An upset, a draw, and a blowout!

From The Hockey News:

“I feel like going home and hanging myself, that's what I feel like."

Red Wings goaltender Manny Legace on what he feels like, after getting ousted from the playoffs by the eight-seeded Oilers. Legace gave up 18 goals in the series.

I just couldn’t resist. Sure, Manny Legace might be the nicest guy in hockey but he’s kind of a sieve…don’t believe me? Read on…

Western Conference
1 Detroit vs. 8 Edmonton, Edmonton WON!!!: Sorry, I know, I should be less partial but who am I kidding? The final period in the Detroit/Edmonton game may be one of the greatest periods in hockey! Due to my terrible schedule (I work from 8am-6pm so I can take a class during the day) I was only able to watch the final period of the game on Monday night. When the third period began the score was Detroit 2, Edmonton 0. So I didn’t see much hope of Edmonton pulling out the win in this one, but I was (thankfully) wrong. It all started with Fernando Pisani. He scored two goals roughly 4 minutes apart to tie the game at 2-2. Then Detroit’s Johan Franzen scored 4 minutes after that to give the Red Wings a 3-2 win. Exactly 6 minutes following that goal, Alex Hemsky was making a play on net after a pass from Shawn Horcoff when he was pushed into the net by Nicklas Lidstrom and consequently, the puck went into the net. After a lengthy review of the play in order to ensure that Hemsky hadn’t used a kicking motion to deflect the puck in, the officials ruled that the goal stood, tying the game 3-3. With less than a minute and a half left in the game, Alex Hemsky scored again to win the game for the Edmonton Oilers. After the buzzer sounded, the crowd was shown cheering and hugging and I swear I saw some grown men crying. It was a beautiful thing! Congratulations Edmonton!

3 Calgary vs. 6 Anaheim, series tied 3-3: On Monday night the Calgary Flames had a chance to eliminate the Anaheim Mighty Ducks from the playoffs, but unable to rise to the occasion. Calgary scored first at the 10 minute mark of the first period on a goal by former Av Stephane Yelle. Shortly after, an Anaheim goal was waved off by the officials as they ruled that the Calgary goaltender, Miikka Kiprusoff, had been interfered with. I didn’t agree with the call, but whatever. Another former Av, Teemu Selanne scored the game tying goal in the second period. Then with less than 6 minutes remaining in the third Scott Niedermayer scored on the power play to lift the Ducks to a 2-1 win over the Flames. I think the Ducks made the right decision in playing Ilya Bryzgalov rather than J.S. Giguere who has played terribly throughout the playoffs. The series will finish tonight in Calgary and will be shown on OLN.


Eastern Conference
2 Carolina vs. 7 Montreal, Carolina won 4-2: In a hard fought game last night, Carolina completed their come-back and eliminated the Montreal Canadiens from the playoffs. After Montreal won the first two games, Carolina went on to win 4 games in a row to win the series. Both team scored in the first, Souray at 6:31 for Montreal and Recchi at 7:01 for Carolina, however the next two periods proved to be a goaltending battle between Cristobal Huet and Cam Ward, who replaced the struggling Martin Gerber. Both goalies played excellent games, but ultimately it was Huet who broke first. Cory Stillman scored 1:19 into the 1st OT to win the game for the Hurricanes. The winning goal came on a shot from the point, 53 feet away from the goal.

4 Buffalo vs. 5 Philadelphia, Buffalo won 4-2: In a blowout at the Wachovia center in Philadelphia, the Buffalo Sabres eliminated the Philadelphia Flyers from the playoffs. Six different players scored and Chris Drury scored twice for the Sabres to give them a 7-1 win over the flyers. Branko Radivojevic scored the lone goal for the Flyers with a little over a minute left in the second period. Robert Esche was pulled 7:19 into the second after allowing 5 goals on 17 shots, Antero Niittymaki (whose name I LOVE saying) allowed 2 goals on 11 shots. Sabres tender Ryan Miller, who was overlooked for the US Olympic team for Robert Esche, made 21 saves on 22 shots.

Second Round Match ups:
In the Western Conference, these match ups have not been decided, as they hinge on who wins in tonight’s game of Calgary and Anaheim. Personally, I am hoping that Calgary wins tonight as they seem to be an easier team to play than San Jose. However, possible match ups include:
Calgary vs. Edmonton
San Jose vs. Edmonton
San Jose vs. Colorado
Anaheim vs. Colorado

In the Eastern Conference, the match ups are all set. They are:
Ottawa vs. Buffalo
New Jersey vs. Carolina