Author: Buffalo Winter

Game six in Tampa Bay went the Lightning’s way with a 2-1 effort eliminating the Rangers in a home win propelling Tampa Bay to their third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The first period was filled with 18 SOG which is the average for the entire game with these two teams and we also saw the #14 magoon punch Mr. Trouba in the head knocking off the helmet but no harm, no foul.

The scoreless period also has ESPN producing a positive Tampa Bay graphic for viewers, Mr. Bogosian for the Lightning looks more solid offensively and Mr. Braun protects the defensive zone well for the Rangers.

In the final five minutes the Rangers hold a 64-36 faceoff percentage advantage and Mr. Shesterkin looks brilliant with a pad save on a Tampa Bay forward Mr. Cirelli.

It appears as if New York has the lightning rods against Tampa Bay as Mr. Shesterkin one minute into the second period makes a beautiful glove/pad stack save to keep the game scoreless.

Then the best check of the series came at 17:27 of the second period when a crushingly clean shoulder-to-shoulder check from Mr. Trouba put Mr. Perry convincingly to the ice.

More physical play ensues as Mr. Bogosian after a little face wash goons it up with a headlock on Mr. Rooney which also became a helmet remover, but astonishingly when penalties are meted out Mr. Bogosian escapes the official’s ire and we are at four on four.

At the 12:23 mark, ESPN produces a negative New York graphic for viewers, and two minutes after that Mr. Hedman has a hissy fit as he ducked almost completely out of the way from a glass and dasher board rattling check.

After all of Mr. Shesterkin’s efforts at the 9:17 mark, Tampa Bay takes a weak shot that unbelievably eludes the goaltender, five minutes later the Rangers penalty killers are once again successful and the period ends with 23 SOG 13 in favor of Tampa Bay.  

In the third period, the Rangers are outhitting and blocking, winning faceoffs are awarded their second power play, but they have to score, which they do eventually to tie the game on their 19^th shot and we have a nail-biter.

But not even 30 seconds later Tampa Bay scores a controversial goal that highlighted goaltender interference but was ruled a clean goal by the officials and so it goes…

Game 1 at eight o’clock in Colorado the 12-2 Avalanche will open up the Stanley Cup Finals at home versus the 12-5 Lightning Wednesday night.

Game five was a low shooting and scoring affair Thursday night as both teams combine for 3 SOG 1 halfway through the first period with the Rangers spending most of the period in the offensive zone and winning 57 percent of faceoffs.

At 8:50 the Bread Man dangles and skates circles around Mr. Paul and it caused the Tampa Bay player to lose his balance and fall to the ice.

Finally at the 6:49 mark, the Lightning take their second shot of the game and the announcers ignore this fact after hyping the fact that the Ranges had a low SOG last game.

The obsequiousness of the ESPN announcers was so apparent they actually posted negative statistical information on the screen about the Rangers during the first period.

The second period highlighted New York’s sterling penalty-killing abilities,and the first Rangers power play was set up when Mr. Shesterkin alertly shot the puck at the Lightning bench during a change to earn the “too many men on the ice” call.

On top of which Tampa Bay is taking a whole three shots for the period and also hit two goal posts which the announcers kept commenting on well into the second period at the 5:18 mark again, Tampa had hit two posts.

The announcers’ constant mentioning of the Lightning’s two posts stopped when there were two and a half minutes left in the second period and Tampa Bay scored a lucky/perfect shot through no less than a six-player screen to tie the game at one.

The third period with seven minutes remaining had both teams acquiring 23 SOG, a quick-thinking Mr. Palat sheepishly ducks out of the way to avoid getting hit by Mr. Trouba.

Tampa gets their second score with less than two minutes left in the game when skittish Mr. Palat scores to make the score 2-1 and with 58 seconds remaining a Happy Net goal seals the victory for the Lightning.

Tonight the Rangers must return the favor and beat the Lightning on the road at Amalie Arena in Florida with puck drop scheduled for approximately eight o’clock.

And we are headed back to New York City for game five with the series all tied up as it should be between the 7^th and 8^th place overall regular-season Eastern Conference teams.

Some players find success late in their careers, for example, Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Mr. Pat Maroon who was on the Cup-winning Blues team and contributed three goals in 26 playoff games and then 13 goals over the next two Cup-winning playoff runs with Tampa Bay.

Mr. Maroon may not score often but last night’s score was a beauty after picking up a rebound off of a Mr. Bogosian shot for his third of these playoffs while playing 10 minutes, shooting the puck once, and dishing out three hits for the game.

Tampa Bay played like a team desperate to win and New York played like a team desperate to end the series early and at the halfway point of the second period the game was choppy and chaotic.

Once the initial goal is scored the game is blocking, shots wide, hits, choppy skating and passing, rebounds were there even with the low SOG, and a “no goal” review/call on a brilliant save from Mr. Shesterkin.

A moment of offense as Mr. Palat passes to Mr. Kucherov skating right down the middle to score on Tampa’s 13^th SOG and then the game resumed its grind and when Mr. Stamkos scored you could feel that this game was won.

The Rangers were able to stymie Mr. Vasilevskiy in his shutout bid when “The Bread Man” Mr. Panarin elevated a shot up to the corner glove side after gifted a deflection from Mr. McDonagh.  

The series resumes Thursday, June 9^th for game five at eight o’clock in Madison Square Garden.

An exciting elimination game last night in Edmonton with two-goal leads, multiple lead changes, 11 goals, and finally an overtime win.

Nearly four minutes into the game Mr. Makar scores on the power play after Mr. Rantanen checks Mr. Hyman off the puck affording Mr. Lehkonen an opportunity to gather the puck and pass it to Mr. Makar whose shot from way out in the prairies eludes Mr. Smith’s glove. 

The first ten minutes highlight some good hitting and great backchecking by both teams and Colorado’s forecheck is relentless as witnessed on their second penalty kill outshooting Edmonton 3-1.

With 90 seconds remaining Avalanche defenseman Mr. Byram falls into the post and while on the ice Mr. Smith gave him a good shot to the head with the blocker, a whack to the ankle for being in the crease is one thing but this was uncalled for.

The Avalanche take the first seven shots of the second period, hit a post, the announcers contemplating that HC Woodcroft does not trust his depth then the Oilers break through Colorado’s layers of defense and tie the game at one.

Moments after the tying goal Mr. Landeskog inadvertently crashes into the dasher boards with Mr. Kassian after which Mr. Kassian gets up and attacks Mr. Landeskog with a wrestling hold on the ice, Oilers on the power play, and Mr. Kassian received a free shot.  

Mr. Nugent-Hopkins breakaway resulted from a bad pass turnover that he backhanded up and over the blocker enabling Edmonton to score twice on five shots, minutes later Mr. McDavid scored on the power play off the post glove side for the two-goal lead to finish the period. 

The third period was an absolute barn burner with six goals and beginning at 31 seconds in Mr. Toews shoots the puck off of the leg of Mr. Ceci and off Mr. Smith’s glove edge and in the net as both Colorado goals are scored by a defenseman.

Edmonton responded a few minutes later with a 4-on-2 odd-man rush that culminated with Mr. McDavid to Mr. Draisaitle to Mr. Hyman and off of the face mask/cage of Mr. Francouz for the 4-2 lead and the Oilers are skating well.

When Mr. Landeskog was able to score Mr. Smith had a fit and slammed his very flexible goalie stick on the ice in frustration, (it did not break), and the score was not challenged or “looked at” so it was a good goal.

Six and a half minutes remaining in the game when Mr. McKinnon scores a beautiful goal from inside the bottom of the faceoff circle upstairs “where Momma hides the cookies” and the game is tied.

The determined Avalanche score on the power play as they earn three goals on five shots in less than six minutes and the Oilers respond quickly as Mr. Nurse slams/checks Mr. Rantanen to the ice, two passes and a rebound later Mr. Kassian ties the game at five.

We are headed to OVERTIME!

It did not take long, at the 18:41 mark with what has been analyzed as a good goal the initial touch at shoulder height resulted in a shot, not a goal had the puck entered the net it would have been high sticking and no goal.

When it is a SOG a high stick is determined by the height of the player’s shoulder, when a goal is scored a high stick is determined by the height of the crossbar.

When the announcers referred to the most loathed referee Mr. Koharski about this goal while watching the slow-mo replay Mr. Koharski said, “holy sh*t” live on air, classy.

Edmonton played well in game four but Colorado is a beast and swept the Oilers and now await the winner of the Rangers and Lightning series, game four tonight in NYC with the Rangers holding a 2-1 series lead.

Three attempts in the regular season and two in the playoffs before Tampa Bay finally beat the Rangers, but only after taking 52 SOG, scoring twice on the power play, outhitting New York, and fortunately with 41.6 seconds remaining Mr. Palat scoring and saving the day.

The first period was not one to brag about as ESPN commentator Mr. Chelios stated that he did not say Tampa had a good first period, but that they were sloppy and had a better second period.

As Mr. Zibanejad sat in the penalty box, gooney perry hits Mr. Shesterkin in the face to receive a “slashing” penalty, and 59 seconds later the “Z-man” is out of the penalty box and scoring the game’s first score for his 10^th and 6^th power-play goal.

Continuing their broad street bullies/charlestown chiefs style of play less than two minutes after goony perry’s penalty Mr. Nash goons it up by running Mr. Shesterkin to earn an “interference” penalty that afforded New York to go up 2-0 on the power play.

The game was all New York with the Rangers scoring two power play goals 127 seconds apart for the 2-0 lead halfway through the period, but 66 seconds later a shot Mr. Shesterkin should of stopped gave the Lighting their first goal of the game.

Finally one last belligerent takes the ice at the end of the period as pat MaGoon maroon whose stat line highlights six hits and one giveaway while playing almost nine minutes for the whole game goes after Mr. Zibanejad.

The third period looks positive for New York sporting a 7-1 record leading after two periods and not having lost to Tampa Bay even once all season long but in under three minutes to start the period the Lightning ties the game on the power play.

Five minutes later Mr. McDonagh pushes Mr. Vatrano into Mr. Vasilevskiy with no space to skate away and Mr. Vatrano gets penalized unbelievably for goaltender interference but this does not work for the Lightning as the Rangers penalty killers are blocking shots and clearing the zone.

Two times Cup champion with Tampa Bay Mr. Goodrow now with New York had such a severe ankle shot block that it required going to the locker room, but he returned, but who did not return after a cross-check to the lower back was Mr. Strome.

Before the 10-minute mark of the third-period elbows are flying and Tampa high sticking is not being called, then Mr. Kucherov receives his comeuppance with a four-minute double high sticking minor penalty after putting “the lumber” to none other than in the face of Mr. Zibanejad.

Mr. Trouba is called for his third minor penalty of the game, some 4-on-4 hockey, all the goals are a power play, and the announcer referred to goony perry as the most gifted offensive player on the ice during the 4-on-4 which made me spit my beer through my nose.

New York and Tampa Bay are heading into overtime but Mr. Palat scores with only 41.6 seconds remaining to save the Lightning’s bacon with a 3-2 Conference Final home-opening win.

Edmonton hosts Colorado for game four tonight at eight o’clock and with the Oilers’ firepower they should be able to win this last home game to prevent the Avalanche from sweeping them out of the playoffs.