Monday, May 11, 2009

Sunday's Playoff Action

On Sunday, the Red Wings made sure that they took the momentum from Game 4 and also applied it to Game 5 and that was exactly what happened. They clawed, scratched and dove their way to a 4-1 win over the Ducks, taking the series over with a 3-2 lead.

The Red Wings were led by Henrik Zetterberg, who finished with a 3-point effort, scoring a goal and adding 2 assists. Also finishing with multiple points for the pool were Jiri Hudler and Chris Osgood, who both finished with a pair of points.

Ryan Getzlaf does continue to lead the series in scoring, having 8 points in round two, but it's Chris Osgood who leads all players in this series in pool scoring throughout the playoffs with 17 points.

The Bruins didn't let the 8-ball worry them too much on Sunday evening. Already man-handled a bit by the Carolina offense, they reminded everyone of how they got to the top of the Eastern Conference with a 4-0 win.

Tim Thomas earned the shutout for the Bruins, making 19 stops in the win. The 4 points made him the best Bruins player on the ice for the pool. Registering 2 points each for the pool in the game were Mark Recchi, Milan Lucic, Marc Savard, Phil Kessel and Zdeno Chara. It was a good night to have the better Bruins on your team.

Cam Ward continues to lead among the two teams in series scoring with 8 points and continues to lead all players in the playoffs with 18 points.

Game-Winning Goals
PhotobucketSurprisingly, both game-winning goal scorers were not the top players in the games last night, so neither of them had their pictures up for foreshadowing. Both scorers were in the pool, so that's some pretty good news, as we can collect on both bonus points. For Detroit, it was Jiri Hudler who came through with the second goal of the game for the Red Wings, which stood up as the winner. Hudler, a Box 6 forward, was only taken twice in the pool this time around. For Boston, it was Mark Recchi who received credit for the opening goal of the game, which also stood for quite some time in their game to be the winner. Recchi, a Box 16 forward, was taken 17 times in the pool, which made him the most popular player in that box. He has been a very good pick.

As for some totals, Mike E. and Brad W. currently lead the pool in GWG bonus points with 16 each and both teams are currently sitting in the top ten in pool scoring. As for players, five pool players now have registered a pair of GWGs each to lead the way there.

Great news for the Ducks for Game 5, despite the loss, was the return of James Wisniewski, who came back from his lung contusion on Sunday. He only missed one game after the scary incident, which saw him take a slap shot to the chest area and he being carted off the ice on a stretcher. We're all glad to see him back and playing again.

Tonight's Games
PhotobucketPhotobucketWell, it's pretty rare that I get to use an 8-ball graphic twice, but the Capitals have now been behind twice this Spring, actually coming back to beat the Rangers in the first round and they'll now have to try and spin the momentum around on the Penguins. Game 6 of this Eastern Conference series begins at 5pm MT on TSN tonight and it takes place in Pittsburgh, which could make things a little easier for the Penguins to close it down.

Also behind the 8-ball tonight is the Canucks, as they go into Chicago to thwart the Blackhawks in their opportunity to move to the Conference Finals. The Canucks will have to limit their mistakes and stay out of the penalty box in order to do it, but the play had been relatively even over the last couple games and it could go either way tonight. This game gets started at 7pm MT on CBC.

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