The 8-Ball Returns in 2011

On Monday night in Buffalo, as the Flyers took the series lead with a 4-2 victory over the Sabres and that turned out to be an interesting game.  The Flyers, for the most part, had pretty good control of the situation, but an untimely penalty and some generally weak coverage in their own zone did cost them a couple of goals against, but I think we had finally caught a glimpse of what this team might be capable of doing.

Despite there being six goals scored in the game, it wasn't really one of the best games for scoring, which may actually apply to the rest of the games in the evening as well.  The only multiple-point getters in this game was Jeff Carter, who had a goal and an assist, and Brian Boucher, who made 35 saves for the win.

There was some good news for the Sabres, as Jordan Leopold did come back from his broken hand on Monday night, but it was another pool defenseman that came out and made room for him, as Box 22 defenseman Andrej Sekera was in the press box as a healthy scratch. Thanks to the pool format, four teams in the pool likely were forced to take Sekera, due to limited options in how their brackets worked out, so these teams missed out on a game here.

Now, the Flyers have a 2-1 series lead, which they will take into Wednesday night, where Game Four will be played in Buffalo.  The Sabres are going to have to find a way to generate some more offense and take full advantage of Chris Pronger not being in the line-up for Philadelphia.

With the series going back to Montreal with the Canadiens holding on to a 2-0 series lead, the Bruins really need to find a desperate effort to get themselves back into this series or else face the possibility of playing Game Four with their heads under the guillotine.  Thankfully, that was exactly the effort they gave and they pulled a huge 4-2 win out of their bag and now only sit one game out of being back to a tied series.

Tim Thomas mad 34 saves to pick up his first win of the playoffs, while Mark Recchi and Patrice Bergeron each picked up a pair of assists in the victory to lead the way.  Again, it wasn't a very good night for scoring in the pool, but what can you do?

On the Montreal side of the scoresheet, Mike Cammalleri also picked up a pair of assists, helping his cause out a little.  Cammalleri, a Box 14 forward, is now tied in scoring for his pool box with 4 points, after last night's action.

This series is now guaranteed to head back to Boston for at least one game with this Bruins' win, but there is still a chance that they can go home tied in the series, with another win on Wednesday night.  We have ourselves a real series here.

It was the first playoff game in Tampa Bay for a little while on Monday night and the Lightning were nice enough hosts to let the Penguins take a 2-1 series lead with a 3-2 win.  This game was marred by a couple of incidents, which may require some extra time put in by the disciplinary committee of the NHL, but until those announcements are made, we'll just talk about the game at hand.

Leading the way for the Penguins in Game Three was Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 25 saves on 27 shots for his second win of the playoffs and Kristopher Letang, who had a pair of assists in the game.  It was not a good showing for points, but the Penguins did get the job done.

If you were banking on the Lightning to make it out of this series, there is a good chance that you had chosen Martin St. Louis for your team and that decision would have paid off a little on Monday, as he scored a pair of goals for the Lightning.

The Lightning will get one more home game to try and send this series back to Pittsburgh deadlocked at two or else face their own dark abyss (or brightly shining Summer) down 3-1.  Game Four goes on Wednesday as well.

It was supposed to be a white out in Phoenix, trying to rally the Coyotes back from a 2-0 series deficit in Game Three, but the team that was actually wearing white, was the team that continued to dominate in this series.  The Red Wings pulled off a Game Three victory in the desert, taking a 3-0 lead early in the 2nd period and never looking back.  Final score was 4-2 Detroit.

The big players for the Red Wings were Niklas Kronwall, who had a pair of assists, Valtteri Filppula, who scored the winner, and Jimmy Howard, who made 28 saves for his third victory of these playoffs.  They have just been too potent of an offense for the Coyotes to handle through three games and this may be a very short series because of that.

The series may or may not come to it's end on Wednesday night, as the late game.  The Coyotes will try desperately to hang on, but they have not had much of an answer, even for a shorthanded and banged up Red Wings team.

Game-Winning Goals
What a horrible night in the pool for game-winning goal bonus points, as out of four games on Monday night, only one was a good one for the pool.  Nikolai Zherdev for the Flyers, Rich Peverley for the Bruins, Tyler Kennedy for the Penguins and Valtteri Fippula for the Red Wings, all scored the clinching goals in the games last night, but only Filppula's counted in the pool.  Talk about a lame night for extra points... granted, it was a pretty lame night for scoring all around.  There were not a lot of points given out for an average amount of goals.

The same three teams that led with six GWGs after Sunday night, continue to lead after Monday night, so there is no new developments there.

Tonight's Games
Our first preview with the 8-ball today!  Yes, the 8-ball returns for another season and the first team that finds themselves behind it going into Tuesday night is the Chicago Blackhawks, who are currently down 3-0 to the Vancouver Canucks.  The Blackhawks were not a favourite in this series to win, by any means, especially since the core of their team has changed so drasticatlly, that most thought that they made it into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth, which was in fact, true.

The 8-ball was pretty good at eliminating teams straight away last season, only a few teams managed to stick around after it put a team behind it and the Canucks are hoping they can go home after tonight's game with no one in a plane behind them.

This game goes at 6pm MT on CBC.

In the late game tonight, the Sharks and Kings will play Game Three of their series, which is currently tied at one game a piece.  The Kings are running with a little bit of momentum after a big win in San Jose to tie up the series, but the Sharks are a different team than previous years, or so we are to believe, which should be able to bring their A-game again in a tough game on Tuesday.