Author: Buffalo Winter

Two out of three home teams won

NYI 3 – CAR 2, Goaltending brings New York home for game six while Carolina was out of sync having a goal called back, and the Hurricane’s Mr. Aho took a bloody shot off his jaw/mouth and while the puck was dropping the Islanders Mr. Nelson smacked it out of the air into the net.

EDM 6 – LAK 3, The Kings’ two victories are in overtime and if they do not keep the score close in Los Angeles for game six, the Edmonton Oilers scoring machine will skate over them into the next round.

DAL 4 – MIN 0, Dallas wins game five in Texas to push Minnesota to the brink of elimination and perhaps The Flower will be in the net when the Wild endeavor to win game six at home this Friday night.

Boston has Florida skating on thin ice and the Bruins at home with their Captain returning from injury could be the end for the Panthers.

If Colorado wants to earn their second consecutive Stanley Cup they need to win game five at home tonight versus Seattle, no excuses, or the Kraken will be in the envious position to be able to eliminate the defending champs at home.

Three Game Fives Tonight

NJD 3 – NYR 1, The New York Rangers annihilated the Devils in New Jersey by a combined 10-2, total goals for the first two games then coming home New York scores only once per game, and instead of a sweep New York and New Jersey have the only tied series in the East.

TOR 5 TB 4 OT, The party in Florida has gone pretty much silent after game one now that Toronto has a chokehold on the series versus Tampa Bay and no amount of “but what about last season?” The Lightning will not strike twice or can change the fact that the addition of Mr. O’Reilly and the emergence of rookie Mr. Knies’s play is helping to propel the Maple Leafs into the second round.

SEA 3 COL 2 OT, Seattle has shown much promise in the series versus the defending Stanley Cup Champions they have used the power-play, a former Colorado goaltender, and fourth liners producing to even things up with their first home playoff victory in over a century.

LV 4 WIN 2, Winnipeg has already won in sin city but with the injury to Mr. Scheifele coupled with the heartbreaking double OT loss at home and now being down 3-1 in the series versus the Knights the wildcard Jets now are burdened with having to win the next three games.

The Islanders are first up to face elimination from the playoffs this season after giving the Hurricanes fits in Raleigh additionally will Dallas and Edmonton win their home game fives tonight?

Boston and Carolina each take a 3-1 series lead

CAR 5 – NYI 2 Carolina takes advantage of the power play and scored late in the first and early in the second period for the two-nothing lead and 80 seconds into the third period built a 4-0 lead that the Islanders with no offense and Mr. Sorokin posting a .828 save percentage could not overcome.

BOS 6 – FLA 2 Boston’s first goal was a loose puck in the blue paint that was pushed across the goal line before/after the whistle, never the less the puck was uncovered and the goaltender did not know where it was, good goal. Mr. DeBrusk scored twice and was a beast all game, Florida did have 40 SOG halfway through the third period but to no avail as Boston wins convincingly.

DAL 3 – MIN 2 Dallas ties the series with Minnesota as two closely matched teams play a low-scoring game with the Stars scoring first early in the second period and when Dallas scored again a few minutes into the third period it seemed like a stranglehold.

The Wild get on the board and the game goes back to being a white-knuckle stick-gripping game before Dallas scores on the power play with only three and a half minutes remaining but the Wild were not finished and on the power play and with the goaltender pulled Minnesota scored to get within one goal with 80 seconds left, still pressuring and getting looks and a good shot but Dallas hung on for victory in game four.

EDM 5 – LAK 4 OT Edmonton gutted one out on the road as the two most evenly matched teams are tied at two games apiece with the Kings dominating the first period with three goals prompting Edmonton to switch goaltenders. Then the Oilers score three goals of their own to tie the game in the second period with the third goal coming on the 20th SOG of the period on the PP with 10.5 seconds left on the clock.

Just as the announcer spoke about the Oilers possibly pulling the goalie Edmonton scored even strength to tie the game at four with a few minutes remaining in the game that afforded the Oilers their opportunity to win in overtime.

The Lightning, Jets, and Kraken all must win at home tonight to even up their series or face the challenge of winning three in a row, and the Devils have to win on the road in order to avoid the same fate.

Three overtimes last night

TOR 4 – TB 3 OT, The Maple Leafs come from behind last night as Awesome Matthews fought Mr. Stamkos, Mr. Samsonov out-dueled Mr. Vasilevskiy in net, Mr. Knies a pleasant surprise, Mr. Rielly, Mr. Marner, and Mr. Nylander contributing offensively, and Mr. O’Reilly blocking, scoring and assisting last minute goals for the tie and OT win.

COL 6 – SEA 4, Seattle scored on their sixth power play at the end of the game when it did not matter as Colorado early in the third period with the game tied three apiece scored twice in 88 seconds for the two-goal lead before tacking on a Happy Net Goal for the eventual win.

NJD 2 – NYR 1 OT, The second-best road team in the regular season needed to be last night and they were as the Devils scored their lone regulation goal on the power play as the Rangers failed on five power-play attempts against Mr. Schmid New Jersey’s 6’ 5” goalie in his first playoff game.

LV 5 – WIN 4 OT, A heartbreaker in Winnipeg after scoring three times on 17 SOG to forge a tie game with 22 seconds remaining in the third period and to survive into the second overtime period only to lose on an unlikely deflection to an open Knights player.

From early this afternoon until late this evening the Islanders, Panthers, Wild, and Oilers must win.

Foligno and Staal brothers prominent

The power play could not bail out Carolina through four attempts and even scoring short-handed could not spark any offense for the Hurricanes but the Islanders with 17 SOG in the third period opened up a tight one-goal game by scoring twice in succession early and late in the period. NYI 5 – CAR 1

Cherry picker Pasta’s score sent Florida’s newest net sensation Mr. Lyon to the bench with the game 3-0 on 23 SOG as Mr. Bobrovsky allowed only one goal in relief as Florida scored twice at the end of the third period. BOS 4 – FLA 2

In a game where each team could barely muster two dozen SOG total and Minnesota rotated their goaltenders again by playing their winning goalie Mr. Gustavsson who posted a .958 save percentage, and by allowing just one goal in the second period the Wild earned home ice advantage. MIN 5 – DAL 1

Mr. McDavid scored two laser pinpointed shots, one above the glove and the other above the blocker to forge Edmonton into a 2-1 lead in the second period but the Kings answered in only 18 seconds to tie the game and score in overtime. LAK 3 – EDM 2

This afternoon’s matchup has Winnipeg hosting the Knights, then the early evening games have Toronto endeavoring to keep their momentum going in Tampa Bay and New York fans with their brooms ready for New Jersey followed by the late game in Seattle as Colorado needs to win.