One Blowout, One Barn Burner

Well, the 8-ball provided a little bit more ammunition to the fire for the Blackhawks, as they were looking down the barrel of a 3-0 series deficit, they decided to give their fans a show that would be hard to top most nights. The Blackhawks took Game Four by a count of 7-2, which will keep them alive for at least one more game, which will go Thursday night in Vancouver.

The heroes of the night, pool-wise, for the Blackhawks were Michael Frolik and Corey Crawford, who each scored 3 points each on Tuesday night.  Frolik scored a goal and added a pair of assists, while Crawford earned his first win of the series and added an assist as well.  Also picking up multiple-point nights for Chicago, Patrick Sharp had a pair of goals, Patrick Kane had a pair of assists and Duncan Keith scored the winning goal.

Dave Bolland was going to be the Box 7 X-factor player for Chicago this season, but the uncertainty of his concussion symptoms were what kept him off in the end.  He returned to action on Tuesday night, picked up 4 points in the process.

The Blackhawks were without veteran defenseman Brent Seabrook for Tuesday's game, as he had sat out with an upper-body injury. Of course, the likelihood that it is a concussion that he had suffered is quite high, the Blackhawks will not say it officially.  With that being said, there is a pretty good chance that he will not return in this series.

As mentioned before, Game Five will go on Thursday in Vancouver, an 8pm MT start.  The Canucks will try to close down the series at home, under better circumstances.

It looked like it was quite the affair in Los Angeles on Tuesday, I am kind of disappointed that I had missed it, especially the 7-goal 2nd period.

After a 4-0 lead was taken early on in the middle frame by the Kings, the Sharks managed to swim their way back, tying the game at 5-5 with only 31 seconds left in the period.

No scoring in the 3rd period, led to overtime, where Devin Setoguchi scored the winner, only three minutes into the extra frame and the Sharks managed to bite their way to a win, taking a 2-1 series lead on the road.

It was a quality team effort from the Sharks, as most players finished with 2 points each.  Ryane Clowe had a pair of goals, Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau scored a goal and an assist, while Ian White and Dan Boyle each had a pair of assists.  Antti Niemi was pulled from this one after the Kings went up 4-0, so it was Antero Niittymaki picking up the win, but I would imagine Niemi will be right back in the saddle again.

On the Los Angeles side, it was all single points, except for a non-pool player, Brad Richardson, who scored a goal and an assist.

Game-Winning Goals
There were only a couple of games on Tuesday night, so there isn't a great deal to speak of here.  Duncan Keith was eventually credited with the game-winning goal for the Blackhawks, which will count in the pool, two teams in the pool actually have the Blackhawks defenseman this year.  Devin Setoguchi scored the winner for the Sharks, but he was left off the sheet this year, since the Sharks are so deep offensively.  It's unfortunate, but true.

Still, three teams lead the pool in the game-winners department, with 6 bonus points.  It feels like it has been a crappy year for game-winners in the pool thus far.

Tonight's Games
Tonight's games feature another team behind the 8-ball, as the Phoenix Coyotes will look to stave off a sweep from the Detroit Red Wings, as Game Four will go in the desert tonight.

I think it is safe to say that the Coyotes have been rather disappointing in this first round match-up, in all facets of the game.  From their goaltending outwards, they just haven't found a way to be a great playoff team through three games and even if they do find their stride in Game Four, you would have to think it's too little, too late.

If there was ever a team that could really use a sweep in their first round match-up, it would have to be the Red Wings, as they have been playing the opening round as a banged up team.  The more time that they can have off, they can rest the older, hurting bodies and lessen the need to get a player like Henrik Zetterberg back in their line-up.

The Coyotes and Red Wings are the late game on Wednesday night, puck drops at 8:30pm MT.

After going home and making good use of the home-ice advantage, the Rangers will try and even up the series with another home win on Wednesday night. The Capitals were awfully close to taking a 3-0 series lead, but it was the Rangers determination that ended up doing the job for them. This should be another great game.

Puck drop goes at 5pm on TSN.

The Penguins are still playing the same game that got them into the playoffs in such a high seed and it is seemingly paying off against this up-and-coming Lightning team, who was poised to make a run at them. Pittsburgh can also put the Lightning behind the 8-ball going home on Friday, but it will need another strong road effort to pull it off.

CBC has this game, starting at 5:30pm MT.

The Flyers really did a good job on the Sabres in Game Three, taking a road game with a better effort all the way around. The Sabres will need to find some offense from their key players on Wednesday night or else they will face elimination, going back to Philadelphia on Friday.

Puck drop is 5:30pm MT.

The Predators are the only team in the West to have an upset lead in their series and they can make things awfully difficult for the Ducks in Game Four, as they could go back to Anaheim with a 3-1 series lead of their own.  The Ducks powered their way into the playoffs and now they'll have to power their way into a tied series going home, starting tonight.

Puck drop is 6:30pm MT and TSN should carry the bulk of this one.