Bruins-Hurricanes Game 3 Recap

Carolina Hurricanes (2-1) over the Boston Bruins (1-2) 3-2 OT

Jussi Jokinen is becoming Carolina's playoff hero

(Photo Credit: AP)

Jussi Jokinen is starting to make this a habit. Jokinen scored the game-winning goal 2:48 into overtime to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 win and a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven series. Jokinen, waived by the Lightning in December, now has 5 goals in the playoffs, two short of his regular season total. "Obviously it feels great, with the things I've been through this year," said Jokinen. "I found my confidence again here. It's been a great ride." This is the third huge goal of the playoffs for Jokinen. In the first round against the Devils, he scored the game-winning goal with 0.2 seconds left in regulation of Game 4 and the game-tying goal with 1:20 left in regulation in Game 7.

The Hurricanes game-winner is proof how much things are magnified in the playoffs. Zdeno Chara had the puck in the defensive zone with time to clear it. Chara failed to get it out however when Jokinen stepped up and held the puck in the zone. Sergei Samsanov took the puck and slid a backhander that got caught up in the traffic up front. Jokinen drove the net, found the rebound, and deposited the puck in the back of the net. All of this could have been prevented if Chara had successfully cleared the puck. Jokinen also assisted on Samsanov's goal in the second period. That goal came just 69 seconds after Eric Staal's 7th of the playoffs and gave the Canes a 2-1 lead. By the way, the line of Eric Cole, Eric Staal, and Ray Whitney had 9 combined shots-on-goal. Chara has been very physical against them, but it apparently isn't enough. Staal does not need much room to score, as he showed on his goal last night.

Lost in the Hurricanes win was Tim Thomas's outstanding effort. Thomas was the only reason Boston made it to overtime. Thomas stopped 38 of Carolina's 41 shots, including a remarkable save on Matt Cullen 13:00 into the first. The rest of the team played more like they did in Game 2. "We had some chances, but there's such a thing as hockey gods, and sometimes they'll give the breaks to the team that deserves it," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "Unfortunately, we didn't really deserve this game, the way we played." It's clear that the Bruins will need to get a better effort from everyone to defeat the Hurricanes.

Capitals-Penguins Game 3 Recap

Pittsburgh Penguins (1-2) over the Washington Capitals (2-1) 4-3 OT

Brooks Orpik and Penguins Stun Capitals in OT Thriller

(Photo Credit: AP)

It’s only fitting that at least one game in this series between the top three heavyweights in the NHL goes into overtime. The 17,132 white clad Penguin fans at the Igloo were fired up from the get-go as the Washington Capitals came to town for game three of the Eastern Conference Semi-finals. Less than a minute and half into the game, Alexander Ovechkin silenced them with his eighth goal of the playoffs and with less than two minutes to play in regulation, he helped silence them again by assisting on the game-tying goal. But it in the end, it would be Ovechkin and the Capitals who would leave the ice silenced, as the Pittsburgh Penguins emerged victorious in overtime with a 3-2 win last night at the Mellon Arena.

Not too long after the first puck dropped, Marc Andre-Fleury came out of his crease to play a puck behind the net and in the process his stick fell out of his hand. The puck made its way around the boards back to Ovechkin and he rifled a shot past a diving, helpless Fleury to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 1:23. After being outplayed for the first half of the period, the Penguins responded by playing aggressive and battling for each possession. They would end up with eight shots in the period, after having only one shot on goal through the first ten minutes.
The Penguins retaliated in the second period when Ruslan Fedotenko attempted a short wrist shot that was stopped in front of net by Capital defenseman Mike Green. The puck bounced back to Fedotenko and he blasted a shot past Varlamov’s shoulder to knot the game at 1 halfway through the period.

With a little over five minutes left to play in the third, Evgeni Malkin, who has yet to score in this series, drew a hooking penalty from Alexander Semin. Malkin brought the sold out crowd to it’s feet when he bobbed and weaved around Capital center Brooks Laich and fired a bullet from the slot above Varlamov’s right shoulder to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead at 15:01. "Malkin was at another level," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "He was dominant with the puck and he had the goal, which was fantastic." Ovechkin apparently begged to differ, "No, he play the same. Same level."

The euphoria would not last long, however, as Pascal Dupuis was penalized for interfering with Tom Poti at 17:32. With traffic around Fleury’s net, Niklas Backstrom and Ovechkin took turns stabbing at the puck, trying to get it across the goal line. Backstrom won the battle as he managed to get the puck to deflect into the net off of Fleury’s skate to knot the game at two apiece. The goal, at 18:10, was Backstrom’s first of the playoffs.

Throughout the entire game, both goalies made impressive saves to keep their teams in the game. Once again, Simeon Varlamov was extraordinary in goal, making 39 saves, almost all of them exciting. At one point in the third period, he stopped Kris Letang on two consecutive rapid-fire blasts from the left circle. Letang finally beat him with his sixth shot on goal at 11:23 of the overtime period, giving the Penguins a 3-2 victory and cutting Washington’s lead in the series to 2-1. Sidney Crosby won the face off in the right circle and dished the puck backwards to Mark Eaton. Eaton passed it over to Letang who rifled a one-timer through traffic, which deflected off Capitals defenseman Shaone Morrison and over Varlamov into the net. It was Letang’s first ever career playoff goal, despite almost not playing due to a shoulder injury he sustained in game two.

"We knew we had Tanger set up for a one-timer if we won it clean," Crosby said. "I just got it back to [Mark] Eaton and we got a good bounce there. We've been working on those plays, so it's nice to see when it works."

The Penguins out shot the Capitals 42-23 and led the game in power plays at 7-2. The Capitals took six consecutive minor penalties at one point. Despite Varlamov nearly stealing the game, Washington coach Bruce Boudreau and Ovechkin took issue with the officiating throughout the game. "When you get a goaltending effort like that, you have to win because they don't come around every day," Boudreau said. "I think we might have deserved the penalties, but they sure as hell deserved a few more than they got."

"I don't want to talk about Varlamov. I don't want to talk about the referees too,” said Ovechkin. “They only had two penalties, it's kind of a joke."
Game four is Friday night in Pittsburgh.

Odds & Ends…Of the nine games Simeon Varlamov has played in this post-season, he has been named one of the top three stars in seven of them…Even though his team lost tonight, Varlamov has been the difference in this series so far. While Crosby and Ovechkin are offensive juggernauts, they cancel each other out, and what you’re left with are the two goaltenders, and Washington has the edge here. Varly made 39 saves and on almost every one I found myself yelling “Oh” along with the crowd. He keeps Washington in the game no matter what and had that goal in OT not taken a weird hop off of his own defender, this game could’ve easily went on to another OT. But that’s hockey. Unfortunately you can’t stop everything and you’re going to get a bad bounce against you. Varlamov has shown the presence of mind not to let it get to him…Crosby was quiet (as far as scoring goals) but he was still a major presence on the ice. If you can’t score, then you have to help your team in other ways and he did that by winning that last face off and assisting on the important goals. Evgeni Malkin also stepped up his game, leading both teams in ice time and when Crosby couldn’t find the net, he did. If Malkin gets going, the Pens have a deadly 1-2 punch with him and Crosby and they can turn this series around… 460 Penguin fans received cell-phone messages Monday that they had won four tickets to an upcoming playoff game. That's 459 more than were supposed to receive the message. Those who received the message in error received an automated phone call and were told that a team staffer would contact them. They were to get two tickets to a regular-season game in 2009-10, a Penguins T-shirt and cap and a $25 gift card. Now here is a great example of a professional sports organization going above and beyond the call of duty to rectify a mistake it made. Other teams across sports should take note of this, particularly the New York Yankees, who after this weeks rain delay fiasco, seem to be alienating their fans more and more every day.

Information from the AP, Washington Post and Pittsburgh Gazette was used in this story.


Title Fight: Crosby vs. Ovechkin
Round 3
Crosby- 0 Goals, 2 Assists, +1, 3 Shots on Goal, 2 Hits, 28:32 Time on Ice
Ovechkin- 1 Goals, 1 Assist, +1, 3 Shots on Goal, 7 Hits, 23:44 Time on Ice

Result: Crosby finally wins one from Ovechkin in round 3. Alex may have gotten a goal, but just about anyone who was in his position at that exact moment in time would have scored there. Crosby’s two assists help to set up the go-ahead goal and the game winner. After three rounds, Ovie still leads in the cards 29-28.

Red Wings-Ducks Game 4 Recap

photo: Julian H. Gonzalez, Detroit Free Press

(2) RED WINGS 6 -- (8) DUCKS 3

Series tied, 2-2

by Andrew Bogusch

Playing Game 4 of a series on the road when trailing two-games-to-one is a daunting task for most teams, but not the Detroit Red Wings. Thursday’s rout of the Ducks was their sixth straight victory in this scenario. That ties an NHL record and, most importantly, this best-of-seven series.

The Detroit offense, spurred by some line-juggling from Mike Babcock, finally overwhelmed Jonas Hiller, who had stopped 104 of 108 shots over the previous two games, both Anaheim wins. Johan Franzen scored at 11:49 and 19:24 of the first period after Corey Perry gave the Ducks an early lead. And after Perry knotted things up at 2-2 midway through the second, Marian Hossa beat Hiller twice in three minutes, two seconds to put the Wings ahead to stay.

All that offense came after Babcock put Franzen and Hossa around Valterri Filppula during the first period. “For whatever reason, we seemed to get a spark from that line,” said Babcock. “I figured it was time to change things up.”

“We played with a high tempo,” Franzen explained. “We need things like that to break down that goalie, so we did a good job tonight.”

Hiller was pulled after goal #5 2:46 into the final period. He called this the Ducks’ worst effort of the postseason. Anaheim head coach Randy Carlyle was particularly disappointed with Franzen’s first tally, a wrist shot from between the faceoff circles. Carlyle thinks it should have been an easy save for Hiller. Instead, it kickstarted the Wings after a slow start – not only had Perry scored 42 seconds into the game, but Anaheim was outshooting Detroit, 5-1.

The concern for the Ducks for Sunday’s Game 5 and beyond is the now-awake Red Wing offense. Hiller has to rediscover his magic from Games 2 and 3 while his defense tries to finally limit Detroit’s chances. The Wings have had no less than 37 shots in a game yet, and that’s too many for such a skilled group to be getting nightly.

Odds & Ends…This is the first game of the series decided by more than one goal…Ryan Getzlaf assisted on two Duck goals to extend his point-scoring streak to eight games…Brian Rafalski, Kris Draper and Andreas Lilja remain out for Detroit…Brett Festerling replaced James Wisniewski on the Anaheim blueline. Wisniewski will ride a stationary bike on Friday in hopes of playing in Game 5. He suffered a bruised lung in Game 4.

Dropping the Gloves w/ Andrew Bogusch

AN OPEN LETTER TO JIM BALSILLIE

May 7, 2009

Jim Balsillie

Research in Motion

295 Phillip Street

Waterloo, Ontario

Canada N2L 3W8

Dear Mr. Balsillie:

Thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedule to read this letter, part of which I wrote on my Blackberry Curve 8310 this morning on the train into work. Great phone, but I certainly wouldn’t mind a new Bold.

I am reaching out to you today to ask a small favor. The National Hockey League needs more owners like you – a true hockey fan with deep pockets willing to spend the many dollars in said pockets – but you are going about this the wrong way. Put the pirate costume back in the closet and please stop trying to hijack an organization. Not even Gary Bettman is short-sighted enough to keep you out of the owners’ club if you would simply follow normal procedure here.

You could not build and run North America’s preeminent cell phone company without the ability to massage personalities and situations to fit your objectives. Your millions and millions of dollars did not find their way into your bank account(s) solely through maverick acquisitions. Somewhere along the way you had to play by the rules, subjugating your ego to do so, to accomplish a goal. Try that approach again.

Remember how things went in Nashville? You probably would own that franchise today had you not taken deposits on seats at Copps Coliseum before you had control of the Predators. Commissioner Bettman and his owners did not let you barge into their fraternity then and will do everything possible to do the same now in Phoenix.

Which is disappointing because the Coyotes need to leave Phoenix/Glendale. And because the NHL needs another team in Ontario, whether that be in Hamilton or another Toronto squad. You can make this happen. But not by setting up a behind-the-scenes deal with Coyotes CEO Jerry Moyes.

Mr. Balsillie, the Coyotes may end up under your control and may end up in Hamilton. If so, congratulations and I look forward to seeing what you do with your franchise. But this also may blow up in your face since the team’s Chapter 11 filing may be invalid under League bylaws, and thus foil your master plan. That would be horrible news because it would push you farther away from being part of the NHL.

No matter which scenario plays out, please start factoring the game’s best interests into your actions. Find a happy medium between your desires and the etiquette Mr. Bettman wants prospective owners to have. The NHL needs you as an owner, but it does not need the headaches you continue to cause.

Sincerely,

Andrew Bogusch

FromTheSlot.blogspot.com

As always, please send all questions, thoughts, critiques to boguschhockey@gmail.com

Ducks-Red Wings Game 3 Recap

photo: Julian H. Gonzalez, Detroit Free Press

(8) DUCKS 2 -- (2) RED WINGS 1

ANA leads series, 2-1
by Andrew Bogusch

Brad Watson’s whistle is now the lead character in this best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal. With 69 seconds left in this game and Anaheim leading, 2-1, Watson lost sight of the puck as it went under Jonas Hiller so he blew his whistle – just as the puck came out from underneath the Duck goalie and Marian Hossa tapped into the net. No goal and no tie game, though, since the play is dead once the ref’s whistle is heard.

“We should still be playing obviously right now,” head coach Mike Babcock said in the Wings locker room. “We’ve just got to make sure we stay determined and stay focused.”

That’s because Anaheim now leads this series, two games to one, with Game 4 coming Thursday night in southern California. Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer scored Tuesday night. The veteran winger got behind Chris Chelios to take a long pass from Ryan Carter and beat Chris Osgood with a backhand deke at 12:49 of the opening period. The veteran defenseman scored on the power play midway through the second. It was the 24^th postseason goal of his career.

Henrik Zetterberg scored with the man-advantage for Detroit late in the second, but Hiller stopped the other 45 shots he faced, including 18 in the final period. He has now faced 108 shots over the last two contests, with just four beating him, allowing the Ducks to win both.

Odds & Ends: Anaheim defenseman James Wisniewski spent the night in the hospital after taking a slapshot to the ribs. He suffered a lung contusion and needed to be carted off the ice…Brian Rafalski, Kris Draper and Andreas Lilja missed another game for Detroit…Ryan Getzlaf assisted on Niedermayer’s tally, extending his points streak to seven games (two goals, 12 assists total)…This game got nasty late as the Red Wings realized there would be no comeback. Pavel Datsyuk and Chris Pronger received roughing minors at the 20:00 mark, while Getzlaf and Zetterberg traded punches.

Capitals-Penguins Game 2 Recap

Washington Capitals (2-0) over the Pittsburgh Penguins (0-2) 4-3

Hat Stuff! Ovechkin and Crosby notch hat tricks.

(Photo Credit: AP)

by Chris Carrano

It was a landmark night for the NHL as two of its biggest stars, Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, put on an offensive show for the ages. Both had hat-tricks, Crosby’s a mere consolation prize as Ovechkin helped lead his Caps to a 4-3 victory in front of 18,277 red-rocking fans at the Verizon Center. Super Mario himself, NHL legend and Penguins owner Mario Lemieux, was on hand and watched as his Penguins came up short once again.

"Sick game. Sick three goals by me and Crosby," said Ovechkin, who celebrated by bouncing his body high off the glass after both of his third-period goals. "It's unbelievable to see how fans react, how fans go crazy. The atmosphere right now, it's unbelievable in town. You see all the red, and -- probably I'm afraid to go home right now."

Two of Ovechkin’s goals came within a span of two and a half minutes, as he notched the game winner and an insurance goal. With Evgeni Malkin in the sin bin for tripping David Steckel, Nikolas Backstrom won a face-off in the right circle and dished the puck backwards to Mike Green. Green slid a pass to Ovechkin who rifled a one-timer over a sinking Marc Andre Fleury at 12:52 to give Washington a 3-2 lead. Shortly thereafter, Ovechkin found himself in a one on one situation with Sergei Gonchar and he launched the puck right over Fleury’s glove to give him his first career playoff hat trick at 15:22. Ovechkin’s first goal came at 2:18 of the second period. Sergei Fedorov swung a back spin pass to Viktor Kozlov who then dished out to Ovechkin. Ovie then fired a one-timer past Fleury that tied the game at 1. David Steckel scored the other goal for Washington.

Once again however, the Penguins hit the ground running as they blasted Washington goalie Simeon Varlamov with six shots in the first six minutes of the game. Varlamov was able to stop five of them and the one that got by him was a power play goal scored by Sidney Crosby. Crosby set himself up in front of Varlamov and was able to stuff in a tight rebound to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 6:38 into the game. His second goal was much like his first, where Crosby positioned himself in front of Varlamov and stuffed in a tight rebound after Chris Kunitz directed a shot towards the net. Crosby’s third goal came with thirty seconds left in the game while Pittsburgh was on a 6 on 4 power play. With a lot of traffic in front of the net, Crosby swatted at the puck four times before it finally made it’s way past Varlamov. It was too little too late for the defending Eastern Conference champions, as Washington rides into Pittsburgh on Wednesday night enjoying a 2-0 lead in the series.

"It's nice to score," Crosby said. "But it's better to win. As a player, you don't like when the guy on the other team gets a hat trick. That's usually not a good sign." Crosby, also took issue to all the hats being thrown on the ice in reaction to Ovechkin’s hat trick. "People kept throwing hats," he said. "I was just asking if he could make an announcement to ask them to stop. I mean, the first wave came and then I think they were all pretty much picked up, and then more started coming. So for us, we just wanted to make sure we kept kind of moving and kept the game going, wanted to try to get back in it. So I wasn't complaining about anything."

There is certainly no love lost between these two teams. The first period was full of penalties and mini skirmishes. The Capitals wasted a chance at a power play when Chris Clark decided to punch Kris Letang in the face after the whistle had stopped play for a Pittsburgh penalty. Ovechkin got sandwiched along the boards and was shoved around whenever possible; he and Chris Kunitz traded blows in period's final minute. An exchange between Washington's Alexander Semin and Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik resulted in three penalties -- two of them on Semin. Both teams combined for 18 penalty minutes in the period. Towards the end of the game, Kunitz delivered a "vicious" cross-check to Varlamov in the game's final minute. "We hope the league takes a long look at that," Bruce Boudreau said.

Odds & Ends…Will the real Evgeni Malkin please stand up? Malkin has been absent from these first two games and with this series heading back to the Igloo, he has to step up if the Penguin’s are going to get back in it. The last thing Pittsburgh needs is Ovechkin and Co. going up 3-0. The league’s leading scorer has to step up because Cindy, I mean Sidney, can’t do it all by himself. So far, this looks like an old WWF handicapped match: Hulk Hogan vs. Macho Man Randy Savage and Sensational Queen Sherri. And how much help was she?…Washington has found a rare gem in Simeon Varlamov so far. Despite giving up five goals to the Penguin’s in two games (as opposed to seven for the Rangers in six games), Varly does not seem to melt under pressure. He is still making great saves and manages to keep his team in the game. That is going to be necessary heading into Pittsburgh…Ovie isn’t the only one who can score. David Steckel has been lighting the lamp and there’s it goes with out saying that Federov and Semin are excellent puck movers and can score also. Bottom line, Crosby’s supporting cast is going to have to step it up a notch…Crosby’s first goal broke an 0 for 17 slump for the Penguins power play…

Title Fight: Crosby vs. Ovechkin
Round 2
Crosby- 3 Goals, 0 Assists, +1, 5 Shots on Goal, 21:55 Time on Ice
Ovechkin- 3 Goals, 0 Assists, +2, 12 Shots on Goal, 23:01 Time on Ice

Result: Another evenly matched round, but the edge goes to the Great 8 as he threw more punches (shots on goal) and even got physical when he had to. Oh yeah, he also didn’t complain about hats being thrown on the ice. (Granted it was his hat trick on home ice and only about six hats landed on the ice for Crosby, but still). After two rounds, Ovie leads 20-18 on the cards.

Bruins-Hurricanes Recap - Game 2

Carolina Hurricanes (1-1) over the Boston Bruins (1-1) 3-0

Cam Ward pitches a shutout to send the series back to Raleigh tied 1-1

(Photo Credit: AP)

by Brian Finkelstein

Cam Ward won the goalie duel last night as the Hurricanes bounced back with a solid effort shutting out the Bruins 3-0 Sunday night. Ward stopped all 36 shots and posted his fourth career playoff shutout. "We needed to rebound strong," said Ward. "We haven't had much luck against these guys going back to the regular season, and this is a big confidence booster." Though Ward was solid in the first two periods, he wasn’t truly tested until the third period when the B’s outshot the Canes 16-3. Ward’s best save of the night came on a point-blank rebound opportunity by Michael Ryder on the power play late in the third. "He's our rock," Eric Staal said. "He needs to play well every night for us to have a shot and he did."

Meanwhile, Eric Staal finally broke through against the Bruins with an empty net goal, an assist, and a +2 rating. Staal set up the first goal of the game two-and-a-half minutes into the second from behind the net. Staal sent a pass to Joe Corvo at the left point who fired the one-timer past Tim Thomas.


The Hurricanes would continue to dominate the period, even while a man down. With a little over thirteen minutes left to play in the second, Joni Pitkanen took an elbowing penalty giving the Bruins their first power play chance. On the ensuing power play, Zdeno Chara at the left point was pressured and fired a cross-ice pass along the blue line. Unfortunately for Chara, Chad LaRose anticipated the pass and the steal led to a shorthanded rush the other way. After Larose’s chance hit the side of the net, the gritty fourth liner passed the puck to the trailing Cullen for the shorthanded goal and the 2-0 lead.

LaRose almost had a goal himself. As time was winding down in the second period, Dennis Seidenberg fired a long shot on net. Thomas simply blocked the puck back into play where LaRose beat the defending Bruin to the puck. LaRose chipped the puck over Thomas’s shoulder and hit the crossbar. Fortunately for the Bruins, the puck came straight down and spun on edge over the goal line. The referee ruled that the puck never fully crossed and replays in Toronto were inconclusive despite a few camera angles which appeared to show white between the puck on edge and the goal line.

But the Canes were able to overcome that and prevent the Bruins from finding the back of the net themselves in the third period. The Bruins can blame their power play for that. Boston went 0-4 On the PP, and only on one of those did they generate multiple scoring chances. Unfortunately for Boston, that’s when Cam Ward stepped up and robbed Ryder and Dennis Wideman.

Eric Staal fittingly capped off the game with an empty net goal in the final minute. "We definitely didn't play into their hands," Staal said. "We still had a few turnovers, but that happens. That's the game of hockey. There are always mistakes. But we didn't continually do it. We did the simple things, we fought the puck out of our end and into theirs, and that's what you have to do."

As long as the Hurricanes can continue to do those simple things, they may find themselves in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Analysis:
From Carolina’s point of view, this game was about two things, Cam Ward and Eric Staal. The Hurricanes are obviously at their best when those two perform the way they did last night. Staal took a beating from Chara all night long, constantly ending up flat on the ice, but almost every time, he continued to control and move the puck. It’s that determination Staal needs this series to overcome the 6’9” 260 lb. Chara, and with the help of linemate Eric Cole, Staal was able to tame the beast. Zdeno Chara ended up -3 on the night, including the turnover that led to the Carolina’s second goal.
Ward on the other hand, was simply terrific in the third period. He was constantly under siege as the desperate Bruins fired all types of shots at the net, but Ward answered every last one of them.

The Bruins played a very uninspiring first two periods, and maybe finally showed some of the rust many of us expected to see in Game 1. The biggest sign that the Bruins played poorly is that their best line all night was the fourth line, P.J. Axelsson, Stephane Yelle, and Shawn Thornton. They kept it simple and generated more than their fair share of chances. The Bruins will need better efforts from everyone else on their team in Carolina if they want home-ice advantage back."

Game 3 is Wednesday night in Raleigh at the RBC Center

Ducks-Red Wings Game 2 Recap

(8) ANAHEIM DUCKS over the (2) DETROIT RED WINGS 4-3 (3OT)
by Andrew Bogusch

Todd Marchant celebrates his 2nd ever Playoff OT game winnner

(Photo Credit: AP)

Series tied, 1-1

The Ducks and Red Wings started game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal shortly after lunch and did not finish until after dinner. Veteran forward Todd Marchant scored the game-winner 75 seconds into the sixth period on a left wing wrist shot over Chris Osgood’s glove. Osgood says he never saw the shot that ended the first multi-overtime game of this postseason and, more importantly, evened this series at one game apiece as it shifts to Anaheim for Game 3 Tuesday night.

The Ducks left Detroit with home ice advantage after surviving the first two extra periods. The Wings outshot Anaheim 29-15 in those 60 minutes and had the only power-play of OT. Jonas Hiller gave Marchant a chance to be the hero by turning away 59 total shots. “I’ve never gone to double overtime before. We have shootouts at home,” the Switzerland native said afterwards.

Anaheim would not have needed Hiller and Marchant’s heroics had it preserved two one-goal leads in regulation. Ryan Getzlaf and Chris Pronger scored at 8:16 and 8:50 of the first period for a 2-1 lead. And Ryan Carter scored off a rebound off the back wall for a 3-2 edge early in the second. But the Red Wings rallied both times, with Johan Franzen scoring at 5:19 of the final period to setup OT.

Marchant had just been interviewed on NBC during the fifth intermission when he intercepted a pass at his own blueline. He got the puck back from James Wisniewski, headed up the right side of the ice, and then criss-crossed with Rob Niedermayer at the Detroit line. Marchant let go a rather soft wrister from the top of the left faceoff circle that floated over Osgood’s glove.

“Not many goals get decided off my stick, that’s for sure,” Marchant told reporters in the Ducks locker room. It was the quickest into a third overtime that anyone had scored in NHL history.

Brad Stuart and Mikael Samuelsson also scored for Detroit, who lost for the first time this postseason. However, the Wings have now lost five straight in the postseason in overtime to Anaheim.

Capitals-Penguins Game 1 Recap

#2 Washington Capitals (1-0) over the Pittsburgh Penguins (0-1) 3-2

Simeon Varlamov makes the save of the playoffs to help the Capitals win their 4th straight playoff game

(Photo Credit: AP)

by Chris Carrano

If this game is any indication, this series is shaping up to be an instant classic in the realm of playoff hockey. The Washington Capitals edged the Pittsburgh Penguins in game one of their Eastern Conference Semifinal with a 3-2 victory at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. In a matchup that featured three of the NHL’s top offensive players, it was a twenty-one year old rookie goaltender that stole the show. Simeon Varlamov, turned in an impressive performance, making 34 saves despite allowing two goals get past him that he should’ve stopped.

"The first goal could have rattled a 21-year-old goalie and the second goal could have killed a 21-year-old goalie, but this is the playoffs. You can't really dwell on your mistakes. You've got to forget them quickly," Varlamov said through an interpreter. "In games like this, you shouldn't be hard on yourself even after you allow a softie. You don't have the right to be upset too much."

Sidney Crosby had that first goal a little over four minutes into the game. Crosby, racing down the ice, deked Washington defenseman John Erskine and rifled a wrist shot from in between the circles to put the Pens up early in a period in which they dominated the early half. Pittsburgh had out shot Washington 11-2 at one point. The lead wouldn’t last as Washington center Dave Steckel raced up ice and drove to the net, knocking in a rebound off a shot by Matt Bradley, to tie it up at 13:50.

Alexander Ovechkin, a candidate for the Hart Trophy, scored the go-ahead goal on a 5 on 3 power play after Alexander Semin’s shot drew Pittsburgh goalie Marc Andre-Fleury out of the net to make the save. Ovechkin caught the rebound and buried the puck past Fleury’s stick to give Washington a 2-1 lead at 17:03.

In the second period, Ovechkin turned the puck over to Evgeni Malkin in his offensive zone and Malkin made his way down the ice, battling along the boards to retain possession of the puck. Malkin was able to feed the puck to Mark Eaton who shot a laser right over Varlamov’s glove to tie the score at 2. The defining moment of this game came with two minutes left to play in the period. Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz were barreling down the ice when Kunitz made a cross-ice pass to Crosby to the left of the crease. Varlamov, who was drawn out of position, was able to twist his body around to make an incredible stick save, just as the puck was about to cross the goal line. "It was kind of a desperation save," Crosby said. "You don't want to waste those opportunities." Said Varlamov, “I was out of position, there was really nothing I could do, so I lunged with the stick, and it just so happened the puck hit it right on the line.”

Tomas Fleischmann would score the game winner just 1:47 into the third period. Semin brought the puck into the zone and sent a diagonal pass to Niklas Backstrom, who passed the puck across the ice to Fleischmann. That created an opening, and Fleischmann easily beat Fleury for his second goal of the playoffs. "This team is better," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said of the Penguins. "No disrespect to New York, but we'd have no chance being down 2-0 to be able to duplicate it."
"Our shot total was 36. That's something you like to see at the end of the game," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "I think we could have added a few more. We had opportunities. We had chances to get some more goals. We didn't get enough to get the goals we needed to win, so we're going to try to get some more from the 36 shots."

Game 2 of this series is set for Monday night in Washington.

Odds & Ends...Dave Steckel scored the Capitals' first goal in May since Joe Juneau scored against Buffalo in the 1998 Eastern Conference finals...In their last five games, the Penguins are 1 for 24 on their power play. And I thought the Rangers were bad...Although Varlamov’s save on Sidney Crosby was correctly ruled a no-goal, why did they decide not to review it? It was awfully close and I though it should’ve merited a review..."He owed us one," Boudreau said after Varlamov’s amazing save against Crosby. He payed back, with interest.

Title Fight: Crosby vs. Ovechkin
Round 1
Crosby- 1 Goal, 0 Assists, +1, 6 Shots on Goal, 24:12 Time on Ice
Ovechkin- 1 Goal, 0 Assists, -1, 9 Shots on Goal, 21:13 Time on Ice

Result: Although Ovie had a bad turnover, he had spectacular cornermen in Varlamov and Semin to get him back in the fight. Sid the Kid stayed on his feet, didnt give up, but he just couldn;t land the knockout punch. The Lederman Cards have Round 1 scored at 10-9 in favor of the Russian.

Bruins-Hurricanes Game 1 Recap

#1 BOSTON BRUINS (1-0) over the #6 CAROLINA HURRICANES (0-1) 4-1

Marc Savard celebrates a 3rd period goal en route to the victory

(Photo Credit: AP)

by Brian Finkelstein

So much for rust. The Boston Bruins, playing their first game in 10 days, dominated the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night, taking Game 1 of the best of seven series by a score of 4-1. David Krejci opened up the scoring by tipping in an Aaron Ward point shot 94 seconds into the game. The goal seemed to allow the Bruins to shake off any rust they may have had the remainder of the period. "It was good to get that first one," said Marc Savard, who scored twice for the Bruins.

What's scary for the Hurricanes, though, is the Bruins believe they were far from perfect Friday. "It wasn't a bad game," said coach Claude Julien. "I'm going to tell you right now that there are some things in our game we need to improve. A lot of that is probably due to the long layoff. We were good tonight. We can be better. I think everybody in that dressing room knows that." Tim Thomas neutralized some of those bad things in their game by stopping 26 of the Hurricanes 27 shots, including a point blank save on Eric Staal with less than 15 minutes left. "There was some rust in the first period," Thomas said. "Not anything that was a game-changer, but we got better and better as the game went on and shook the rust off. After nine days off, one bad period is not a bad place to be."

Marc Savard was the offensive star for the Bruins with his two goals. Savard's first goal made it a 2-1 game 7:21 into the second. After Savard's strong forecheck, the puck came out to Phil Kessel in the slot. With several Hurricanes fighting for the puck, Kessel managed to get a shot on net. Ward, distracted by the large Milan Lucic, left a juicy rebound for Savard at the far post to bang in. The other 2 goals by the Bruins came as a result of some terrible turnovers by Carolina. Savard's second goal came after he stole the puck from Matt Cullen in the neutral zone. Kessel led the rush going the other way and dropped a pass for Savard. Savard's point blank slap shot beat Ward to give the B's a 4-1 lead late in the third.

Michael Ryder continued his strong playoffs by cashing in on Tuomo Ruutu's turnover in the second. Ryder's 5th goal in 5 playoff games came unassisted as he stole Ruutu's errant pass and led a two on one rush with Blake Wheeler. Ryder simply walked in and fired a wrist shot by Cam Ward giving the Bruins a comfortable two goal lead. Ryder however, is fully aware they have to play better as the series goes along. "There's little things we have to work on, areas we weren't as sharp," Ryder said. "Maybe it was the delay that had us a little sluggish or a little off, but I think we've done a good job."

The Bruins showed last night why they are the team to beat in the East. The B's came out slowly in the first, trying to shake off the long layoff, but they still managed to score first. Then Julien switched up his lines and put Lucic with Savard and Kessel. That line went on to create two of the next three goals by creating turnovers. Tim Thomas was also a big factor in the game. He made several huge saves that had to discourage the Canes. If Thomas continues to play like he did tonight, the Bruins may be unbeatable.

Also, Zdeno Chara did a good job containing Eric Staal. Stall was a -1 with only 2 shots on goal. Staal has yet to score against Boston this year in five games. The way the Bruins looked last night, this series may be over soon. But let's not forget, the Hurricanes had a very similar Game 1 in the first round when they lost to the Devils by the same score. We'll see if the Canes can rebound on Sunday.

Bruins-Canes Series Preview (Belated)

#1 Boston Bruins vs. #6 Carolina Hurricanes
by Brian Finkelstein

One of the more intriguing series of the second round will begin tonight in Boston as the upstart Hurricanes face off against the #1 seed Bruins. The Hurricanes are coming off one of the most grueling and competitive first round matchups since the NHL began its current playoff format in 1994. Carolina disposed of the Devils by winning two games in the last minute of regulation and one game in overtime all while coming back from a three games to two deficit. Meanwhile the Bruins have been waiting patiently for 10 days for tonight's game. In fact, the Bruins were so desperate for a real opponent that on Tuesday, they held a 20-minute scrimmage.

The key matchup in this series will be between the two men behind the pipes. Boston's Tim Thomas is coming off a career year in which he led the league in save percentage and goals against. Thomas is probably the favorite to claim the Vezina. Meanwhile, former Conn Smythe winner Cam Ward led the Eastern Conference in wins while posting a 2.07 GAA and a 17-4-3 record since March 3rd.

Another intriguing mathcup of the series is Hurricanes top goal scorer Eric Staal and the Bruins Zdeno Chara. Staal was dominant along the boards against the Devils. New Jersey's Colin White and Mike Mottau had a difficult time knocking Staal off the puck and as a result, Staal's line dominated in the Devils' zone. Claude Julian will certainly play his best and biggest defenseman against Staal as much as possible. If Chara can knock Staal off his game, look for the Bruins to cash in with their balanced lineup while neutralizing the Canes' top threat.

However, after watching the Devils-Hurricanes series closely, I believe the Hurricanes 40-goal scorer will find a way to create space and control the puck. Perhaps more importantly, I fear the Bruins weren't challenged enough by a disappointing Canadiens team and the 10-day layoff will be too much to overcome. Look for Carolina to steal one of the first two in the Garden, grab control of the series, and take it from there. Canes in 6."