Day 2 - NHL Playoffs
4/16/09 - So game 1 is in the books and the Penguins won 4-1 against the Flyers. The Pens looked well prepared for the game and I thought that they took the play to the Flyers. There were a lot of undisciplined penalties taken by the Flyers and they did not seem well prepared for the task at hand. The Pens played the type of game they wanted to play and it looked like a text book game from the Bylsma era. Most importantly they got some secondary scoring and some great play from their 3rd and 4th lines. Jordan Staal had a phenomenal game and has really stepped up his game since Bylsma took over as coach. Tyler Kennedy played a great game, scored a nice goal, and was not afraid to shoot the puck. Matt Cooke played his role on this team to almost perfection. He’s not afraid to lay his body on the line and was able to get under the skin of several Flyers players. Not to be outdone the 4th line players also played really well. I’m still a little undecided on whether Adams or Godard should be playing but Adams seems to provide a little better offensive talent and is a little more disciplined. The defense played a good game and really shut down the Flyers for the most part. My one big concern from this game was the power play. Granted they got a goal on the first chance they got, but they had several more opportunities and did not cash in on them. The big issue in playing against the Flyers on the power play is that you do not want to give up short handed opportunities to them. They press the puck holder quite a bit and move around well while killing penalties. Game 2 is tomorrow night and I can only hope that we see more of the same from the Pens.
Other results:
NY Rangers defeated Washington 4-3 - This was the first game in this series and I could see this one going a long way. The Rangers played the Caps tough and were able to get the win. Jose Theodore is shaky between the pipes and the Rangers did enough to get the win. It’s really going to be a battle because the Caps are offensively talented but lack slightly in the defense department. The end of this game was exciting as the Caps tried to press to get the tying goal. The Rangers were able to hold them off and got a huge win in the first game of the series.
New Jersey defeated Carolina 4-1 - I’m not sure that many people were expecting the Devils to win this game. A lot of people had Carolina pegged as the winner of this series. What I saw the end of the season though with Carolina is that they struggled in the last week or so of the season. The Devils came into the playoffs playing fairly well and it seems like those trends continued into this game. The Devils outplayed the Canes in this game and I think might surprise a few people.
Vancouver won 2-1 over St. Louis - I didn’t see any of this game but it sounds like Luongo played a major factor in the victory.
Games today -
Montreal vs. Boston
Detroit vs. Columbus
Chicago vs. Calgary
Anaheim vs. San Jose