Canucks Win, Advance to Next Round–All Other NHL Playoff Teams Continue Play
After watching the Vancouver Canucks win 3-2 in overtime over the St.Louis Blues I really am believing that Vancouver has what it takes to win it all, the Stanley Cup. Roberto Luongo stopped 45 of the 47 shots he faced to record another playoff win. Luongo’s play has been stellar, he has risen to the challenge and is putting the team on his back. Alexandre Borrows scored twice including the winner in overtime. The Canucks win the series 4 games to none and now await their second round matchup. Vancouver should be healthy and well rested for their next opponent. I don’t envy the team who ends up facing them.
The Detroit Red Wings continue to roll defeating Columbus 4-1. The Blue Jackets just can’t seem to get any offensive push against the Wings. Columbus playing in their first ever playoff series is clearly over matched. Chris Osgood led Detroit with solid goaltending. Like Roberto Luongo, Osgood seems to be playing at a very high level right now. Lookout if Detroit has to eventually face the Canucks, that series would be awesome. Detroit seems to have no problem putting the puck in the net as Daniel Cleary led the Wings with a goal and two assists. Detroit now leads the series 3-0 and will be looking to put the Blue Jackets away on Thursday.
Goaltender Marc Andre-Fluery turned aside 45 of 46 shots to help the Pittsburgh Penguins defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 last in Philly. The Pens took a commanding 3-1 lead in their series. This series has come down to toughness and Pittsburgh’s young guns look like the big bad bullies. Philly needs to regroup otherwise their season will be over in 48 hours. Sidney Crosby scored his second goal of the playoffs.
The Carolina Hurricanes earned a crucial victory beating the New Jersey Devils 4-3. This was a game that saw Carolina go ahead by three goals until New Jersey stormed back scoring three unanswered goals themselves. The Hurricanes then sealed the victory scoring the winning goal with just .2 seconds left on the clock. Definitely a heart wrenching way to lose. With the win Carolina tied the series up at 2-2, now it’s a best out of three and the question is, who wants it more. Time will tell.
The last game of the night saw the western conferences top and bottom seed face off once again. The San Jose Sharks defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 at the Honda center in Anaheim. So far in the series which the Ducks lead two games to one, the road team has won every game. San Jose goaltender Evegni Nabokov shut the Ducks out for the last half of the game to seal the first Sharks victory. San Jose was led offensively by Dan Boyle who had 2 goals and an assist.
Apr 22nd, 2009 at 10:56 am
As the playoffs continue I feel that the weak fall by the wayside and the strong continue on to the next series. Columbus ,a team which finished very strong had no chance against Detroit who took them 4 straight. Pittsburgh seems to have the upper hand on Philadelphia and should finish them off on Thursday. Washington has come alive and should dispatch the Rangers, taking their series in 6 or 7 games after falling behind 2 games to nothing. Since the coaching heads made the necessary change in goal and Ovechkin has become the play maker instead of the main shooter and goal scorer, the Capitals have restarted their engine. Say a prayer for Montreal who will probably go down in 4 straight games, ending their series tonight. There are just too many injured players missing from the Canadiens to compete against a 1st place team like Boston.In the western conference 1st place San Jose beat 8th place Anaheim, they still trail in the series 2 games to 1. This series will probably go 7 games as well, and could surprise everyone with Anaheim coming out on top.