Monday, May 02, 2011

Short Format Recaps for the Weekend

Well, I haven't been keeping up too well with the day-to-day dealings with the playoffs, most of my ball commitments are now far more time consuming than previous years, so I might have to take the format down to something a little bit more manageable, but with the lack of hits I'm getting, I don't really mind.

On Friday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals opened their series at the Verizon Center and it was the number five seed in the East that was all that the top seed could handle, as the Bolts came away with a 4-2 win to open the series.  Steve Downie, Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos and Dwayne Roloson all picked up 2 points for Tampa.

Also on Friday night, the San Jose Sharks played host to the Detroit Red Wings for Game One of their series, the number two and number three seeds in the West in this one.  The Wings got off to the start they were looking for, but the Sharks were able to work their way back from a one goal deficit in the third, force overtime and take the opening game in the extra frame.  Dan Boyle and Antti Niemi picked up 2 points for the Sharks to open up this series.

On Saturday afternoon, the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers opened their series at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly, and again, it was the road team that came out firing in the East.  The Bruins erupted for a 7-3 win in the afternoon, taking advantage of some shoddy goaltending and Game One of the series.  David Krejci led all pool players with 5 points in the game, followed by Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, each with 3 points, while Nathan Horton, Dennis Seidenberg and Tim Thomas had 2 points.  Claude Giroux was able to pick up 2 points for the Flyers.

In the late game on Saturday, the Nashville Predators were able to force extra time against the Vancouver Canucks and thanks to the amazing goaltending of Pekka Rinne, they were able to withstand some serious pressure and get the winning goal in the second overtime period to tie the series at one win a piece.  Rinne and Ryan Suter were the only two Predators with a pair of points each in the game.

On Sunday afternoon, the Sharks and Red Wings played in another tight affair in Game Two of their series.  This time the Sharks were able to get up on the Red Wings, add another goal early in the third and then held on for a 2-1 win and a 2-0 series lead.  Ryane Clowe and Antti Niemi were the only two Sharks to pick up 2 points each.  This series hasn't been as good for scoring, as one might have thought it'd be.  

Finally, on Sunday evening, the Lightning and Capitals were back at it again and it was a much tighter game, making it to overtime in this one.  A late 3rd period goal from Alex Ovechkin was able to force extra time, but Vincent Lecavalier gave his Lightning full home-ice advantage in this series, with the game-winner in the fourth period.  Lecavalier led all pool players with 3 points in this game, while Martin St. Louis, Teddy Purcell and Dwayne Roloson each picked up 2 points as well.

Game-Winning Goals
Steven Stamkos in Game One for the Lightning, Benn Ferriero in Game One for the Sharks, David Krejci in Game One for the Bruins, Matt Halischuk in Game Two for the Predators, Niclas Wallin in Game Two for the Sharks and Vincent Lecavalier in Game Two for the Lightning.

Pool Leaders
With money now announced through five teams, our current money leaders are Superstar with 144 points, Stoopid Monkey with 142 points, Tryst'N'Grant, Jack_Bit_Gary and the Langdon River Dogs all tied with 138 points, but the tie-breakers have them listed in 3rd through 5th respectively.  

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