NHL Playoff Roundup

Edmonton 4 Detroit 2: This afternoon in Hockeytown, the Detroit faithful discovered that you can't count on Kirk Maltby scoring twice every game. Dwayne Roloson kept up his superior play by stopping 33 Detroit shots, while the Oilers got goals from four different players, including Chris Pronger, who is simply the most intimidating presence on the ice in this series.

Here's a thumbnail from Matt Saler:

The Wings were solidly in control until a couple lousy turnovers killed them in the second and they couldn't recover. They were much more physical than we've seen them for most of the year and actually ended up out-hitting Edmonton. Scary thing: Edmonton opened the game up a little to make their comeback and then went back to the trap. Either way, the Wings' offense was muted. No one really stood out offensively, though guys like Schneider and Chelios did defensively. Schneider's shot is not a given goal any more. Datsyuk not a positive factor, looked tentative, still somewhat in pain. Legace looked bad on the third Edmonton goal.

Yes, the questions will be coming fast and furious about Mr. Legace once again. Is it fair? No, not at all. But this is playoff time, and fair doesn't have much to do with anything at all these days.

Hey Wings fans, Covered in Oil is calling you out:

Looking at the half-hearted crowds in Game One and Two, Detroit fans look like they're a little too used to having a winning team in the playoffs, with even the ubiquitous tradition of throwing octopi on the ice looking staid and routine.

Granted, this is coming from a fan of team that once won five Stanley Cups in a seven-year stretch. But please forgive me for interrupting:

Luckily, some brave Oil fans upstaged this farce of fan-ery and added a new twist: Grade A Alberta beef thrown over the boards in an attempt to please the hockey gods. The deities must have been pleased with our fandom, as our other sacrificial offering, playoff virgin Brad Winchester, ended up with the game winner and his first NHL goal.

Colby Cosh is feeling a little empathy for the Detroit faithful:

At the end of the second period in Game One, the crowd at the Joe Louis Arena was lustily booing the Wings' power play. At the disastrous tail end of the second period in Game Two, they didn't even bother--you could have heard a jock clatter to the floor of the locker room. Right now the Red Wings and their fans around the world are tallying the toll from back-to-back home games, and they can't like the math: one exhausting win backed into on fluke goals, one loss as sharp and sudden and deflating as a pistol shot, a crucial home-ice advantage scattered to the wind, and the ghosts of first-round defeats to low seeds swarming all over the Motor City like hornets. I still wouldn't bet real money against the Wings, but I wouldn't trade places with any of their supporters right now either.

This series provides a great example of why I don't like to make predictions. You see, if I had actually picked Detroit to defeat Edmonton, I'd be more concerned with being right than seeing a humdinger of a series. So when you take off the analyst hat, you get to be a fan. And I'd rather be a fan than an analyst anytime.

We got a series my friends. And boy does it feel good.

Series tied, 1-1.

San Jose 3 Nashville 0: San Jose shook off the rust and a loss in Game One and shutout the Predators in Nashville. Most significant score: Jonathan Cheechoo breaking the seal on this playoff campaign with his first goal. All three San Jose goals came on the power play, something that didn't surprise Sharks head coach Ron Wilson:

"Hey, they're calling penalties as advertised," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "Everyone's still shocked, `Why are they calling penalties in the playoffs?' They're supposed to because they want to work, and Gary Bettman was here so, hello!

"I mean it doesn't take a rocket scientist or even a sports writer to figure that one out."

Here's one Predators fan who didn't like what he saw:

Ref 57 (McCreary?) was calling the game like he had Cheechoo on his fantasy team...

While we pretty much dug our own hole by not being able to convert opportunities, that may have been the worst, most one-sided refereed game I've ever seen...

It kills me that with 4 zebras on the ice...not one of them seems to ever be looking at the guy with the puck.

I don't think this issue about the reffing is going to go away anytime soon. Like I said on Sunday night, when the guy who is anchoring coverage on the playoffs calls out your refs on the air, things are so running off the rails they can't be ignored.

To relive the game blow by blow, click here to see some liveblogging from Sharkspage.

Series tied, 1-1.

Tampa Bay 4 Ottawa 3: Back in 1995, I distinctly remember watching a first round series between the Rangers and the Quebec Nordiques. As many probably recall, the Nordiques moved to Colorado at the end of the season and won the Cup the very next year. But despite all the talent they had, they couldn't vanquish a Rangers squad that had sputtered its way through the lockout-shortened season.

Lesson: Never take the defending Stanley Cup Champs lightly. Which is the lesson the Ottawa Senators and their fans are learning tonight after Tampa Bay's 4-3 win in Kanata. Let's talk to Jon Fontana:

If anything can be said about Sunday Evening’s matchup between the Senators and the Lightning, the word to use is electric.

You got the same antics that you’ve seen all season from the Senators — Martin Havlat, Jason Spezza, Dany Heatly and co. jumping around and giving you fits… But there was an element that was out on ice that cannot be denied:

The 2003-04 Stanley Cup Champions.

After a long, tiring and disappointing season — after a single playoff game where the Lightning looked nothing of what they were capable of… A switch was flipped. You’ve heard all about the Lightning needing to heighten their game, and for one evening they did in unmistakable fashion.

Here's Chris McMurtry:

If Friday night’s contest was a story of two games, the first in which Tampa controlled the pace and the second that saw Ottawa blow it open, then this too had two distinct flows, however on this occasion it didn’t go in the Senators favor. The first 10 or so minutes were all Sens, as they were on the attack and looked to be on rout to a big win. At around the half way point of that first period, something changed. Tampa began working harder, and that would generally be the story of the game. The Lightning simply wanted it more, were winning the one-on-one battles, and as a result, got the W.

Here's the Sens Watch:

To me the major negative was the play of our defence. At the least they seemed to be the major source of anguish while watching this game. Poor puck movement decisions, an inability to handle the puck on the blue-line which squandered many periods of offensive pressure. On defence they seemed way too timid in challenging attacking forwards, backing right up into Emery, allowing Tampa Bay snipers to move in and let fly at will.

Hopefully the game helped destroy the myth that you can just throw the Big Line together any time you want, and they will just pick up where they left off. Players are not interchangeable machine parts. You cannot expect players to play two intense periods with players of a certain style and aptitude, and then expect them to meld instantly with two other players. The fact that we only got two shots in the third period shows that this was an experiment that did not work out.

Series tied, 1-1:

Anaheim 4 Calgary 3: Recap and reaction later. But boy, were there a lot of penalties...

UPDATE: Here's some analysis from Battle of Alberta. And we've put out an APB on any Ducks blogger the cops in the O.C. can pick up. Sadly, we're not hopeful.

And here's some pre-game video from Calgary.

Series tied, 1-1.

Playoff Factoid of the Day: In certain quarters, OLN's Christine Simpson is known as "Stifler's Mom".

Eric 12:01 AM

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