Conference Finals

Each of the NHL Conference Finals are now done with one game. The Lightning and Canucks took 1-0 series leads.

Boston came out played like trash in game 1. The first goal wasn't too bad, the usual Tampa Bay offensive zone control down low led to a goal by Sean Bergenheim. But 18 seconds later, Tampa defenseman Brett Clark skated through the entire Boston defense with ease and fired a weak backhander that was able to sneak past Thomas.

Then a minute and six seconds later, Boston made an egregious turnover behind their own net, and Teddy Purcell jammed in the puck for a quick 3-0 lead. Boston was too stunned to ever attempt much of a comeback.

Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals weren't any more mistake-free than the East. After almost a full period of pretty solid play from both the Canucks and Sharks, Roberto Luongo played the puck to Joe Thornton who buried it into an empty net.

Not to be outdone, less than two minutes into the 2nd period, Antti Niemi made a nice turnover playing the puck behind his net that led to a goal by Vancouver's Maxim Lapierre. San Jose took the lead back on a Patrick Marleau goal on a powerplay later in the period.

The Sharks had the game under control entering the 2nd intermission, but Vancouver took over to begin the 3rd. Niemi did his best to hold off the Sharks, but Kevin Bieksa was able to get a wrister past him seven minutes in. The Canucks quickly got on a powerplay, and just over a minute later, Henrik Sedin battled to the front of the net to bury the eventual game-winner.

Sharks pulled Niemi to get the man advantage, but never got any great chances.


In other news, we may be close to seeing the Winnipeg Jets in the NHL again, but replacing Atlanta instead of Phoenix. The move would likely result in Nashville being shifted to the Southeast Division in the near future. Sucks for the fans in Atlanta, but whatever.

Nailers Eliminated, Wings Force 7, Jagr

The Wheeling Nailers were eliminated from the Kelly Cup Playoffs in the ECHL last night in a 6-1 loss to the Kalamazoo Wings. They lost the series 4 games to 2.

In the NHL, the Detroit Red Wings forced a game 7 with a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks. After three games, the Sharks had a 3-0 series lead, and now Detroit has tied it 3-3, they just refuse to go away. Antti Niemi played a great game for San Jose, making 42 saves, but his offense couldn't do much. 

Game 7 is tomorrow night in San Jose, with Detroit looking to become the 4th team in NHL to come back from a 3-0 series deficit, and the 2nd team to do it in two years.

The annual rumors about Jaromir Jagr returning back to the Pens have already started. He isn't under contract for next season, and the as usual, it's speculated that the Pens want to bring him back. There's also a chance that it's a move to get him here so the Pens can retire his number, 68.

Speaking of Jagr, he scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 win by the Czech Republic to eliminate USA from the quarterfinals of the World Championships.

No NHL playoff games tonight, how is that even possible?

WBS Eliminated, NHL Eastern Conference Final

The Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins held a 3-0 lead in the third period against the Charlotte Checkers in Game 6 of their conference semifinals, ready to force a game 7 in Wilkes-Barre. The Baby Pens then began a historic collapse, falling 4-3 and ending their season.

Nevertheless, it was quite a successful season for WBS. They had the best regular season record in the AHL, and were without many of their best players for the majority of the season due to the number of players that had to be called up to Pittsburgh. Brad Thiessen took over the majority of the starting goalie position over from John Curry, and was voted as the best goalie in the AHL.

The NHL's Eastern Conference Semifinals are over before anyone would have predicted. Washington and Philadelphia were swept by Tampa Bay and Boston. The deciding factor in each series would come down to goaltending. Michal Neuvirth gave the Caps pretty consistent goaltending, but it was never enough to match 41 year old Dwayne Roloson.

Philadelphia continued their rotating Sergei Bobrovsky and Brian Boucher, and neither of them were able to find success. Tim Thomas remained a wall for the Bruins, showing that he can still get it done.

In the West, Vancouver and San Jose have been unable to close their series.

San Jose had a 3-0 series lead that is now down to 3-2 after Detroit's 4-3 comeback win last night. The Red Wings just hang around like they always do. Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Holmstrom are extremely productive, and as usual, they have plenty of role players to back them up. Jimmy Howard's been pretty solid in net as well.

Vancouver just can't seem to close a series. They have a 3-2 series lead on the Predators going into game 6 tonight. I keep repeating this, but the goalies will decide this series. Luongo's been pretty great, but Vancouver hasn't been able to win. The Sedin twins aren't producing very much, Ryan Kesler has been carrying the offense.

If the Predators win this series, Pekka Rinne will be the biggest reason why. Nashville doesn't have much of an offense, Rinne has to keep the Vancouver at only 2 or 3 goals at most for the Preds to have a chance. Nashville has received some unexpected goal-scoring from Joel Ward.

Also, Wheeling is down 3 games to 2 in their conference finals against the Kalamazoo Wings, Game 6 is tomorrow night. Go Nailers

Playoffs 2nd Round

Not much news in the Pens world, but there are still four playoff series going on.

West

Vancouver and Nashville are tied 1-1 heading to Nashville. The Canucks pulled out a 1-0 win in game one, Luongo with the shutout, but the Preds came back to take game two in double overtime, 2-1. Pekka Rinne will be the man to determine the series.

   

San Jose has a 2-0 series lead over Detroit with a pair of 2-1 victories, the first coming in overtime. Rookie Benn Ferriero scored the overtime winner in game one in his first NHL Playoff game on his birthday. The goalies have been strong in this series as well. Actually all of the goalies have been pretty solid in these playoffs, except for the Flyers rotating door of Boucher, Leighton, and Bobrovsky, none of which have gotten the job done.

East

Tampa Bay holds a 2-0 series lead over Washington. The Capitals think that they're supposed to lose to the Lightning since that's what the Pens did. Caps are capable of coming back, but Backstrom and Ovechkin will have to step it up. Dwayne Roloson is showing that it wasn't just the Pens' lack of offense that made him look good.

Boston dominated Philadelphia 7-3 in game one and squeaked out a 3-2 overtime win last night for a 2-0 series lead as well. James vanRiemsdyk almost took over game two, getting two goals for, but Tim Thomas wouldn't let him finish it, making 52 saves in game two. The Flyers still can't get consistent goaltending. 43 year-old Mark Recchi is playing like he's 20. The best thing that's come from this series was the God Bless America before game two.

Pens Affiliates

In the AHL Playoffs, Wilkes-Barre is down 2 games to 1 to the Charlotte Checkers in the conference semifinals, and in the ECHL, Wheeling is tied 1-1 with the Kalamazoo Wings in the conference finals.

By the way, USA