Pittsburgh’s superstars were slowed down by the strong play and back checking of the Red Wings.  Pittsburgh had a breakaway and two power plays in the first half of the second period, and had nothing to show for it.  Both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin did not turn in a high flying performance.  Crosby was held pointless for only the 3rd time this postseason while Malkin earned an assist on the Penguins lone goal.  The Wings got a solid effort from goalie Chris Osgood who stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced.  Osgood made a pair of beautiful saves late in the second period denying Miroslav Satan on a shot just outside of the crease after Malkin set him up beautifully and turning away Crosby’s backhander after a spectacular spin move.

Detroit has now won Game 1 in nine consecutive series. That’s the longest active streak of its kind and tied for the third-longest in NHL history (Montreal Canadiens won 12 straight Game 1’s from 1956-1962).

Game 2 is Sunday night in Detroit at the Joe Louis Arena.

Detroit’s 36 year old goalie Chris Osgood has gone through quite a lot this season and is a different man for it.  He hit rock bottom in February when GM Ken Holland brought him into his office and reamed him out for his poor play, then sent him on a 10-day separation from the team.  He came back from the break a new man, rediscovered his winning ways and enters the Cup finals as strong mentally as he’s ever been.

Here’s something that I want to see what happens with.  Marian  Hossa was part of the educational experience in Pittsburgh last spring, but spurned the Penguins when it was over to sign a one year free agent contract with Detroit for less money because he thought the Red Wings would give him the best chance to win the Stanley Cup. Now in an unusual twist of fate at the end of this series Marian Hossa will know if he really did make the right decision.  We will also know if the Pittsburgh Penguins learned any lessons from their Stanley Cup run last year in which they came up short.  Both questions will be answered thanks to the rematch.

I’m now just about finished this entry and now I’m torn again who I think will win the series.  This will be a great matchup and I for one am looking forward to watching every single minute of every game.

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Cam Ward made 21 saves but lost a playoff series for the first time in his NHL career. He had been 5-0 in elimination games for the Hurricanes, I guess both of those streaks came to an end.  You can’t place all the blame on Ward, he played solid in all four games.  He just didn’t have the help on defense that he needed to be spectacular.  For Carolina it’s now up to their General Manager to make a few moves in the off-season to shore up those holes that were exposed this year.  Don’t count them out, they’ll be back next year.

Carolina on the other hand is in all kinds of trouble.  The Canes stars have all but disappeared in this series.  Eric Staal has pretty much been a non-factor and Eric Cole is battling injuries.  Also where has Ray Whitney the Canes leading scorer in the regular season gone. He has been a complete non-factor. It’s no wonder Carolina is having trouble scoring and keeping up.  Cam Ward while he hasn’t been spectacular he also hasn’t really given up any soft goals.  He is fighting but he needs help from his defensemen and they are being overwhelmed.  Game four tonight in all likelihood will be the Hurricanes final game of the season.

Over in the Western Conference the situation isn’t really that different from the east.  The Chicago Blackhawks also have their backs up against the wall trailing the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 in the best of seven series.  The Wings have proved to be too strong for the youthful Blackhawks to overcome.  They’re going to go to the finals (sorry, Hawks) without getting top-end production from many of their top guys.  That’s what is so impressive.  No Pavel Datsyuk, no Nicklas Lidstrom, no Tomas Kopecky, no problem in Game 4.  Throughout these playoffs Chicago has played with a lot of energy and passion, they just don’t have the experience to beat a team like Detroit.  It also doesn’t help when you lose your starting goalie to  an injury.  Nikolai Khabibulin at least kept things close and gave Chicago a chance to win but without him the Hawks virtually stand no chance at winning.  This years accomplishments will set the stage for the Hawks to have successful future runs at the Stanley Cup for the next few seasons.

Check out these highlights of the best plays of the week.

The one thing I can’t seem to believe is how Cam Ward who was the driving force behind Carolina’s success has all but disappeared.  I know that it’s a team effort and that the defensemen has to help out but Ward is just not coming up with the big saves anymore.  Game after game he is being peppered with so many shots that he must be wearing down and maybe the Boston series took more out of him than any of us think.  Any way you look at it the Hurricanes are now facing elimination and all the sports cliches will be thrown around until the puck drops for the start of game four.  History isn’t on the Hurricanes’ side.  Only twice has a team rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to win a series, and it hasn’t happened since the New York Islanders did it against Pittsburgh in 1975.   The defending Eastern Conference champions can sweep the series Tuesday night.

Carolina put up a valiant effort. They kept pace with Pittsburgh until Malkin took over.  The Canes offense was well balanced getting goals from four different scorers, in the end though it was not enough.  The Hurricanes’ Cam Ward allowed six goals — the most of his playoff career ( the 7th goal was an empty netter ).  It was his 39th career playoff game and his previous high was four goals allowed.  Before tonight’s game, Ward had never started and lost a playoff game with the Hurricanes trailing in a series.  He had been 7-0 with a 1.41 GAA and two shutouts when his team trailed a series.  He is now 5-2 in Game 2’s.

The series now shifts to Carolina’s home turf for game 3 on Saturday where the Canes are difficult to beat.  If anyone is up to the task it is the Penguins young superstars.  The Penguins are trying to become the first team since the 1984 Edmonton Oilers to lose in the Stanley Cup finals one season and win the Cup the next.  The Penguins scored the most goals in a playoff game since they had seven on Apr. 13, 2000.  Meanwhile, the seven allowed by Carolina was the most in a playoff since the franchise allowed seven against the Montreal Canadiens on Apr. 27, 1992 as the Hartford Whalers in Game 5 of the division semifinals.

While the Hurricanes didn’t have the opening-game letdown that some teams experience after a series as challenging and emotionally draining as their seven-game second round against top-seeded Boston, they again lacked goals. That’s been an ongoing problem for a team that found multiple ways to pull out games in the first two rounds but averaged only 2.36 goals per game — far less than Pittsburgh’s 3.46 average.  Carolina didn’t score until more than halfway through the game when Chad LaRose beat Fluery.  The Canes scored with a minute and a half left in the game to make things interesting but Pittsburgh held on for the close win.

Carolina has now lost Game 1 in each of its three playoff series this year. But that’s not a bad thing for the Hurricanes, who have won their last five postseason series after losing the opener.  With an assist, Pens forward Sidney Crosby now has a point in 16 of his last 18 playoff games.

This will mark the first time brothers Jordan (Pittsburgh) and Eric (Carolina) Staal will face each other in the postseason  and that could provide some interesting battles as both are centers and both aren’t afraid to use their big bodies.  Eric will carry a bigger burden going into this series as Carolina’s top center and most talented player, leading the team with 13 points in 14 games this spring.  The Hurricanes have won every game in which he scored this spring, his nine goals ranked third overall heading into the conference finals.  They will need Staal to continue playing at an elite level to keep up with Pittsburgh’s young stars.  Carolina’s defensemen used their speed and skills well at both ends of the rink in their previous series yet appeared at times to struggle, resulting in costly defensive breakdowns. The tireless Joni Pitkanen has been the Hurricanes best blueliner with seven points and plus-minus of +4.  It’s safe to say Carolina wouldn’t have gotten this far without the goaltending of Cam Ward, who continues to show the form which made him the 2006 playoff MVP.  Ward’s statistics (2.22 GAA, .927 SP, two shutouts) are one of the main reasons for the Canes resurgence, they missed the playoffs the last two years.

The Vancouver Canucks who were led by Daniel Sedin’s pair of goals, lost the final three games of the series in a disappointing end to what the Canucks hoped would be a run to the Stanley Cup.  the goaltending Vancouver was hoping for was not to be had.  Roberto Luongo got an old fashion whooping, giving up 7 goals will do that to a club.  Well for Vancouver it’s now time to regroup and focus on re signing the Sedin twins to new contracts.  If one thing was proved it’s that these two players are the heart and soul of the Vancouver Canucks.

It was Alex Ovechkin’s turn to play the role of playmaker and play the role he did.  He ended setting up 3 of Washington’s 5 goals to help the Capitals force a seventh game in this best of seven series by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 in a thrilling overtime game.  Both teams superstars came out to play tonight and didn’t disappoint.  The Penguins were led by Art Ross Trophy Winner Evegni Malkin 3 assists and Sidney Crosby’s 10th goal of the playoffs.  Crosby added an assist as well.  It was the third overtime game of the series, the most in any round of these NHL playoffs. Pittsburgh won the first two, both on deflections off Capitals defensemen.  Game seven will be played back in Washington on Wednesday night.  I would imagine that that would be a hard ticket to get, scalpers will probably have a field day.

Over in the Western Conference semi-final someone forgot to tell the young Chicago Blackhawks that their suppose to be nervous and playing tight and eventually lose to the more experienced Vancouver Canucks.  But that’s just not the case, Chicago has played this series with a lot of speed and toughness.  They beat the Canucks 4-2 for a solid road victory to take a 3-2 lead in the best of seven series.  The Blackhawks trailed 2-1 midway through the second period, but rallied to win for the third time in the series. They were led by their enforcer Dustin Byfuglien who scored Chicago’s first 2 goals.  David Bolland scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 5:05 left, and Martin Havlat added an empty-net goal with 62 seconds left.  They can advance to the Western Conference finals at home with a Game 6 win on Monday night.  Vancouver’s offence was led by Veteran forward Mat Sundin who had a goal and an assist in the game.