It was a very intriguing opening night of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
First off, you have the Pittsburgh Penguins blowing a huge 3-0 lead only to see the Philadelphia Flyers storm back to win the game 4-3 in overtime on a game winning goal by Jakub Voracek. Other key performers for the Flyers Wednesday night were Daniel Briere who notched two goals and Brayden Schenn with a goal and two assists. It will be interesting to see how the Penguins rebound from a devastating loss.
In Vancouver, the Canucks had penalty issues all night long, accumulating 27 minutes in penalties, highlighted by a five minute major for boarding by Byron Bitz in the second period. The Kings kept the game close, and with the score 2-2, former Oiler Dustin Penner scored the game winner with 3:14 left. How many times Penner will come to play during the playoffs is anyone’s guess, but he was a factor Wednesday night as he was a recipient of an outstanding Jeff Carter pass with his skate in a 4-2 Kings win.
In Nashville, the Preds were lucky to beat the Red Wings 3-2. The team got two garage goals early–a Paul Gaustad shot from a bad angle that went off of Brad Stuart’s skate and a Matt Halischuk shot near the blueline that was tipped by Gabriel Bourque that handcuffed Jimmy Howard.
This week on a special NHL Trade Deadline edition of 15 Minutes of Fame, we try to pick out the winners and the losers of the big day and do our best to analyze the one trade pulled off by the Edmonton Oilers. We also look at the biggest pre-deadline trade and non-trade, which was Jeff Carter to the LA Kings and Ales Hemsky re-upping with the Oil.
In the GABBYs: Chicago Cubs fans, CC Sabathia, Jeremy Lin, Greg Oden, Rajon Rondo & Tommi Virtanen. The Punchline this week is MMA fighter Dan Lariviere!
I was expected to be very busy this afternoon writing about a significant number of trades.
The bottom line, there might have been one that I’ll get to later. But living in Alberta, I think it comes as a huge surprise how little the Oilers did and that the Flames did nothing today.
Message to Nikolai Khabibulin, Ales Hemsky, and Ryan Smyth. It’s time to step up. Management has shown confidence in all three of you and it’s time to take your game to the next level.
As for the Flames, it looks like they will continue to battle for a playoff spot. Good news for Flames fans is that Miikka Kiprusoff is reminding you of 2004 and if you get into the playoffs, anything can happen.
With the Detroit Red Wings going up 4-0 in the second period on the Phoenix Coyotes, I kept an eye on the game while I watched the Bulls/Pacers NBA playoff game and the Blue Jays/Red Sox from Fenway.
Well, I’m glad I didn’t completely tune out.
The Coyotes dominated the third period and got right back into the contest. Shane Doan recorded two third period power play goals from Radim Vrbata and Keith Yandle to pull the Coyotes within a marker. Detroit won but Phoenix has some momentum.
In Philadelphia, what a first period between the Sabres and Flyers! You had six goals, three on each side. Tomas Vanek was the most impressive Sabre with two goals. Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers also has a goal and an assist.
I was also very impressed with Paul Gaustad. The Sabres enforcer hammered Scott Hartnell with complete ease. This was also probably the most physical period of the playoffs with 30 total penalty minutes.
Loading ...
