Pens End Sen’s While Hawks Start to Find Their Wings

Last week I discussed the apparent lack of composure from the top seeds that led to only three of those whom started the postseason as ‘favourites’ still in with a shout. Those remaining top seeds are also considered to be the favourites to lift the Stanley Cup when this season concludes.

One of them will definitely be out after the next round concludes as Boston, the fourth seed this year will be looking to continue onto their first Finals appearance since their 2010-11 win and their seventh overall. To stand any chance of doing so they will have to overcome Pittsburgh who won their most recent Cup one year prior to that last Beantown win and have three in their own history.

Both made fairly light work of their opponents with only a couple of minor scares in their second round matchups against the Ottawa Senators and, in the Bruins case, New York Rangers.

The B’s missed out on a sweep after they were beat in game four thanks to Chris Kreider’s overtime goal taking the game 4-3. That was the second game at Madison Square Garden after the Blueshirts failed to take advantage of their infamously raucous crowd in a narrow 2-1 loss. Both Bruins goals came in the third through Johnny Boychuk and Danny Paille which cancelled out Tyler Pyatt’s second period goal, his second of the postseason.

That failure to split the home ties ultimately cost John Tortorella’s men and the fifth game, taking place back in Boston, saw them bow out in disappointing fashion. They scored in the first on the powerplay, seemingly their first since 1987, through Dan Girardi but then allowed three unanswered goals from Torey Krug and Gregory Campbell (whom scored two including an empty netter).

That means the Rangers will be mulling over things. Again.

As for Torey Krug he hasn’t had time to do much mulling over since making his NHL postseason debut five games ago. In those five games, all against the Rangers he became the first player to score on his Playoff debut since 1988. In game two he became the first player to score in his first two playoff games and by the end of the five was the first player to score four in his first five (5 points in total). Impressive.

In Pittsburgh there is a new Public Enemy Number One; Jaromir Jagr. He’s not really done anything wrong in particular but the fans seem to be happy with his new role so we’ll leave that there.

Paul Martin has continued his impressive form and Sidney Crosby isn’t wearing that ridiculous jaw contraption from Saw I, II or LXVI, I can’t keep up. They also had a series against the Ottawa Senators that threatened to go further than it did but thanks to their quality did not.

The series went five games deep too with the Sens notching their first game to get their fans dreaming in game three that being their first at home. That win came in the second period of overtime through Colin Greening but the excitement came thanks to the way they took it past normal time.

Shorthanded thanks to Erik Karlsson’s slashing penalty on 18:33 the game was up with the Penguins leading 1-0 but with twenty nine seconds remaining Daniel Alfredsson deflected a downright filthy pass from Michalek that split the Pens entire on-ice participants as though somebody was controlling him from the comfort of their living room games console.

The fact they won that game after that was no surprise.

Games four and five ended in blowouts though with Dan Bylsma’s men smacking the Senators about for an aggregate score of 13-5 with 7-3 & 6-2 wins.

Pittsburgh don’t have any dark horses in this post-season as they are ‘all-in’ as discussed in previous columns but they are backing their pre-post-season favourites tag with ruthless efficiency and Boston will need to be on their game throughout the series to get past them.

Over in the West, things are predictably less straightforward with both Conference semis going the seven game distance.

The defending Champ LA Kings have done what they do and held firm in their defence whilst trying to pick off goals whenever they can. It may not be pretty but they are effective and for the hockey purists it is fascinating to see how they can set their stall out so blatantly and actually execute it so effectively.

Jonathan Quick is currently at 1.54 GAA and .947 SV% and his figures over the last couple of years in the playoffs will most likely ensure Torey Krug changes positions in a few years time to challenge. San Jose meanwhile have been impressive throughout the regular season and in their first round against Vancouver but their offense has failed to find an answer so far.

Indeed the lead that I discussed last week for the Kings was not nullified through their marquee players but more an overall team ethic that has seen them chip away on the PP.

Games four, five and six were decided by one, three & one goals respectively with one of those, game two, being another Quick postseason blanking. In those three games since we last looked at this series only the Kings have scored two goals in a single period, again in game two when they notched a brace in the third and even then one of those was an empty netter.

Game Seven tonight will be another fascinating game in an epic tussle between these West coast rivals and irrespective of the result the Sharks have been very impressive in their ability to adapt their game to match the Kings. Maybe this is the game where they go all out and try to take the game to Quick and Co.

The final game in Round Two will see Detroit Red Wings visit Chicago Blackhawks in an attempt to get to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since they lost the Stanley Cup Finals to Pittsburgh in 2008-09. That would also ensure they bow out of the West as Conference Champions.

All things considered would be an impressive achievement for a team ‘rebuilding on the fly’ as we so often read.

The ‘hawks were expected to even make lighter work of Mike Babcock’s men than they did in their 4-1 series win over the Minnesota Wild. Instead they have had to battle back from a 1-3 deficit to force game seven tomorrow night.

If the Wings had Brad Stuart in their D rather than seeing him exert his influence over in San Jose they may already have seen off Joel Quenneville’s men. Coaching wise Mike Babcock has arguably done that and if not for the desperation of ‘Q’s’ team he could be facing serious questions.

One up after a convincing opening game, many thought the Blackhawks, like the Pens, were home and hosed yet they struggled without the influence of their key men Hossa and Toews. Indeed ‘Captain Serious’ suffered the sort of breakdown we’d have expected from the Ducks’ Perry if he’d not been raised properly.

Game five however saw a change around in both their faltering PP unit and their captain’s influence with their 2-1 and 3-1 goals coming on the PP through the reliable Shaw as well as Toews himself for their third which was assisted by Hossa too. That 4-1 win saw the Red Wings struggle as they have done some times in games due to their lack of experience.

But the playoffs don’t take inexperience into consideration and a third period meltdown in game six ensured the eleven time Stanley Cup winners would have to best another game seven away from home, this time against the President Trophy winners to progress in this year’s playoffs.

That game will take place tomorrow and I’d hazard a guess that whoever wins that one makes it as far as propositioning Lord Stanley in the Final proper.