Morning Player Notes in the Playoffs (Apr 21)

In probably should have been their Game 3 performance, the Philadelphia Flyers put together a gritty performance against the Washington Capitals and rallied for a 2-1 win in Game 4, avoiding the sweep and ensuring that there is no sweep in the opening round of the playoffs.

It wasn't a particularly good game for the hockey pool, as the Flyers continued the trend of changing their starting goalie and getting the win, taking out pool goalie Steve Mason and inserting Michal Neuvirth, but the rest of the team rallied, mostly on the shoulders of Wayne Simmonds' 2-assist game and this series will head back to Washington, so the Capitals can salt it away in front of their own fans.

Game 5 is set to go on Friday night and it will be the earliest game again on the evening, a 5pm MT start.

With the 8-ball rolling around for a few teams in the last 48 hours, it's almost nice to see a couple of teams lock it down and prepare for the long haul, as the Florida Panthers escaped Brooklyn with a split and now the series with the New York Islanders will head back to the suburbs of Miami, all knotted up at two games a piece.

Game 2 was as close as games have been coming between these two teams, with Florida scoring midway through the 3rd period to take a 2-1 lead and then it was down to Roberto Luongo and the defense to hold down the fort, which they did admirably.

Talk about another bad game for the playoff pool, as Luongo was the only notable player in this game, picking up the 2 points for the win, as non-playoff defender Alex Petrovic scored the winner in this one.

Friday night in Sunrise, FL will be where the series resumes and it's anyone's game.  Each team has won one on the road and at home in this series.

The Minnesota Wild were hoisted by their own petard on Wednesday night, as any momentum that they had mustered, the 1-0 goal or the 2-1 goal, was spoiled by a penalty and subsequently, a Dallas Stars power play goal.  The Wild were showing some signs of taking both games in their home building, but when Jason Spezza scored with just over a minute to go in the 2nd period, the Wild spirit was deflated enough, that they couldn't break through the Stars defense or Antti Niemi, who got the call for the Stars in Game 4.

In the end, it was a 3-2 game for Dallas, all the scoring coming in the 2nd period, where Jason Spezza finished with a 3-point night, including the winner and defenseman Kris Russell also finished with a couple of assists, coming off missing Game 3 with an illness.

The move to bring in Niemi over Box 12 goalie Kari Lehtonen has to be a let down for the one team in the pool that has Lehtonen, but it looks like it is a short leash in Dallas and all it will take is one loss to switch goalies.

The Wild have a huge uphill battle on roller skates, as they head to Dallas for Game 5, which, you guessed it, plays on Friday night.

Penalty troubles also sunk the Los Angeles Kings' hopes of evening up this series with the San Jose Sharks at a couple games a piece, as they gave up three straight power play goals between the 2nd period and early in the 3rd period to fall into 3-0 deficit, which they were unable to fully climb back from.  The Sharks gave up a couple of goals shortly after they went up 3-0, but found a way to hang on for the 3-2 victory, pushing the Kings to the edge of elimination.

Patrick Marleau was the big pool player in the game, scoring the eventual winner and adding an assist for a 3-point night, while Martin Jones made 26 saves for the 2 points and Brent Burns had a goal and an assist for the Sharks.  Luke Schenn was powering the late comeback for the Kings, picking up a goal and an assist, but it just wasn't enough in the end.

The series will shift back ot Los Angeles for Friday night, where the Sharks won both games earlier in the series.  The Kings will need some kind of magic to come back from this deficit, but it isn't anything new to them.