New York Rangers at Pittsburgh Penguins – NYR wins 3-2, NYR leads series 1-0
The Rangers would open the scoring after a bit of a lucky break. The puck bounced off a player in the neutral zone and right on Benoit Pouliot’s stick. He carried it into the zone, cut to the middle and fired the puck upstairs and past Fleury’s blocker for the 1-0 lead. The Rangers were really carrying the play early on as the Penguins were held without a shot through the first six minutes of the period. New York would extend it to 2-0 as both Penguins defenseman chased the puck into the corner. This left Brad Richards all by himself in front of the net and he slid the puck past Marc-Andre Fleury. The shots would be in the Rangers’ favor after the first at 13-8, fairly indicative of the play.
The early part of the second period would be dominated by Pittsburgh thanks to a couple of Rangers penalties, though the Penguins would fail to convert. The Penguins would finally break through on a goal from Lee Stempniak, who received a drop pass from Beau Bennett to start the play. Stempniak drove the net on his back hand and put the Pens’ first goal past Henrik Lundqvist.
The offensive onslaught continued for Pittsburgh as they outshot the Rangers 10-2 through the first 12 minutes of the second period. Eventually, a shot from James Neal caught a piece of Lundqvist and popped in the air. Evgeni Malkin went to swat at it, but missed the puck (and caught Lundqvist’s glove). The puck dropped down and into the net for a good goal. The period would end with the Pens having a huge edge in shots in the second (15-4) and now an edge in the game (23-17). The second story would be the Rangers going 0-for-4 to that point on the power play, now with zero conversions in 21 straight chances and 3-for-33 overall in the playoffs.
After teams took turns dominating each of the first two periods, the third period was very even, shots being 5-4 halfway through the period in Pittsburgh’s favor. Each goalie traded magnificent glove saves and neither was giving an inch to the opponent. After a balanced and fairly uneventful third period, the game was off to overtime.
The Rangers would stave off a blown lead as Derick Brassard came out from the half-wall and went top shelf over Marc-Andre Fleury’s right shoulder. It would be a just reward for Brassard as he and Pouliot (who scored the first goal) led the Rangers forwards in CorsiForRelative-percentage through three periods at 13.4-percent each.
Minnesota Wild at Chicago Blackhawks – CHI wins 5-2, CHI leads series 1-0
After a relatively quiet first period from both sides, the Wild would take a double-minor and would pay for it. A slap shot from the point by Brent Seabrook would be deflected by Bryan Bickell in front of the net for a 1-0 lead. A controversial play where a loose puck was jammed home by Brandon Bollig but the goal was called off as the referee said the play was dead before the puck crossed the line. It was a close call, but it was still 1-0. The ‘Hawks finished the period with the 24-15 shot attempt advantage.
Minnesota really took it to Chicago through the first parts of the second period. After the first 10 minutes, the Wild had a 10-2 shot advantage in the period with a Matt Moulson post shot to go with it. Despite the Wild’s pressure, they would concede another goal. On the power play, a beautiful backhand pass from Brandon Saad across the face of the crease found Hossa for a tap-in-goal to the side of Ilya Bryzgalov. The period would end with the Wild having a 17-3 domination in shots for the frame, but Chicago was the only team with a goal. Corey Crawford was the difference through forty minutes, saving all 25 shots he faced.
Minnesota would score less than two minutes into the third period as a scrum in front of Crawford resulted in the puck briefly crossing the line. A shot from Clayton Stoner bounced around in front before Johnny Oduya accidentally kicked it in his own net seconds after clearing it off the line.
After six minutes of the third period, the ‘Hawks had failed to register a shot on goal (Wild had one). Kyle Brodziak would eventually tie the game for the Wild after a turnover from Chicago in their own zone. Dany Heatley forced a turnover along the boards and Erik Haula to the left of Crawford for a Brodziak one-time tap-in goal to make it 2-2.
Patrick Kane would score a highlight reel goal not long after, though, to make it 3-2. He faked a drop pass coming across the blue line, would drive wide and go short side, just under the crossbar, to give Chicago the lead again. Kane would put the nail in the coffin with 3:13 left. On a very nice play from the ‘Hawks, a slap-pass by Patrick Sharp was redirected by Ben Smith right to Kane, who made no mistake. Bickell would score on the empty net with 2:41 on the clock as Minnesota would pull the goalie early and he would seal it from centre ice.
Minnesota would outshoot Chicago 32-22, but two power play goals and an empty-netter, with a solid performance from Crawford, were the difference.
