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Old School Meets New School
Fans of the New York Islanders are going to hope to party like it's 1993 on Sunday night. The boys from Brooklyn haven't won a playoff series since that point, a streak they'll hope to end at the expense of the Florida Panthers....
In their tremendous history, the Philadelphia Flyers had never won a game, regular season or playoffs, in which they managed fewer than a dozen shots on goal. That all changed in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Washington Capitals. Now, the Flyers are back in business after seeming dead in the water after falling behind 3-0 in this series, and they have a shot to level the proceedings on Sunday afternoon in Game 6....
The Minnesota Wild are officially playing with house money. They won just 38 games in the regular season and should've been dead in the water in five games in this series. Instead, with some shaky defense and goaltending, the Dallas Stars have let their division rivals back into this best-of-seven series, and they're forced to get back on a plane to go to the Xcel Energy Center for what could be a very scary Game 6 for the favorites....
The New York Rangers really look like they've had it. They were beaten in both games played on their home ice by the Pittsburgh Penguins, and now they have to go back to the Igloo and find a way to beat what looks like one of the most unbeatable teams in the league just to cut this series deficit to 3-2....
The Anaheim Ducks looked awfully bad in their first two playoff offerings. They've already erased their two home defeats by winning twice on enemy ice, and they've got all the momentum on their side heading into Saturday's duel back at home against the Nashville Predators....
The defending champs were really on the ropes on Thursday night. The Chicago Blackhawks could've easily folded after blowing a 3-1 third period lead, but instead, they hung on to force overtime, withstood some pressure at the beginning of the first OT period and ultimately won it in the second extra frame....
The Dallas Stars have a really good chance to punch their ticket into the second round of the NHL playoffs on Friday night when they take on the Minnesota Wild, a team firmly up against the ropes seemingly ready to put up the white flag....
Give this much to the Los Angeles Kings: They're not going down without a fight. They nearly completed a comeback from down 3-0 on Wednesday night on the road against the San Jose Sharks. Still, close doesn't count for anything this time of year, and the Kings still find themselves with a 3-1 series hole to climb out of beginning with an elimination Game 5 on Friday night back at the Staples Center....
The New York Islanders haven't won consecutive games in a playoff series since 2002. They had a chance to do so in Games 3 and 4 of this series, but they couldn't quite come up with enough on Wednesday night. Now, they're stuck in a 2-2 series with the Florida Panthers heading into what is guaranteed to be an excellent Game 5....
The Washington Capitals looked like they were set to sweep away the Philadelphia Flyers, but the men from the City of Brotherly Love came up by with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday night to ensure at least one more day on the ice. A pivotal Game 5 takes place on Friday night, one in which the Caps will certainly feel some pressure to win to avoid a trip back up I-95 to Philly....
Don't count the Anaheim Ducks out quite yet. They might've lost the first two games of this series against the Nashville Predators at home, but they stormed back and took a big win in Nashville on Tuesday night in Game 3 to come closer to knotting up this series....
The New York Rangers have now lost four times in their last six home games after winning 25 of their first 37 at MSG. If they don't reverse that trend on Thursday night in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Pittsburgh Penguins, they're going to be in a world of hurt heading into the weekend....
John Cooper challenged his Tampa Bay Lightning to be better in every facet of the game after a woeful Game 3 performance against the Detroit Red Wings. They responded in kind with a 3-2 win which was probably a bit more lopsided than the final score suggested in Game 4, and they've now got a chance to kill off this series on Thursday night at home....
Pretty much the last thing anyone expected to happen in the series between the St. Louis Blues and the Chicago Blackhawks is for the defending champs to lose two consecutive games on their home ice. Now all of a sudden, the Blues are on the verge of an epic triumph against the current Cup holders, but they'll really want to take care of business on Thursday night in Game 5 to finish this thing off....
Kudos to the Minnesota Wild for fighting back against the Dallas Stars. They're clearly overmatched on the ice, but after showing no signs of offense whatsoever for seven periods, they scored five times in a span of just over 22 minutes to take Game 3 and get back into the series....
Even though we've seen some strange things happen in the NHL over the years, it's really tough to see how the Philadelphia Flyers can come back from this. Not only did they lose Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarters to fall behind 3-0 to the Washington Capitals, but they were embarrassed badly in a 6-1 defeat on their home ice. They'll have one last chance to extend their season on Wednesday night in Game 4....
The last time the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings met in the playoffs, the home team won all seven of the games, and all seven were decided by a single goal. This time around, all three games have been decided by a single goal, but all three have been won by the road team.If that trend continues on Wednesday night, we're going to have a whole new series after four games between these instate rivals....
The Anaheim Ducks have never won a series in their history in which they've fallen behind 2-0. Not only are they down two games, but they've lost their first two on home ice. They were the incredibly public side in both of the first two games, and they're very likely to be public chalks once again in a must-win Game 3 on the road against the Nashville Predators....
The first hockey playoff game in the history of the Barclays Center went into overtime, and it was one which sent the fans of the New York Islanders home happy. Now, the Florida Panthers are in a world of hurt with a 2-1 series deficit, and if they don't win this one on Wednesday night, it'll be tough to see a road back into the series from down 3-1....
Jimmy Howard wasn't a particularly happy camper when he found out that he wasn't going to start in net for the Detroit Red Wings in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. However, Petr Mrazek was able to post a shutout in the first game played at the Joe of the second season. The Tampa Bay Lightning had no answers for the Wings in Game 3, and they'll hope to re-extend their lead back to two games in Game 4 in Motown....
St. Louis Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock said it best in his postgame press conference on Sunday afternoon....
The Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers split their first two games of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Now, the series will shift back to the Garden for Game 3, a place where New York went 27-10-4-0 in the regular season....
The San Jose Sharks gritted out two straight games on the road against the Los Angeles Kings, and now, they've got a real chance to put a major stamp on this series. They've been here before though, and they've blown series in which they looked more dominant than this, so you'll have to excuse bettors if they're a little pessimistic....
The Minnesota Wild have scored just two goals in their last four games overall. Though they did score last against the Dallas Stars in Game 2 of the Western Conference quarterfinals, moral victories aren't going to get them very far. Minnesota has an 0-2 hole to work out of in this best-of-seven series, and progress must start being made Monday night to keep its season off life support....
It’s hard to win games when your goaltender has allowed as many goals from the other side of the red line as his entire team has scored on the opponent. The Flyers will try and move past that, put a few pucks in the net and get a win against the heavily-favored Capitals when the series returns to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Monday....
