Long Weekend Playoff Pool Recap

The New York Rangers opened up the Conference Finals the way they finished most of their games already in these playoffs, with a 2-1 victory.  The Rangers buckled down on the Lightning, played their suffocating style of play and with some of their often seen scoring touch, they opened the scoring and with a little bit of puck luck, they managed to snap a late 1-1 tie.

In a low scoring game, it is the goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, who takes the only nod in this one, as he made 23 saves in Game 1 to help his side to a 1-0 series lead.

An emergency appendectomy was not going to keep a playoff performer like Ryan Callahan out of the lineup, as he rushed back to help his team out for Game 1 against the Rangers.  Okay, so he wasn't a big help in the opening game, but the 12 teams in the pool were pretty happy to see his name in the lineup, as he gives them a better chance for points, if he plays.



The Western Conference match-up between the Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks had the feeling of the unstoppable object against the unmovable force to it and at home, the Ducks were not going to budge.

An early goal in the 1st, another in the 2nd and the stifling defense made it hard for the Blackhawks to break through, although they did once, but it was too little, as the Ducks put the game away in the back half of the 3rd, asserting some dominance in the opening game.

Forward Jakob Silfverberg, defenseman Hampus Lindholm and goalie Frederik Andersen were your notable players in the pool, all picking up 2 points in the win.

With the ankle injury to non-pool defender Michal Rozsival, the Blackhawks had to insert someone into the lineup and it was Box 11 defender David Rundblad, making his 2015 playoff debut.  Rundblad was a -1 in the game and his participation for Game 2 is now doubtful, as he didn't give the team what they were looking for in his appearance.  The one team in the pool, Grant S., won't be too thrilled with only one game in the lineup.



So, if Game 1 was the Rangers showing how they got to this point in the playoffs, then Game 2 was about how the Lightning made it to the same point.  The Rangers were not able to suffocate Tyler Johnson in the holiday Monday match-up, as he exploded for a hat-trick, including the winner, as the Bolts struck for a 6-2 victory to even up the series.

Johnson's 4-point night led the way for everyone in that one, while Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov each had 3 points, while Steven Stamkos, Valtteri Filppula and Ben Bishop chipped in with 2 points a piece for the hockey pool.

Even in a losing cause, Martin St. Louis helped his pool supporters, by adding a pair of assists on the only two Rangers goals.

This series will now shift back to Tampa Bay, tied at 1-1, playing on Wednesday night.

Fontanna and Chris M. are off to blistering starts in the Conference Finals, as their teams have both come up with 17 points in the first three games of the NHL's version of the Final Four.

Fontanna has increased their lead to 11 points with the great start and now has a pretty firm grip on top spot, as having the right 12 players in the Conference Finals will go a long ways to making sure they are not caught in the Finals.

Jesse P. has lesser grip on 2nd place after the first few days of the third round, as his 185 points is now only 2 points better than money newcomer, Stacey M., who has 4 more points than Jesse to start the round.  Stacey jumped over Sean L. for the spot and will now try to run with it a bit.

Grant and Thor are also off to double-digit starts and are now threatening for a money spot, if any become available in the next few days.

Back to Chris M., his 17 points, so far, have lifted him into the top 10, now sitting in 8th spot, 13 points back of 3rd place.

Game-Winning Goals
So, out of three games to start the playoffs, only Tyler Johnson's winner was a counter in the playoff pool, which is awfully disappointing.

Dominic Moore scored the winner for the Rangers on Saturday and Kyle Palmieri scored the winner for the Ducks on Sunday, leaving Johnson as the most celebrated player in this section of the blog post.

Fontanna now leads the pool with 16 winners, while Tony C. has 14 bonus points, sitting in 2nd place.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.