Bruins and Ducks Both Win To Force A Game 7

Last night some amazing hockey was played again. Jonas Hiller and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 to force a decisive Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinal series.  But let’s talk about this game.  The Ducks returned to the form that carried the team to a league-best 10-2-1 mark in the final weeks of the season and then through a first-round upset of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning San Jose Sharks.  Anaheim needed to come out hitting and looked to score first to get some momentum going, well, they did both.  Ryan Getzlaf led the Ducks offense with a goal and an assist.  Getzlaf scoring that first goal was huge, it pumped up the crowd and more importantly the team who added another goal late in the 2nd period.  The goal scored by Corey Perry turned out to be the game winner because Detroit’s “Mule” Johan Franzen scored his 8th goal of the playoffs to make things interesting with two and a half minutes to go in the game.  Anaheim has not had an answer for Franzen.  They better figure out a way to contain him or he will continue to hurt them.  Hiller who yielded 10 goals in the last two games,  returned to the stinginess play that carried the Ducks to wins in Games 2 and 3 of the series by turning aside 38 of 39 shots he faced for the victory.  Game 7 will be in Detroit on Thursday, with the winner moving on to face the Chicago Blackhawks in the conference finals.

The Boston Bruins evened the Eastern Conference semifinals sending the series back to Boston for a decisive seventh game by beating Carolina 4-2 Tuesday night.  The Bruins who were down 3 games to one have rallied to keep their season alive.  For the second time in the last three games, Mark Recchi opened the scoring for Boston.  He added an assist in the second period for his first multi-point postseason game since 2007.  Goaltender Tim Thomas was solid in net, it was a complete team effort that got it done for the Bruins.  Carolina seems to have fallen apart losing three straight times but I wouldn’t turn my back on these guys just yet.  A good game by Eric Staal Or Eric Cole and Boston’s season is over.  Another quick fact, Cam Ward has never lost a playoff series in his career.  All this makes for a very exciting and interesting game 7 on Thursday night.

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