The 8-Ball Returns Today

We are already through a week of action and now the Conferences are just following their own suit in each of their respective series. The East all decided to go 3-1, while three of the four series in the West that has played Game Four, are all tied up at two. I find that rather remarkable.

In Montreal, the Capitals moved a step closer to the 2nd round with a soul-crushing win over the Canadiens, 6-3, to take a 3-1 series lead. Not even the insertion of Carey Price into the Habs line-up was going to be enough slow down the offensive juggernaut that the Capitals have built themselves to be. The top player was shared in this game by both Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, who each finished with 3 points a piece, although Ovechkin does take the tie-breaker in more goals scored with two.

Nevertheless, the Capitals will now be able to close out the series at home at the Verizon Center on Friday night.

The Playoffs finally had their first multiple-overtime game on Wednesday night, as the Sabres and Bruins locked horns in a good battle in Boston. The Bruins were able to score a power play goal in the second overtime period after Buffalo was caught with too many men on the ice. The Bruins with the win were able to move their series up to a 3-1 lead as well. The star of the game was Patrice Bergeron, as he was the only player in the pool to finish with 2 points in the game. Tuukka Rask earned the win for Boston, meaning that there was no goalie points to be had.

The Bruins will have to travel to Buffalo to try and close out this series, but they have a couple games to try and get it all sorted. Game Five will go on Friday night at the HSBC Arena.

In the late game, the Canucks scratched and clawed their way back into their series against the Kings after a 6-4 win in Los Angeles. It certainly wasn't the prettiest of games, but in the end it was a win and we have a brand new series heading back to Vancouver for Friday night. It was a big night for Henrik Sedin, who finished with the game-winning goal and an assist for a 3-point night, while his brother, Daniel Sedin, finished with 3 assists on the evening as well.

The series now shifts back to GM Place and will be one of the late games on Friday night.

Game-Winning Goals
It was another night of stolen bonus points, much to the chagrin of the pool operator, "I just hate it when there isn't bonus points being allocated in the pool." Jason Chimera was credited with the winning goal for the Capitals and Miroslav Satan was credited with the winner in overtime for the Bruins.

The only game-winner that counted in the pool was Henrik Sedin's eventual winner against the Kings and it was a fairly popular bonus point, with 14 selections taking allocating that point into their totals.

Our pool leader, Tony, now has the outright lead in game-winning goals in the pool, as he collected on Sedin's winner and added that to his total. He now has 7 winners in 8 nights in the pool, so he is doing very well in that department.

There is a quality rumble going on in Chicago suggesting that Brian Campbell could be returning to the Blackhawks line-up tonight for Game Four versus the Predators. Campbell suffered a broken clavicle and rib just over a month ago after an Ovechkin hit into the boards and is contemplating an early return. That would be absolutely huge for the Blackhawks, who really struggled to have any sort of motivation in Game Three on Tuesday night. Campbell is a Box 11 defenseman and was taken eight times, despite his injury.

The news is pretty bad for the Flyers and their star forwards, as Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne did suffer broken bones in their feet on Tuesday night. Carter suffered his in his foot and is now expected to miss the remainder of the playoffs, while Gagne suffered a broken toe and is expected to miss the next three weeks. Neither player has been consistently magic in their series against the Devils, but it hurts to take away that much scoring potential from the line-up.

Tonight's Games
Look what's back! It's the 8-ball! Oh my... look who is behind the 8-ball tonight... it's the Devils. That's right, the Devils are currently sitting down 3-1 in their series to the Philadelphia Flyers, but they are going back home to the swamp to try and get that series sorted out for themselves. Since the Flyers are going to be without both Carter and Gagne tonight, the Devils will probably look to the offensive side of their game, moreso their defense, just to try and establish some sort of push to come back in this series. Two of the next three games are at home, but the Devils need to win them all to go forward in these playoffs and that will be a tough task. In the pool, a Flyers win will be a bit of an upset and there will be a large number of players eliminated from teams, really taking a bite out of the chances of a perfect first round for a lot of teams.

And look who else is behind the 8-ball tonight... it's the Ottawa Senators! Yes, the Senators are on the verge of elimination at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but this would be far less of an upset in the minds of the poolies, where the Sens only used 9.5% of their possible selections this year. The Senators have worked fairly hard in this series, but Sidney Crosby has been lights out to say the least. Crosby continues to lead all pool players on the Sheet with 12 points and that's only in four games. He has a 3-point lead on his nearest scoring competitors, while the Sens leading scorer in this series is Matt Cullen in Box 18 and he only has 6 points. That's a pretty big mismatch, to say the least. Game Five of this series goes in Pittsburgh, so the Penguins will try and close it out at home tonight in front of their crowd, giving less hope fo the Sens going past this one.

Also going on Thursday night, we'll see Chicago and Nashville draw up for Game Four of their series, with the Predators trying to make good at home, leading 2-1 already. If this series is anything like it's Western Conference counterparts, the Blackhawks will win this game and tie the series up at two games a piece.

Finally, the Sharks and Avalanche tangle in the Shark tank again with their series all knotted up at two. It's now a race to two wins and the Sharks have the luxury of having two of the three games in their own building. Obviously, the winner of this game has a pretty good hold on going through, but this one is definitely not set in stone.

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