I didn't see anything until after 9:20pm Eastern Time. I was at work, went to get dinner, ended up watching the Bruins-Canadiens game on my computer while the Flyers-Sabres game was on Versus, then the Pens-Lightning game was joined in progress, and finally the Red Wings-Coyotes game. Here's my thoughts and analysis. Interesting to note however, that the road team won all the games today...
#2 Philadelphia Flyers vs #7 Buffalo Sabres (4-2)
Ryan Miller was not on his game tonight, and it didn't help his defense played poorly again. The first goal deflecting off a defender's stick, the second goal on a stick lift behind the net and ended up essentially as a 3-on-1 in front of the net, and the third goal was just having no defender in front of the net. The Sabres cannot keep leaving Ryan Miller out to dry and expect to win. Boucher played really well tonight, but he was also a bit lucky as the Sabres had a TON of chances to score against him. Buffalo also had a ton of chances on the power play and just couldn't convert after the first period. They had a four minute power play that pretty much ended the first period and they couldn't convert on that. On the flip side, Philadelphia has shown themselves to be resilient even though they weren't able to keep themselves outta the sin bin.
#3 Boston Bruins vs #6 Montreal Canadiens (4-2)
Carey Price... hm... someday... Carey Price's carelessness cost this team a chance to win. That third goal which Price allowed on a terrible play of the puck behind the net resulted in the loss for the Habs. The Bruins played well and got out to a 3-0 lead with Zdeno Chara back in the line-up and that was enough to hold on to a 3-2 win. Regardless, teh Bruins came out in this game as if they wanted the W. They played desperate hockey and it paid off well at the start, but down the stretch, they didn't hold it all together and nearly allowed Montreal to tie the game if it weren't for the the stellar play of Tim Thomas, although he did allow a soft goal, it wasn't enough to hurt the Bruins, as they ended it with an empty net goal.
#4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs #5 Tampa Bay Lightning (3-2)
The Lightning had so many chances to win this game. They went 2-for-4 on the power play, but could not stick it in the net 5v5. I won't discount the Pens play though, they still played well and made the passes to the open side of the net. It's somewhat disappointing considering how many quality chances the Lightning had on the power play though, they could've easily gone 4-for-4, but the biggest stories of the game were two hits that will surely be reviewed by the NHL.
First, Chris Kunitz's hit on Simon Gagne. This has already been scheduled to be reviewed at 10am this morning by the NHL in a conference call with Kunitz. Straight out of a page of Matt Cooke's book.
Secondly, the Steven Downie hit on Ben Lovejoy, no idea when this will be reviewed, but Downie did something similar to Dean McAmmond a few years back.
And what Downie did a few years back that cost him 20 games... look familiar?
Well, you know this series is gonna go nuts in game 4 with all the stuff that's gone on so far...
#3 Detroit Red Wings vs #6 Phoenix Coyotes (4-2)
Detroit scored two goals early and never looked back. The Coyotes came out flat and as a result, Game 4 is going to be THAT game for the Coyotes... win or go home. The Red Wings played great today, even though their penalty kill wasn't as good. The Coyotes did try to come back after being down 3-0, but in the playoffs, coming back from 3-0 is almost impossible, unless you're the Flyers... However, of note, the Coyotes defense was quite poor in allowing early goals, and especially Franzen's breakaway goal on a defensive breakdown that put the game out of reach in the third. I should've gone to sleep after that, but I still wanted to see if the Coyotes could come back, but alas, the couldn't. Hopefully they play better in game 4, otherwise they're down and out.
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