Month: April 2025

Capitals, Stars, and Kings Triumphant

Capitals 3 – Canadiens 1 (en) (Series 2-0 Washington) This was one of the best 2-1 games I have watched, both goaltenders were brilliant and gave a clinic, Washington took 18 SOG just in the second period, and the Canadiens launched 14 SOG in the third period.

Montreal scored the game’s first goal 76 seconds into the second period and held the 1-0 lead for two and a half minutes until Washington sparkled offensively for 60 seconds, just one quick minute was all it took the Capitals to score twice for the one goal lead and for the only goals scored until the empty net goal with just two seconds remaining in the game.

Stars 2 – Avalanche 1 (OT) (Series 2-1 Dallas)

Kings 6 – Oilers 2 (Series 2-0 Los Angeles)

TONIGHT’S MATCHUPS

Panthers vs Lightning 6:30pm (Series 1-0 Florida)

Maple Leafs vs Senators 7pm (Series 2-0 Toronto)

Knights vs Wild 9pm (Series tied 1-1)

Jets vs Blues 9:30pm (Series 2-0 Winnipeg)

Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, Panthers & Wild’s Success

Hurricanes 3 – Devils 1 (en) (Series 2-0 Carolina) New Jersey out shot Carolina and took a 1-0 lead into the second period, but the Hurricanes scored twice in three minutes with the second goal coming shorthanded during the second period creating a tight 2-1 game all through the third period until with less than a minute to play New Jersey gave up the empty netter.

Maple Leafs 3 – Senators 2 (OT) (Series 2-0 Toronto) Toronto took the dreaded early 2-0 lead in the first period and Ottawa scored once in the second period, once in the third period to tie the game, and in overtime Center Domi crushes a shot through traffic to score his first of the playoffs.

Panthers 6 – Lightning 2 (Series 1-0 Florida) Tampa Bay goaltender Vasilevskiy look horrible as the Panthers scored six times on only 16 SOG, three of the goals were earned on the power play, nevertheless, one of the best modern-day goaltenders had one of the poorest showings of his playoff career.

Wild 5 – Knights 2 (en) (Series tied 1-1) This was a difficult game to watch as the two Referees were horrendous, (not one penalty whistled until near halfway through the third period) and now I understand how Nevada became the least penalized team in the NHL, withstanding obvious slew foot and blatant punch to the face Minnesota pushed on and took a 3-0 lead on just 10 SOG in the first period, scored again on 3 SOG in the second period to go up 4-0 before the Knights could even score.

TONIGHT’S MATCHUPS

Capitals vs Canadiens 7pm (Series 1-0 Washington)

Stars vs Avalanche 9:30pm (Series tied 1-1)

Oilers vs Kings 10pm (Series 1-0 Los Angeles)

Capitals, Jets, Stars, and Kings are victorious

Capitals 3 – Canadiens 2 (OT) (Series 1-0 Capitals) Captain Ovechkin has set personal records aside and has come to make a serious run at the Cup if game one is any indicator as the #1 NHL Leader in Goals Scored has come to play, earning 2G & 1A with his second goal in overtime additionally the only player to throw seven hits in the game as the Captain single handily saved his team after the Capitals lost the dreaded two goal lead.

Jets 2 – Blues 1 (Series 2-0 Jets) Winnepeg gets past St. Louis in an entertaining, physical game with spectacular goaltending with Blues rookie RW Jimmy Snuggerud the son of former Sabres LW/C Dave Snuggerud scoring his first playoff goal.

Stars 4 – Avalanche 3 (OT) (Series tied 1-1) Journeyman Center Colin Blackwell scored in his first playoff game for Dallas during overtime to help his team achieve the split before heading to Colorado.

Kings 6 – Oilers 5 (Series 1-0 Kings) After falling behind 5-2 the Oilers scored three times in the third period, twice they pulled the goaltender resulting in two goals to tie the game at five apiece with 88 seconds remaining in the game, unfortunately for Edmonton the Kings responded quickly and scored with 42 seconds left for the win and series lead.

Tonight’s Matchups

New Jersey at Carolina (Series 1-0 Hurricanes)

Ottawa at Toronto (Series 1-0 Maple Leafs)

Florida at Tampa Bay (Series 0-0 Game One)

Minnesota at Nevada (Series 1-0 Knights)

‘Canes, Leafs, and Knights begin with a win

Leafs 6 – Senators 2 Watching Toronto RW Marner score on a breakaway and then watching Ottawa Captain LW Tkachuk not score on a breakaway, sums up how the whole game played out.

No penalties in the first period, only seven penalties (former Sabres C Dylan Cozens earned a misconduct penalty) whistled with three of them coming with just three seconds remaining in the second period, then bedlam…17 penalties awarded in the third period, 12 of them with 44 seconds remaining in the game.

Just when fans thought it was over, Toronto RW Holmberg was mauled by Ottawa Defenseman Jensen at the end of the game that earned the Senators’ player a roughing penalty with no time remaining on the clock.

Hurricanes 4 – Devils 1 New Jersey Goaltender Markstrom played solidly posting a .932% save percentage while allowing three goals on 44 shots, but no offense (supposedly because Center Hughes is out), meanwhile Carolina launched 45 SOG with 38 of them coming in the first two periods building a 3-1 lead after the second period before their empty net goal near the end of the third period.

Knights 4 – Wild 2 Overlooked Center Howden who quietly scored over 20 goals this season for Nevada scored his first two goals of the playoffs to help his team win game one, this is the one series prognosticated to be a sweep mainly because of Minnesota’s regular season double digit negative goal differential.

Tonight’s Matchups

Montreal vs Washington GM 1

Edmonton vs Los Angeles GM 1

St Louis vs Winnipeg GM 2

Colorado vs Dallas GM 2

Winnipeg and Colorado Win

Jets 5 – Blues 3 (en) In Manitoba you do not attend a game in Winnipeg unless you are wearing white, and no other NHL fans/arenas come close to matching the “white out” at The Peg.

St. Louis took the lead twice, tied the game twice before Winnipeg outshot the Blues 9-2 in the third period as well as scoring three times with one empty netter to capture the home win.

Winnipeg and St. Louis in the last 19 seconds of the game earned 10 Misconduct penalties, five for each team in a game where the Blues laid 53 hits on Jets players, this series has become physical fast.

Avalanche 5 – Stars 1 (en) Dallas hosting Colorado came down to the goaltenders, one with plenty of playoff experience and the other not a single post season game, and in his first playoff start Colorado Goaltender Blackwood stood tall and earned the game one victory.

Both teams took 24 SOG, both teams scored on the power play, faceoffs nearly even, the Stars killed off an Avalanche two-man advantage, Colorado scored an empty net tally before scoring their fifth goal, and the first goal of the game was not scored until halfway through the game.