not what I wanted to see.  Three more goals, including one by Gaborik, gave the Rangers to score and confidence they needed to survive a late rush by the Sens who did manage to score two goals before the third period came to a close.  Oh, #grudginglypreviouswildplayerreference

Friday Night Games

Devils vs Panthers: 1 - 0 Devils
Game 1: Umm, hello Panthers? Did you forget you had a game tonight? Devils up 3-0 in first period. Florida gets on the scoreboard in the second. Finding their footing in their first NHL playoff game since 2000. Y2K...good memories there. Zhidlicky in the box for delay of game - good memories there too ;) #previouswildplayerreference. Anyway, Panthers get another goal in the second and it starts to look like a hockey game.  The Devils stay in control of this one and win it to take the series lead.  Now that the Panthers have this one under their belt I'm betting they come out for game two like they own the joint.     

Pens vs Flyers: 2 - 0 Flyers

Game 2: The Fast & The Furious is the name of this game.  I don't know if it's a record of some kind?  Crosby scored just 15 seconds into the first period.  The Pens were up, The Flyers tied it.  The Flyers were up, the Pens tied it.  The Flyers tied it and then took the lead.  It got to the point where Sally and I were only able to text one word responses back and forth to each other.  Mostly the F Word.  On the home front: Pascal Dupuis with the second assist on Sid's goal so... #previouswildplayerreference  The Pens are in trouble in the first round of the playoffs having dropped 2 games on home ice. 
To really do this game justice in terms of the how fast things turned over for each team I'm just gonna let the boxscore speak for itself:

1st Period
00:15		PIT	Sidney Crosby(2) Snap -ASST:S. Sullivan(2) ANDP. Dupuis (2)
09:27		PIT	PPG -Chris Kunitz(1) Wrist -ASST:J. Neal(1) ANDE. Malkin (1)
12:44		PHI	SHG -Maxime Talbot(1) Wrist -ASST:C. Giroux(1)
19:42		PIT	Paul Martin(1) Snap -ASST:S. Crosby(2) ANDP. Dupuis (3)
2nd Period
05:11		PHI	PPG -Claude Giroux(1) Wrist -ASST:J. Voracek(1) ANDK. Timonen (1)
11:04		PHI	SHG -Claude Giroux(2) Snap -ASST:M. Talbot(1)
11:10		PIT	PPG -Chris Kunitz(2) Wrist -ASST:J. Neal(2) ANDE. Malkin (2)
19:57		PHI	Sean Couturier(1) Wrist -ASST:B. Coburn(1) ANDN. Grossmann (1)
3rd Period
01:04		PIT	Tyler Kennedy(2) Backhand -ASST:M. Cooke(1) ANDJ. Staal (2)
01:21		PHI	Sean Couturier(2) Wrist -ASST: NONE
09:13		PHI	Jaromir Jagr(1) Wrist -ASST:P. Kubina(1) ANDC. Giroux (2)

Preds vs Wings: 1 - 1 Tied Series  
Game 2: Detroit came for a little revenge on a couple of levels Friday night.  First, they needed to win game two.  Second, they needed to get a little more out of Shea Weber than the paltry $2500.00 fine Shanaban bestowed upon him for smashing Zetterberg's head into the glass during game one.  Todd Bertuzi (BOOOOO) and Shea went toe to toe just 1 minute, 36 seconds into the game Friday night.  It pretty much set the pace for the whole game.  Despite sitting in the penalty box for just short of a full period the Wings were in control of this game.  They won pretty handily, 4-2.  Nashville will need to start cashing on their power plays if they intend to make it past this first round. 



Kings vs Canucks:  2 - 0 Kings
Game 2: Very defensive game through the first period.  The Kings got on the board late in the first with a short handed goal by Dustin Brown.  Vancouver scored just 17 seconds into the 2nd period but Dustin Brown popped his second shorthanded goal in five minutes later.  I do believe this was the least penalized game of the playoffs so far, especially compared to the 27 minutes the Canucks served in the first game.  Of course Willie Mitchell, being so fleet of foot, took his customary holding penalties.  #previouswildplayerreference.  Good thing Dustin Brown was scoring those short handed goals, huh?  The Canucks took a bad penalty in the third and the Kings took advantage of it.  Stoll got the goal with one of the assists going to Dustin Brown.  With 7 minutes left in the game Dustin Brown nets the hat trick and puts the Kings up 3-1.  This kid had the game of his young life/career tonight at the expense of the Canucks.  Does my heart good.  With just over 5 minutes left the Kings scored again.  Vancouver managed a goal with 3:30 to go making it 4-2.  Too little too late and the Canucks drop the first two games, at home.  Just like the Pens.