Playoff time!!

Well it was an amazing weekend of playoff hockey in the NHL. Four series (Detroit/Edmonton, Calgary/Anaheim, Nashville/San Jose, and Ottawa/Tampa Bay) started Friday night while the remaining four series (Dallas/Colorado, Carolina/Montreal, New Jersey/New York R, and Buffalo/Philadelphia) started on Saturday. Here’s the scoop incase you missed anything…

Western Conference
1 Detroit vs. 8 Edmonton, series tied 1-1: This series began on Friday with a 3-2 2 overtime win for Detroit. I have to admit I was so surprised to hear that a) Edmonton scored, b) the game went into two overtimes, and c) Edmonton scored. I thought Edmonton didn’t stand a snowflake’s chance in hell of at least making this series interesting, but they did it! The plot thickened on Sunday when Edmonton beat (yeah I said BEAT!) Detroit 4-2. Edmonton did an amazing job of clogging up the neutral zone and keeping the Red Wings from having too much puck possession time in the offensive end. Way to go Edmonton! They head to the third and fourth games in Edmonton, followed by games five and six (if necessary, hopefully!) in Detroit.

2 Dallas vs. 7 Colorado, series at 0-1: This series began on Saturday with a 5-2 win for Colorado. Five Avalanche players (Wolski, Hejduk, Blake, Clark, and Liles) scored five unanswered goals on 31 shots to win the first game. The Stars had 18 shots for their 2 goals. Jose Theodore let in 2 goals on 5 shots in the first period but looked solid throughout. Rookie Wojtek Wolski scored a goal and notched two assists in his first NHL playoff game giving him the most points out of any player on Saturday. The series continues in Dallas tonight at 7pm MST and can be seen on Altitude (for those of you in Denver), OLN, and TSN.

3 Calgary vs. 6 Anaheim, series tied 1-1: This series began on Friday with a 2-1 overtime win for Calgary. Miika Kiprusoff stayed true to form and allowed 1 goal on 34 shots. Anaheim came in at a disadvantage as their number one goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere sat out the game with a lower body injury. However, with the return of Giguere on Sunday, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks were able to pull out a 4-3 win over Calgary. They now head to Anaheim for games three and four, followed by a return to Calgary for games five and six (if necessary)

4 Nashville vs. 5 San Jose, series tied 1-1: This series began on Friday with a 4-3 win for Nashville. Despite the loss of their number one goalie, Tomas Vokoun, to a blood condition, the Predators were able to secure a convincing win with their 4 power play goals. Fill in goalie Chris Mason was able to keep super scorers Jonathan Cheechoo and Joe Thornton from netting any goals. In relevant Hockey in Colorado News, former DU Pioneer standout Matt Carle had an assist on the Sharks’ first goal of the game, also former CC rearguard Tom Preissing assisted on the Sharks’ second goal. The series continued on Sunday with a 3-0 Shark shutout. Vesa Toskala made 25 saves and Jonathan Cheechoo scored the game winning goal as well as assisted on the two other goals for the Sharks. The series continues in San Jose on Tuesday and Wednesday then returns to Nashville for games five and six (if necessary) Friday and Sunday.


Eastern Conference
1 Ottawa vs. 8 Tampa Bay, series tied 1-1: The defending Stanley Cup Champions Tampa Bay Lightening put in a disappointing performance in the first game of the series on Friday by allowing 4 goals, two power play, one short handed, and one empty net, in the third period to lose the game 1-4 to the Ottawa Senators. Despite the loss of their number goalie, Dominik Hasek to an injury sustained during the Olympics, Ottawa’s goalie, Ray Emery stood strong in net, only allowing a goal while the Senators were down 3 players to 5. On Sunday the Lightening looked like a new team. John Grahame, a Denver native, made 22 saves to keep the high scoring Senators to only one goal per period and the earn his first win in four playoff games. Tampa Bay’s strength was shown in their ability to score even strength goals; all four of their goals came at even strength.

2 Carolina vs. 7 Montreal, series at 0-1: In a surprising move by Montreal, Cristobal Huet received the nod to backstop the Canadiens in the first game of the playoffs. Why is this surprising considering Huet had a great season and put Jose Theodore to shame? Huet lost his last two starts for Montreal while David Aebischer had looked solid in net recently. At first, it looked like a bad move. At the 50 second mark of the game, Carolina scored. It would be their only goal of the game. Apparently, the move was not so surprising after all….Huet made 43 saves in the 6-1 Canadiens win over Carolina. The series continues tonight in Carolina, and then moves to Montreal for games three and four.

3 New Jersey vs. 6 New York Rangers, series at 1-0: In a 6-1 whipping of the New York Rangers, New Jersey scored an amazing and playoff-record, 5 power play goals. An amazing 16 penalties, for 43 minutes, were taken by the Rangers. Martin Brodeur made 29 saves on 30 shots while rookie Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves on 30 shots. Some of the biggest news from this game comes from Jaromir Jagr, who might miss the second game of the series due to an arm injury. While fore checking Scott Gomez, Jagr somehow hurt his arm and was helped to the dressing room. Still no word on whether he will play or not. The series continues tonight in New Jersey and can be viewed on OLN at 5pm EST.

4 Buffalo vs. 5 Philadelphia, series at 1-0: The big story here was that the Buffalo Sabres feature a young team with little to no playoff experience. Just to put it in perspective, the entire Sabres’ roster had a combined 295 playoff games, in comparison, the same amount that Philadelphia’s Peter Forsberg and Eric Desjardins had between them. However, after taking the Flyers into the second overtime, Daniel Briere tipped in Jochen Hecht’s centering pass for a 3-2 Sabres’ victory over the Flyers. This series continues tonight in Buffalo, and then moves for games three and four in Philadelphia on Wednesday and Friday.