End of Week Review in the Playoffs

This schedule that I'm on is not really working for me. I mean, I'm not finding a great deal of time to sit down at the blog and write about all the going on's in the NHL these days, but I'm going to give it a whirl, trying to get myself back on track. A long weekend should help that along greatly.  I believe I left the blog at the preview of Game Two in the Vancouver and San Jose series, so that's where I'll begin.

On Wednesday night, with the Canucks already up 1-0 in the series, they kept themselves to generally the same script as the first game of the series, trying to keep the mistakes to a minimum and capitalize when the Sharks make their mistakes.  In fairness, both sides were very much the same, except the Sharks did end up making a boatload of mistakes in the 3rd period, already down 3-2, they have a parade to the penalty box, which gave the Canucks ample opportunity to exercise what was one of the best power plays in the NHL during the regular season.  The Canucks scored two power play goals midway through the period and the wheels came off of the Sharks wagon, giving up two more before it was all said and done and the final score was 7-3.  Sure, the Sharks did manage to pull one back before it was all over.

This had given the Canucks a 2-0 series lead and there were a lot of points to be had for the pool.

For the Canucks, Henrik Sedin led the way for all pool players, picking up 3 assists, while Kevin Bieksa, Mason Raymond, Daniel Sedin and Roberto Luongo all had 2 points each in the contest.  The most common Canucks combination in the pool would have picked up 7 points in this game.  Non-pool players Dan Hamhuis and Chris Higgins also had great nights, but they are not very relevant to this paragraph.

On the San Jose side, no Sharks picked up more than a single point in this one.

On Wednesday night, Box 9 defenseman Jason Demers didn't dress for the Sharks, as he is suffering from an upper-body injury.  He would actually miss Game Three as well, which will be quickly reviewed in a few paragraphs time, and he will also likely be sitting out for Game Four as well, which goes on Sunday afternoon.

On Thursday night, it was Game Three in Tampa Bay, with the Bruins and the Lightning splitting their games at the TD Gardens in Boston, they went head-to-head yet again for a great playoff tilt.  For Boston, they were able to welcome back to their line-up, Patrice Bergeron, who was dealing with concussion symptoms over the past couple of weeks and this would only help build on some momentum they gained in their barn-burning event on Tuesday night.

As much as the return of Bergeron was a big help to the Bruins, it was really the Tim Thomas show on Thursday, as he held an early 1-0 lead from his team for the better part of the game.  Thomas made 31 saves in this game, the Bruins ended up putting an insurance marker on it in the 3rd period and the Bruins came away as 2-0 victors over the Lightning, giving them the lead in the series for the first time.

With the shutout, Thomas finished with 4 points in the game, leading all players in this one quite easily.  David Krejci scored the winning goal and finished with 2 points in this one.  Both players have been very instrumental in the Bruins' run to date.

Friday night saw the Canucks and Sharks take their series to the HP Pavilion in San Jose for Game Three and it was going to be time for the Sharks to start taking back some of this series.  The Sharks were blessed with a number of power plays early on and their exceptional man advantage squad took to it quite well.  The Sharks were up 2-0 on man advantage goals before the midway point of the opening frame, scoring one 5-on-5 goal before the end of the period and carrying a 3-0 lead for a considerable amount of time in this game.  The 2nd period saw not a lot of offense, goal-wise, but the goalies were exceptionally sharp, but then the 3rd period was a wild one, as the Canucks beat the Sharks in the period, 3-1, but it wasn't enough.  The Sharks opened up their homestand in this series with a 4-3 win, cutting into the series, which the Canucks now lead, 2-1.

For the winning side, Dan Boyle, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton each finished up with 3 points each for the pool, while Antti Niemi scored 2 points for the win.  If you were betting on the big boys for the Sharks, there was a pretty good chance that you had cleaned up in this one.

For the Canucks, no multi-point players were in this one.  Not a great deal of effort from Vancouver in the first two periods of the game, so spreading the wealth on the scoresheet and their three goals makes some sense.

Some injury news to speak of, as the Sharks lost the services of Logan Couture midway through this one.  The Box 6 forward left with an undisclosed injury, but the coaching staff believe that the injury is minor and that he should be able to suit up for Game Four.   On Saturday, Couture was skating with the team in practice, only solidifying that notion.

The Canucks couldn't escape the injury bug in Game Three either, as they lost a pair of defenseman, Box 8 defender Christian Ehrhoff and non-pool defenseman Aaron Rome.  Ehrhoff left with an undisclosed injury after a solid bodycheck was handed to him from Jamie McGinn, while Rome left the game after being boarded, also by McGinn.  Early reports are suggesting that neither player will be good to go for Game Four.

On Saturday afternoon, the Bruins looked to take a stranglehold on their series with the Lightning in Game Four of their series, down in Tampa, but it was the home team that got the last laugh.

The Bruins jumped out to a huge 3-0 start in the 1st period and then looked to their defense and goaltending to keep them in a great position for when the final horn sounded.  Now, there is a pretty big difference when it comes to defending a 3-0 lead, compared to the 1-0 lead that they held onto for so long in Game Three.  With a 3-0 lead, a team can get complacent and be more willing to give up one goal, but if a team is too complacent, one goal against can snowball... and that's kind of what happened to the Bruins today.

Two goals from Teddy Purcell, 1:03 apart early in the 2nd, turned the tides for the Lightning and before the period was out, they had the game tied at three.  Of course, it didn't stop there, the 3rd period had the Lightning continue with their momentum, scoring near the midway point of the period to take the lead and then they salted it away late with an empty netter and a 5-3 win, tying up the series at two games each.

Simon Gagne led all point-getters for the Lightning in the pool, picking up 4 points, while Purcell's two quick markers gave him 2 points.  Only two multi-point players, as Dwayne Roloson was pulled from the game after giving up the opening three goals.

Patrice Bergeron continued to roll for the Bruins, scoring a pair of unassisted goals in the game, giving him 2 points as well.

Big injury news for the Lightning, as they may have lost the services of Steve Downie for a little while, as he suffered what appeared to be a head injury.  The Box 17 forward left the game after being hit by Nathan Horton and didn't return.  If I get around to a game preview for Game Five, expect more news on Downie then.

Game-Winning Goals
Well, with four games to recap, I can go over a little bit here.  Wednesday's Canucks win was facilitated by Chris Higgins, scoring the winning goal, a non-pool player.  Thursday's Bruins win had the eventual winner scored by David Krejci, his fourth GWG of these playoffs.  Friday's Sharks win saw the winner come from Dan Boyle, his first winner of these playoffs and it will count in the pool as well.  Finally, on Saturday afternoon, it was Simon Gagne who potted the winner, early in the 3rd period, for the Lightning.

Yes, Krejci leads all pool players with 4 bonus points in these playoffs, helping him to 16 points in the playoff pool as well.

As for the overall lead in bonus points, which doesn't have a prize, but maybe should for next season, The Kings Don't Pay Their Bills continues to lead the entire pool with 17 bonus points, with three teams behind at 16 and another three teams at 15.

Overall Standings
When we left the blog, the top five looked a little something like... Superstar, Tryst'n'Grant, Langdon River Dogs, Pucking Luck and Kalenab... after four games, Tryst'n'Grant now leads the pool by 3 points, Langdon River Dogs in 2nd, Superstar dropped down to 3rd, Pucking Luck still is in 4th and All She Wrote has jumped into 5th.

Both Tryst'n'Grant and the Langdon River Dogs lead the pool in the Conference Finals with 42 points each, while All She Wrote and the Styx are not far behind with 41 points.  The preview of Game Four of Vancouver and San Jose should look a lot different.