Morning Player Notes in the Playoffs (Apr 18)

The St. Louis Blues have no designs of going away so easily, regardless of dropping Game 2 at home and heading to Chicago, tied at 1-1. The Blues were not going to be denied on Sunday and a good bounce led to a 3rd period comeback victory, as that bounce tied the game at 2-2 and then a 4-minute power play turned into the eventual game-winner and St. Louis got themselves back in the driver seat with a 3-2 win.

Jaden Schwartz was the 3rd period hero, scoring the winner on the power play, while rookie Robby Fabbri had a couple of assists to also be notable in that game as well.

The Blues are not the favourites in this pool, but with 61 selections, there were a good number of teams that added some insurance from St. Louis, just in case they got past the Blackhawks and now they have a 2-1 series lead.

The Detroit Red Wings managed to find an answer to the Tampa Bay Lightning, upon their return to the Joe Louis Arena on Sunday evening... Box 24 goalie, Petr Mrazek. Mrazek, taken zero times, came in and shut out the Bolts, while the Red Wings' defense played exceptionally well, only allowing 16 shots on Mrazek.

It's a real shame that Mrazek wasn't taken though, he was the only player on the sheet that was notable in this game, the winner being scored by a non-sheet player.

Now, the Red Wings are back in this series and on the shoulders of their true number one goalie, this can actually play out, much like the pool picks have foreseen.

Momentum? What momentum? This series continues to amaze, as these two teams are really slugging it out against each other.  It was a wild 2nd period in Game 3 of this series, as Florida got off to a great start, but after a potential 3-0 goal was pulled back to an offside call, the Islanders started to gain steam.  Before the end of the period, it was 3-3 and that score held up into overtime, where the Islanders broke through with a Thomas Hickey goal from the slot and the underdog Islanders now have a 2-1 series lead.

John Tavares and Kyle Okposo each had a pair of assists to be notable in this one, while Hickey kept the bonus point in the pool last night.

The Islanders are another team doing a great job, trying to eliminate a whole bunch of picks, right off the hop.  Some of these series, as they stand, could make this Playoff Pool exceptionally boring by the next round.

Oh yes, the pattern continues in Anaheim, as the Ducks have not had an answer at home on the Pond, as the Nashville Predators now have complete control of this series, winning Game 2 by another 3-2 scoreline, after a big 2nd period, where they escaped with a 3-1 lead and held on for the final score and a 2-0 series lead, heading back to Nashville.

Shea Weber, Roman Josi and Craig Smith each had 2 points in the pool, as all three of them do have a small selection of picks to their name, while Filip Forsberg and Pekka Rinne also had 2 points, but they fell into the oblivion of not being picked.

So, the Predators join the parade, having only 17 selections among them and they could possibly eliminate 113 picks, if they make good with their games at home.