The Icing On The Week: First look at Western Conference playoffs

Over in the West things have got off to a more sedate pace in comparison to the East’s shenaningans.

Anaheim-Detroit may be a little feistier thanks to Justin Abdelkader’s hit on Tony Lydman in Game three though.

This allegedly warranted the third suspension of the playoffs stinging Abdelkader with a two game ban. A series that was already going in the Ducks’ favour has been slanted that way even more so now.

Game one saw them take full advantage of their higher seeding and they used the crowd to energise their performance above that of the Wings. The game finished 3-1 thanks to an empty-netter towards the end and although until then the game was close when looking at the score line the Ducks dominated throughout in every department.

That momentum could not be transferred to the second game though and Mike Babcock, with Todd Bertuzzi back on the bench (where he stayed by and large), managed to turn the series round.

It was not without drama however with the Red Wings letting a 4-1 lead slip in the third before Gustav Nyquist notched the first playoff goal of his career after a downright rude assist from Valtteri Filppula. That was the fourth goal in four periods the Red Wings had managed within the opening ninety seconds.

Splitting the series was exactly what Babcock would have hoped for before game one but it was his team who failed to take advantage of the momentum in game three being blown out 4-0. That was the first time the Ducks had shutout the Wings in the post season but it’s the Wings third period performances that will worry their fans most.

The Ducks outscored the Wings in the regular season with ten more goals (46-36) in the third period and whether it is conditioning or the inexperience of Hockeytown’s roster something will need to change if they are to stop the Ducks progressing.

Scheduled Games: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

The top seed in the West, Chicago, does not have to contend with the groundswell of support that the Pens have seen their opponents establish over in the East. Minnesota has invested heavily to make a run at the Cup this year and after only clinching eighth in the West many feel they have underachieved. They have.

Game one saw the Hawks clinch an OT win thanks to the GWG of Bryan Bickell. They had to equalise to take it past regulation with Marian Hossa –arguably the most important player to Chicago this postseason – notching to cancel out Cal Clutterbuck’s series opener.

The second was more straightforward for the hosts with the President’s Trophy winners notching a 5-2 win to take a 2-0 series lead to Minnesota.

The return home allowed the Wild to emphasise how important home advantage can be in the post season. In game three they stunned the favourites with an OT winner to take the game 3-2.

Zach Parise finally notched a point in this game with the 2-1 go-ahead goal off the backhand. Parise is going to be key to the Wild in this series and he needs to up his performance. He is fourth on the Wild roster for average on ice time with 22:20 but is currently -4 in the +/- column whilst leading with twelve shots in the first three games. Their other big money signing Ryan Suter is -3 whilst averaging a staggering 32:42 minutes per game. Give that stat another read if you like, that really is staggering.

Scheduled Games: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday

St Louis and LA met in the conference semi-final last year when the Blues had the higher seeding. That was turned on its head however when the Kings swept them on their way to lifting the Cup. This year the Blues are the higher seed again but it is so far going with the end of season rankings. Jonathan Quick is yet to recapture last year’s post season form instead, doing everything but receiving the primary assist on Alexander Steens’ second goal of the game to clinch the game 2-1 shorthanded (SH) in OT in the series opener.

The Kings players and staff came out and said all the right things after that but let’s be honest they lost because he messed up, big time, it doesn’t matter what he did before.

The Blues fed off that win and backed it up in the second game. It showed how important game one was as let’s be honest; after the complete domination they [St Louis] demonstrated in game one the wheels could well have come off if they’d been on the wrong end of that result.

Dustin Brown opened the scoring for LA with a first period PP goal but goals early and late in the third ensured the Blues achieved two from two at home.

Just as has happened in the Blackhawks-Wild series momentum has shifted slightly back in favour of the team now on home ice. Both games have been close decisions and it wouldn’t have been too surprising if the Kings’ heads were down after what had gone on but that did not happen.

It was the closest game yet with the Kings clinching a 1-0 win thanks to Slava Voynov’s GWG. That was Voynov’s sixteenth career goal and second playoff score after his equalising goal against the Blues last year.

Scheduled Games: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Monday

The fourth series in the West sees perennial Playoff participators (and not much else) San Jose take on Vancouver.

Such has been the insistence of both teams to implode and perform in direct contradiction to their regular season form once the important games start it would not have been surprising if this series was still tied at 0-0.

Alas it is not and the Sharks look to be saving their usual post season form until round two. They have taken a commanding 3-0 lead after opening wins in Vancouver and last night’s victory on home ice.

Game one saw the Sharks key players all bag goals; Logan Couture on the PP in the second before Danny Boyle’s GWG in the third was followed by Patrick Marleau.

To the Canucks’ credit they made a fist of the second game and took the Sharks to OT before Raffi Torres (!) notched the winner. Joe Thornton got in on the act and scored the opener before Ryan Kesler bagged a brace for the Canucks. Unfortunately for them that man Marleau struck in the third for the second time in the series to tie things up.

The first game in San Jose saw both Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau (aaagaaaiiin) score two apiece while Logan Couture helped himself to one to clinch a 5-2 win.

The thing that stands out in this series is that the Sedin twins have not performed whilst the Sharks’ clutch players are delivering. Without those two firing in the post season again they will fail to make any impact. Again… Has anybody got the domain www.aretheyriotinginvancouveryet.com? [1]

Scheduled Games: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Monday

[1] Nobody has as yet, I have checked.