Colorado 1 - Detroit 5 (series 2-0 DET)
The bubble may be starting to burst for Colorado. Peter Forsberg is hurt, Jose Theodore’s amnesia has passed and the better team is starting to separate from its inferior opponent. I’d talk about how this changes the dynamic of the series, but that implies it was ever not “Detroit by a mile”. A bit of a sidebar, but my favorite moment was Cody McLeod removing an Octopus from the ice, and shaking it threateningly towards the Detroit bench. After the game he explained it was “just to let them know they were going to be in a battle”. How’s that one working out for your Cody?
Philadelphia 4 - Montreal 2 (Series 1-1 TIE)
Good response from the Flyers after Thursday’s catastrophe. Also, nice to see someone else throwing a sucker punch for a change. This competitive series is poised to get nasty. The Canadiens are starting to get tired of being banged around, and are pushing back. The Flyers, meanwhile, are perfectly content to punch one another in the head and see who remains standing. After a B+ season, Philly’s marquee free agent, Daniel Briere, is leading the playoffs in scoring. Nice pickup.
New York Rangers 0 - Pittsburg 2 (Series 2-0 PIT)
I agree that it was a quick whistle, you might have a case about Straka’s goal counting, but that’s grasping at straws when you get shut out in the playoffs. It’s not one player for Pittsburgh, the whole squad is playing with poise and with purpose. They’ve got the best two players in the series - Malkin and Crosby - and their goaltending isn’t killing them. New York, meanwhile, is about to learn the downside of Sean Avery. Once things start going south, and they are, he gets a bit harder to put up with. It’s not panic time, but after Tuesday’s game 3 it might be.
Dallas 5 - San Jose 2 (Series 2-0 DAL)
San Jose came out swinging, Dallas came out flat, but the Sharks blinked first and got buried. Three huge factors in this game: 1) Dallas got the best player on their team back (Zubov), 2) Dallas got big contributions from their three star centers and 3) despite not getting a lot of work, the power play continues to be deadly. I don’t know where the Sharks improve, they had Dallas cooked through much of the game’s first period, but didn’t exactly create high quality chances. Game 3 should be a street fight, the Sharks know they aren’t coming back from 3-0.
As a general point, Galen asked me a question I thought worth answering - How worried should each of the Game 2 losers be?
1 - Montreal - Not too worried. They ran into a hot Martin Biron, they’re getting chances, they just need to stay in the series physically. Also, gotta love the Montreal press already turning on Carey Price.
2 - New York Rangers - Medium worry. Coughed up a lead in game 1, shut out in game 2, they need a statement win or this could be a sweep.
3 - San Jose - Very worried. Down 2-0 and the team is still laid back. Is this team quitting on its coach? I’m not sure how they play better against Dallas.
4 - Colorado - NA. To be worried implies that they had a snowball’s chance in the first place.
A final note on this weekend: Dear Versus, it’s midway through the third period and Dallas, and one of the post season’s best power plays, hasn’t been on the job yet. You think that might be worthy of mention? Maybe just a little tidbit?