April 19, 2014

2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Day 3

So much for spotting a trend.

Day 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs provided something that we hadn't seen too much of in the first two: good goaltending!  Honestly, every game yesterday had what could be considered great goaltending, but the highlight had to be the Bruins/Red Wings matchup that was better than I expected.

First, though, Montreal vs. Tampa Bay.

Is it too soon to say that the Lightning might be in trouble?  The injuries are piling up and the team just put up one goal against Montreal while the Canadiens put up four.

Certainly not the way I expected their playoffs would start out.  Hell, I knew they'd have some trouble without Ben Bishop, but I didn't think their offense would just crater like it did yesterday.  I guess Stamkos and Callahan can't get it done by themselves.

Montreal leads the series 2-0 and Game 3 is on Sunday.

Since the theme of today's post is goaltending, I should probably mention that Carey Price was pretty good, allowing one measly goal late in the game. After giving up four in the first game, I bet that makes him (and the fans, and the coaches) feel a lot better.  It also has the unfortunate side-effect of not letting me bash him for being overrated.  Oh, well.

Next up, Detroit vs. Boston!

Probably because it was the last one to start, and the President's Trophy winning team is involved, I've been really looking forward to this one.  And to be honest, I think I've got mixed feelings about it.

It's not the result that has me a bit bummed, though.  It's the crotch-shot that Milan Lucic made against Detroit D Danny DeKeyser.  That play was unnecessary (no matter what DeKeyser might have done to Lucic just prior to it), and it makes Lucic look like a dirty player.  Now, there are people (Bruins haters, mostly) that whine up and down about how Lucic is a punk and all this other horseshit.

That's all well and good when there isn't shit like this going on in front of a national television audience.  Those people can be dismissed for being haters and most likely homers.  But then Lucic does something like this and looks like a total idiot.

And it takes away from the performances on the ice, namely those of goaltenders Jimmy Howard and Tuukka Rask, both of whom were F-ing magnificent last night.  I don't even give Rask shit for giving up a goal; Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk just made a tremendous play.  Howard shutout one of the strongest offenses in the NHL.  Going into the series, I doubt that anyone expected Howard to be putting up shutouts.  Especially with Rask in the other goal.

Detroit leads 1-0 and Game 2 is Sunday afternoon.

Finally, Dallas vs. Anaheim.

There are two guys in Anaheim who make things happen: Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf.  Even with a cage on his face, Getzlaf scored a goal and assisted on Cogliano's shorty to help the Ducks take a 2-0 series lead.

Perry scored as well, but there was another play he was involved in that was not so nice.  And much like Lucic, it makes him look like a dirty player.  Perry took a check from Jamie Benn that sent him into the boards.  It looked like a clean hit with no malicious intent (i.e. no headhunting).  But Perry responded by giving Benn a crotch-shot, something that Benn's teammate Trevor Daley was not too fond of.  Daley went after Perry later on and was penalized for it.

But once again, this is something that takes away from the action on the ice, where Anaheim did quite well again.  Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen had a much better showing, only allowing two goals and turned into a wall in the 3rd period when Dallas was raining shots on him.

Later on Saturday, Game 2 in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Colorado.

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