Monday Night Madness

The Canadiens had a real tough night against the Capitals on Monday night, as Jaroslav Halak was pulled after three goals in the 2nd period, which left both pool goalies on the bench and the game was left with both Carey Price and Semyon Varlamov. The Capitals ended up winning the game 5-1 and took a 2-1 series lead over the Habs.

The top player of the game was Brooks Laich, who finished off with the game-winning goal and an assist for a 3-point night. Laich was picked five times in Box 18, so there are a few happy campers in the pool with that performance.

In a much tighter, more physical affair, the Bruins and Sabres went back at it in Boston. Check out the highlight of the night below, another one of the best hits of the playoffs... Johnny Boychuk absolutely leveling Matt Ellis with a clean, open-ice check. The Bruins and Sabres ended up trading 1st period goals to start the game, continued to play tight through the 2nd and then the Bruins finally broke through in the 3rd, with a go-ahead goal just past the midway point on the period, scored by Patrice Bergeron, who finished with 2 points on the night, along with Dennis Wideman, who finished with a goal and an assist.

This was another game where the goalie was not part of the pool, as Tuukka Rask ended up with the win against the Sabres and not Tim Thomas, who is actually on the sheet.

In the late game, the Los Angeles Kings managed to put their best foot forward in the 2nd period against the Canucks in their first playoff home game in 8 years. The Kings scored three straight goals to break a 1-1 1st intermission deadlock in the 2nd period and the team never needed to look back, despite some close and disallowed calls. It was another coming-out party for Drew Doughty, who had a goal and 3 assists for a 4-point night, which was tops on the evening.

The Kings now have a 2-1 series lead with the series continuing in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

Game-Winning Goals
It was a little bit better for the pool on Monday night, as two of the three games had pool players picking up the bonus point. Brooks Laich of the Capitals was taken five times in the pool this year and he picked up his first bonus point of the playoffs. In Boston, it was Patrice Bergeron, who was skipped over in the pool in Box 13 (the same box as Crosby and Ovechkin), that picked up the extra point for Boston. It's good for the pool that the sheet that he picked up the point, maybe not for the pool itself. Finally, it was Brad Richardson who got credit for the game-winner in Los Angeles and he was not very close to being put on the sheet this year. Too much of a depth player for pool purposes.

Two teams currently lead the pool in extra bonus points with 5 each. Both teams, Kalenab & Tony, are tops in the standings, sitting 1-2 respectively. I won't say that the bonus points are directly attributed to this placement in the standings, but it sure helps.

Highlight of the Night


Tonight's Games

Another busy night on Tuesday, as we're back to the 5-game schedule tonight. Four teams are looking to even their series, another four are trying to go two games up, while the other two are trying to get the best of one another to go up a game in their series. I'm hoping that at least one or two of these series go up 3-1, just so I can finally break out the 8-ball on the blog... definitely one of my favourite graphics.

The night will start early in Detroit, as the Red Wings will try to pull even against the Coyotes in their series. The Red Wings might be down 2-1 in the series, but they have the highest-scoring player for pool purposes in Henrik Zetterberg. Zetterberg will have to pull out some more stops to help even up this series.

The Senators are going to have to go into the Phalanx formation to defend against the high-octane offense of the Penguins and avoid going down 2-1 in their series tonight. Sidney Crosby currently leads all pool scorers with 8 points in these playoffs and he is becoming harder and harder to stop, as you may have noticed.

The Devils are in tough in Philadelphia tonight, as they are going to try and claw back in their series against the Flyers. The Flyers were strong at home in Game Three, so it's going to be pretty tough. Mike Richards is the leader in points in this series, with 6 points, thanks to a pair of goals, a winner and 3 assists. He has definitely been one of the best players in the series.

It's been somewhat of a low-scoring series between the Blackhawks and Predators, but it's still even, with lots of potential for some real fireworks. This will be the first game in Nashville on Tuesday and it will be neat to see how the crowd in the Bridgestone Arena reacts to this big game. Both Patrick Kane and J-P Dumont each have 3 points going into Game Three tonight, to lead the series in scoring.

Finally, the Avalanche will try and go up by two games and make perfect use of their home-ice against the Sharks. The Avalanche hung on in Game Two in the lowest-scoring game of the playoffs, which didn't even have a point registered on the winning goal. Craig Anderson has been the star of the series, as he has 7 points, but no one has him in the pool, so it's kind of moot.

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