Playoffs Day Two Wrap: Battle Of Cali Classic

Day Two of these 2011 Playoffs had a pair of shutouts, doubling the number to four already. In the other two Eastern Conference Quarterfinals that got underway, goaltending was the story highlighted by Carey Price (31 saves) in the Canadiens' 2-0 win over Boston and Buffalo's Ryan Miller (35 saves) in the Sabres' 1-0 Game One victory. A better night for the road teams with two of three prevailing as opposed to only one of five on Day One (Preds 4-1 over Ducks).

Price had help from captain Brian Gionta, who pumped in his first two goals of this postseason- including an early one in front that set the tone for the upset. Afterwards, Price was brilliant in turning away the Bruins who fired more shots but couldn't find a way to put one past him. It had to be extra sweet with the shutout snapping a personal eight-game losing streak in the playoffs. The B's blew opportunities on the power play with Price and Montreal's penalty killing unit getting the job done. With Boston hosts pressing for the equalizer, a fatal mistake was made when a turnover allowed Scott Gomez to intercept the puck and quickly feed Gionta, whose slapshot from the right circle snuck past Tim Thomas, erasing any suspense. It was a bad goal to give up, preventing his teammates from having any realistic chance of tying it. So, Les Habitants steal home ice, already sending a message to their Original Six bitter rival.

While that was finishing up, the Sabres were keeping the Flyers at bay thanks to Miller, who was sensational. Despite undisciplined penalties throughout, Buffalo remained even with the high flying No.2 seed thanks to last year's Vezina winner. Every time it looked like they had an opening, Miller shut it down with acrobatic goaltending that was reminiscent of his heroic play during Team USA's run to an Olympic silver medal in Vancouver. Time and time again, frustrated Flyers looked skyward wondering what they had to do to score on the top American netminder who had his ups and downs in an injury riddled season. Perhaps the extra time off down the stretch thanks to understudy Jonas Enroth allowed Miller to stay fresh, which could be a bad sign for Philadelphia. While Miller did his job, pest Patrick Kaleta steered home a rebound early in the third that held up as the winner. A sore sight for Flyer fans, who weren't exactly thrilled with Kaleta's antics a period earlier. He's a frustrating player who also can score in key moments. Just ask Garden Faithful. The Flyers tried but simply never drew even, sending their fans home with a bitter taste in their mouths. Now, the Sabres have the home ice in the seventh meeting over the past 16 years in this overlooked rivalry.

If the first two games lacked in terms of scoring and momentum swings, that certainly wasn't a problem at the Shark Tank where the Sharks needed overtime to escape with a hard fought 3-2 win capturing Game One over the California rival Kings at a loud soldout arena. The eighth game of the playoffs was the best by far, featuring five goals, physical play, a fight and some heart stopping end to end action in sudden death before our pick Joe Pavelski sent the Sharkies home happy. Everyone knew this would be fun to watch with two close rivals finally doing battle in the Spring. It didn't disappoint. Right away, Dany Heatley escaped a check to put home a rebound before 30 seconds had elapsed. The Sharks flat out dominated the first period against the Kings outshooting them by a wide margin (14-3). Despite coming in waves and earning power plays, they couldn't extend their lead thanks to splendid goalkeeping from Jon Quick. Quick was sensational, finishing with 42 saves in what was a heroic effort even in defeat. At one point, San Jose led in shots 18-3 before LA mounted a comeback courtesy of a strong second that saw them outshoot the Sharks 16-9. Using a relentless forecheck, they were rewarded with two goals to draw even.

Before we get to the three goals, the first borderline hit took place when Jarrett Stoll hit Ian White from behind into the glass, cutting his chin. Somehow, the refs completely missed it. Even worse, Stoll stared at the injured White. Unbelievable. At present, there's a phone hearing taking place for what should be at least a one-game suspension for an important King that anchors their best line without Anze Kopitar. Actions have consequences and that could hurt LA's chances in Game Two. In response, Ben Eager fought Kyle Clifford, revving the crowd up with plenty of banter exchanged as the first concluded. It was the Kings who elevated their play, finally getting back into it when Justin Williams executed a perfect two-on-one with Dustin Brown, who rifled home his first on a power play past Antti Niemi. Rookie Logan Couture was guilty of missing wide on a shorthanded bid, trapping three Sharks which allowed LA to come 3-on-1. Williams waited before dishing across for Brown's roof job that tied it. Couture is a superb player. He atoned by abusing Drew Doughty to score his first of the playoffs, giving the Sharks their second lead. On the play, Doughty went for a hip check but his positioning stunk and Couture cruised around and surprised Quick with a low shot that trickled in. The Kings didn't allow it to unfaze them, continuing to work the puck deep and pin the Sharks. However, they caught a break on Williams' tying marker when the puck took a funny hop off Doug Murray right to Williams, who snuck a backhand in an open side. Speaking of the former Hurricane, he was excellent for a guy who missed time down the stretch and was expected to miss more. However, he's tough as nails and was the best King aside from Quick. Niemi made some important stops late to keep it tied.

The third was more even with each club searching for the winner but neither goalie budged, forcing sudden death. If the last five minutes of regulation were great, it only foreshadowed one of the most exciting overtimes. Neither team backed off, trading end to end chances in a chaotic fourth period that had plenty of drama on both sides. The goalies were brilliant. Twenty three total shots were taken and nearly every one felt like it had a chance of ending it. Only the exceptional play of Quick and Niemi prevented an earlier conclusion to what was a frenetic pace where both clubs pounced on turnovers to generate quality chances. Simply put, this was what Playoff Hockey is all about! Quick must've made about seven great saves just by being in the right position to deny the Sharks, including Devin Setoguchi and Ryane Clowe. There was also a wild sequence where it looked like they had it won but a puck in mid-air deflected off the side of the net and a player before falling harmlessly to the left of the net back into play. Niemi was equally as good, stoning the Kings with other pick Williams making a bid. Finally, after 14 minutes, the clutchest player on the Sharks came through. Off a turnover, Clowe led a three-on-two rush down the left side. With two Kings back, he waited and waited before finding the trailer Pavelski at the top, who then made no mistake going upstairs on Quick for an exclamation point to a great game. It took a perfect shot to beat Quick, who easily could've been the game's No.1 Star. But Pavelski is the definition of a money player, who delivers in big spots. His goal at 14:44 of the first overtime made a winner of the Sharks, who lead the best-of-seven Western Conference Quarter 1-0.

Fantastic stuff in what looks like a potential classic series between foes who don't like each other. With all three Californian teams in for the first time ever, it sure is great to be a hockey fan in the Cali Valley. Tonight, the Ducks look to tie up the Preds while the Rangers aim for the same versus the Caps. The Canucks look to go two up on the defending champs while the Lightning try to steal home ice away from the Penguins. Hope it's as fun as the late show at HP Pavilion.

Goals A Plenty

How to describe last night's Blackhawk 6-5 home win over the Flyers in Game One? Unpredictably offensive. Never have I seen so many goals on such a big stage. You had to love it if you were an NBC exec. The exciting, edge of your seat opener earned the best rating in 11 years with the 2.8 turned in bringing back flashbacks of Sabres-Stars (3.7) on Fox. Heck. It was 12 percent higher than last year's Pens-Wings rematch. Sidney who?

The two traditional markets kicked off this year's Stanley Cup Final with a bang, combining for 11 goals and six lead changes with unsung hero Tomas Kopecky getting the last laugh by outwaiting Brian Boucher for the deciding marker with 11:35 left in the contest. The key sub was in for Andrew Ladd and paid huge dividends, giving Chicago its first win in the Final since 1973 when they fell in six to Montreal. Nearly two decades later, they were swept by the Super Mario Pens. Oddly enough, Pitt's Cup clincher to repeat was an identical 6-5 margin. Last night marked the first time that many goals had been scored since. Hopefully, a franchise that hasn't won Lord Stanley in 49 years will net a different result. If you didn't get enough of the goalfest, Puck Daddy's Greg Wyshynski has all 11 broken down.

“A lot of action. Shootout at the OK Corral,” deadpanned Chicago coach Joel Quenneville. “Things settled down as the game progressed. Certainly, I don’t think anybody envisioned 5-5 heading into the third period.”

Queeneville's deep club did it despite getting zilch from the top line of Dustin Byfuglien, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, who went a combined minus-nine with Big Buff losing his first battle against Chris Pronger- who fared better tallying two assists, five shots, four hits, two blocked shots and finished plus-two in over 32 minutes. Despite not playing close to their best, Chicago still showed enough resiliency to pull it out thanks to big performances from Kopecky (G, A), Troy Brouwer (2-1-3), Marian Hossa (2 A) and Dave Bolland (SHG, A), Kris Versteeg (G, A) and Niklas Hjalmarsson (2 A, 4 blocked shots). The Hawks' biggest edge showed up, overcoming a four-point night from Daniel Briere (10th G, 3 A), who was the best player. With 27 seconds left in the first, he followed up his own rebound putting the Flyers ahead 3-2. Late in the second, it was his brilliant cross-ice pass to Arron Asham which tied it at five.

It still wasn't enough. The Blackhawks responded with a much better third, using their puck possession and speed to control the tempo. Eventually, it led to the winner. Thanks to an unreal diving keep by Brent Seabrook, the puck stayed in where Bolland and Versteeg combined to set up a wide open Kopecky, who calmly went around Boucher and hit the net. Great composure shown by the ex-Wing who played a whale of a game with Ladd out, also assisting on Versteeg's tally that made it 4-4 halfway through. From there, Antti Niemi shook off a poor first 40 minutes turning aside all six Flyer shots in the third, including a nice glove save on a long Briere try from 50. With Boucher pulled, a Pronger one-timer went wide as the final seconds ticked off giving an ecstatic United Center of over 22,000 strong victory.

Despite falling, the Flyers did many things well including establishing their physicality (40 hits to 37) while connecting once on four power plays while failing to take a single penalty. Though you'd definitely get some argument from the Hawk faithful. They did miss a couple. And as NBC's Doc Emrick noted, kinda odd that the road team got the only PP's. Don't expect that for Game Two tomorrow. But then again, can we really get a duplicate of the fun chaos that ensued last night? The Blackhawk stars weren't alone with the Flyers getting nothing from Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne, who were a combined minus-seven. Claude Giroux wasn't any better going minus-two without a shot. Peter Laviolette's club got strong games out of Scott Hartnell (G, 2 A), Wing castaway Ville Leino (G, A), the aforementioned Briere, Pronger and Asham (G, A). Even former Ranger Blair Betts scored his first postseason goal since '06 when he rang one off the post and in from the right circle. Nice to see unless you're John Tortorella.

Not so nice was the performance of Michael Leighton, who was chased from the net after permitting five on 20 shots. Even if the last wasn't his fault, the journeyman's off day forced Laviolette to go to Boucher, who in his return since a Game Four injury versus Boston two rounds prior was solid, making 11 saves. Does the Cup experienced coach stay with him or go back to a shaky Leighton? We're banking on Bouch.
Hartnell is hoping the ice will be better.

“It’s really chippy. A lot of snow accumulates really fast, so after the first couple of minutes you don’t see those nice crisp passes and things like that. It’s hot outside and humid and stuff like that so hopefully they’ll be able to do a better job for Game 2, the ice guys.”

"It’s so hot outside, I don’t know if you could do anything about it,” echoed Versteeg while noting the difference after the first 10 minutes had been played.

“The last 10, it heats up a bit. There’s nothing they can do about it. They’re not going to change the temperature or anything like that. They’re not going to tell the people to stop screaming and opening doors.”

But as Hartnell's experienced 'mate Pronger points out, it's something he's accustomed to.

“I don’t think it’s any worse than it was in Anaheim or Carolina. As you progress in the playoffs, the ice gets a little bit softer.”
Regardless, it's the same for both sides. Let's drop the puck for Game Two!

Cup Preview: Someone Has To Win

Tomorrow night, the Stanley Cup Final finally gets going. It'll be a battle between two Cup starved franchises that haven't sipped from Lord Stanley in quite a while.

On one side, you got the surprising Flyers looking to bring the trophy back to Broad Street for the first time since winning their only two back-to-back in 1974 and 1975. The miraculous comeback from 3-0 down stunning Boston has Peter Laviolette's club looking like a team of destiny. Boosted by the return of Jeff Carter and Ian Laperriere, they finished off Montreal in five. Captain Mike Richards has led the charge with 21 points (6-15-21) playing in every key situation. He's gotten plenty of help from Daniel Briere and Claude Giroux, who've combined for 17 goals. Chris Pronger (4-10-14) has been brilliant anchoring the D while actually making Matt Carle into a viable option.

Without Simon Gagne's amazing return (7 G), Ville Leino's (12 Pts in 13 GP) surprising contributions and the goaltending of tandem Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton, the orange and black aren't here. It all makes for a tremendous story. Something a Ranger blogger and Devil blogger hate to admit. If they pull this off, you have to tip your cap. We're sure the Rangers will be the main source of frustration. Damn Olli Jokinen and silly skill comps. At least Blair Betts is vying for the hardware. Silly Tort.

Standing in their way are the Blackhawks, who are searching for the franchise's first Cup since 1961 when Bobby Hull starred. They've made the Final four times since losing every single one. The last in 1992 to the mighty Pens, who swept them. Nearly two decades later, here are a different batch of Hawks focused on making history. Led by Conn Smythe candidate/captain Jonathan Toews (7-19-26, 3 GW), Joel Queeneville's club has backed up last year's run to the Conference Finals by taking the next step. They'll have home ice and face immense pressure in a city that's still haunted by Steve Bartman. Can a talented squad led by Toews and running mate Patrick Kane (7-13-20) deliver a fourth championship to the Windy City? They'll have to overcome the obstacle of Marian Hossa. The gifted Slovak has made it here three consecutive years losing with Pittsburgh and Detroit the past two years. Is the third time the charm for one of the biggest superstar teases? He'll have to do better than two goals in the first three rounds.

While much of the focus is on him, these Hawks boast incredible depth led by money performer Dustin Byfuglien, who's netted half his eight as deciders including two in sudden death. It should be fun to watch Big Buff battle Pronger in front. Patrick Sharp and Dave Bolland have been instrumental with the latter scoring backbreaking goals on breakaways. Kris Versteeg, Troy Brouwer and Cup proven John Madden should give them an edge. Norris hopeful Duncan Keith (1-9-10) anchors the D along with Brent Seabrook (3-6-9 +8) who'll be severely tested by the Flyer forecheck. Brian Campbell could be a key. Meanwhile, Antti Niemi has silenced critics in net keeping Cristobal Huet as far away from ruining it. Can he ace the final test?

It really shapes up to be a good series. Both these teams boast speed and are very effective on the forecheck. The Flyers looking to control the back boards. The Hawks similar but with more skill. Keep an eye on their pinpoint passing. Both teams are effective on special teams. An area that figures to be a real key to who prevails. Of course, whoever can get to the goalie first should have an edge. Boucher returns if Leighton falters. Huet has only seen three shots the whole Spring. Never discount coaching. Laviolette has been here before guiding Carolina to the Cup in 2006. He usually pushes the right buttons and is a master motivator. Queeneville's a good coach but the edge goes to the Flyer bench.

Two big markets battle for the most prestigious trophy in sports. As long as it isn't onesided, figure the series to fare well. I see it going at least six. My heart says Blackhawks but my gut says Flyers. We'll start getting some answers tomorrow on this Memorial Day weekend.