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."