Playoffs Night 3 Info and Articles

April 11, 2008   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

Tonight, the Rangers and Devils do battle in Game Two at The Prudential Center. New York leads the series 1-0. The Caps and Flyers finally get underway in the nation’s cap. How will Alexander Ovechkin fare in his first playoff game? The Senators also look to avenge a Game One defeat in Pittsburgh. The Wild look to draw even against the Avalanche.

In case you missed it, the Stars dominated the Ducks getting four power play goals in a 4-0 blanking of the defending champs, who looked listless. Stephane Robidas had a pair of assists as did Mike Ribeiro and Jere Lehtinen scored for Dallas, who took home ice away. The Sharks rebounded with a big 2-0 shutout of Calgary to level their series as it goes back to Alberta Sunday night. Joe Pavelski and Torrey Mitchell scored in a dominant second in which San Jose outshot the Flames 27-3 due to a plethora of power plays. Calgary was very undisciplined. Evgeni Nabokov stopped all 21 shots including a highway robbery of former teammate Owen Nolan in the third which kept the Flames off the board.

Here are today’s key match-ups along with vital playoff info and articles:

THE NHL TODAY – FRIDAY, APRIL 11

THE HEADLINES
– Ovechkin Makes Playoff Debut Tonight Against Philadelphia
– Zetterberg’s Two Goals Lift Red Wings over Predators
– Canadiens’ Price Wins Playoff Debut against Bruins
– Turco’s Fourth Playoff Shutout Downs Ducks
– Sharks’ Nabokov Shuts Out Flames to Even Series
– Notre Dame, Boston College Meet in Saturday’s NCAA Hockey Finals THE SCHEDULE
– Game 2: Senators at Penguins, 7 p.m. (CBC) (Penguins lead series 1-0)
– Game 1: Flyers at Capitals, 7 p.m. (VERSUS)
– Game 2: Rangers at Devils, 7 p.m. (TSN) (Rangers lead series 1-0)
– Game 2: Avalanche at Wild, 9 p.m. (VERSUS) (Avalanche lead series 1-0)

THE SCORES
– Game 1: Canadiens 4, Bruins 1 (Canadiens lead series 1-0)
– Game 1: Red Wings 3, Predators 1 (Red Wings lead series 1-0)
– Game 2: Sharks 2, Flames 0 (Series tied 1-1)
– Game 1: Stars 4, Ducks 0 (Stars lead series 1-0)

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF MEDIA WEBSITE NOW LIVE
To assist media members covering the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the National Hockey League’s Communications Department has introduced www.stanleycupplayoffs2008.com, a ‘one-stop shopping’ website that provides story lines for each series, statistical previews and other features, including a fully searchable version of Total Stanley Cup, the 2008 NHL Playoff Media Guide. In addition to providing new information at the start of each round, www.stanleycupplayoffs2008.com will be updated on a regular basis.

WHATS NEW ON THE STANLEY CUP MEDIA WEBSITE
– This date in playoffs history (updated daily).
– Team playoff guides (Dallas, Detroit, New Jersey and Philadelphia).
– News, notes and milestones from last night’s games.

THE STORIES

KOSTITSYN BROTHERS PUT ON A SHOW FOR CANADIENS’ FAITHFUL
Pat Hickey writes in the MONTREAL GAZETTE, “It’s a shame that hockey fans in Belarus weren’t able to follow the exploits of brothers Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn on TV last night. Those wild and crazy guys from Novopolotsk made their National Hockey League playoff debuts memorable as they each scored a goal early in the first period last night to propel the Canadiens to a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. ‘Maybe next game,’ Sergei said when asked whether the game was available on TV back home. Sergei Kostitsyn said he wasn’t going to be nervous in his first playoff game and he didn’t look like it as he gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at the 34-second mark of the first period. Brother Andrei made it 2-0 at 2:02 and said he wasn’t trying to match his younger brother. They were the third-fastest goals ever scored by brothers in an NHL playoff game.”

– Watch the highlights on NHL Network Online.

FROM THE STAT WIZARDS AT ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU
Bryan Smolinski scored a goal for the Canadiens in Game One of their series against the Bruins. Montreal is the sixth team for which Smolinski has scored a goal in a playoff game. (The others were Boston, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Ottawa and Vancouver.) That ties an NHL record, shared by Doug Gilmour (St. Louis, Calgary, Toronto, New Jersey, Buffalo and Montreal) and Mike Sillinger (Detroit, Philadelphia, Florida, St. Louis, Nashville and the New York Islanders).

STARS’ POWER PLAY SHUTS DOWN DUCKS
Mike Heika writes in the DALLAS MORNING NEWS, “The Dallas Stars may have surprised even themselves Thursday night by playing a game that has been missing for almost a month and shutting down the defending Stanley Cup champions on their home ice in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series. Not only did Dallas put together the kind of team effort that was a hallmark of this squad earlier in the season, it laid a huge amount of doubt onto the table for the Anaheim Ducks and their fans. The Stars went 4-for-7 on the power play and took a 4-0 victory against a team that touted the best home record in the NHL. It also set up a big challenge for the Ducks, who must rebound in Game 2 on Saturday or face the prospect of going down 2-0 in the series with Game 3 and Game 4 in Dallas next week.”

– Watch the highlights on NHL Network Online.

RED WINGS HOLD OFF TENACIOUS PREDATORS
Bob Wojnowski writes in the DETROIT NEWS, “The other goalie was a no-name newcomer making saves, big ones and small ones, and you could see the old storyline developing. The Red Wings were taking shots, big ones and small ones, and old tensions were rising. And then it ended where it often ends once the Wings get cranking—at point blank, from Hank. Nashville is feisty and its rookie goalie, Dan Ellis, was good, but the Wings are better, and the sooner they show it, the easier everyone will breathe. The Wings showed just enough in their playoff opener Thursday night at a mostly full Joe Louis Arena, edging the Predators 3-1 in the type of tight game we expected. Henrik ‘Hank’ Zetterberg scored the winner at 6:54 of the third period, blistering a shot off a perfect pass from Pavel Datsyuk after a fortuitous bounce kept the puck in Nashville’s zone. Zetterberg clinched it with an empty-netter, and the truth is, this wasn’t easy for the Wings. Then again, it rarely is. Ah, another playoffs.”

– Watch the highlights on NHL Network Online.

SHARKS SNUFF FLAMES TO GET BACK ON TRACK
Mark Purdy writes in the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, “The Sharks didn’t nab a victory Thursday night. They Nabbied a victory. They Nabbied themselves back on track. Heavens to Kamenogorsk, did Evgeni Nabokov save the Sharks’ tail fins in their 2-0 win over the Calgary Flames. On a night when the Sharks needed their goalie to be great, Nabokov was greater. The ethnic Russian from Kazakhstan who speaks five languages might have had his best playoff game ever, in any language. But the only ethnicity that mattered to him was the Sharks’ continuing legal status as Playoff Viable Citizens. Nabokov said, in English, ‘They’re playing great hockey. They’re working their butts off. Give them all credit. They just keep coming.’ But fortunately, when the Flames kept coming, Nabokov kept erecting his unflappable stop signs and wound up with his sixth playoff shutout. The score sheet showed that he made just 21 saves, not a huge number. But the score sheet accounts only for quantity, not quality. Or timing.”

– Watch the highlights on NHL Network Online.
– Mark Emmons on Jeremy Roenick’s quest for the Stanley Cup.

CAPITALS OF THE WORLD
Tarik El-Bashir writes in the WASHINGTON POST, “It’s no surprise that the Washington Capitals have captivated local sports fans with their run to the playoffs, an improbable surge sparked by their charismatic star, Alex Ovechkin, everyman coach Bruce Boudreau and stars-in-the-making Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green. What’s surprising is the amount of attention the Capitals’ charge into the playoffs is receiving outside the Washington area. The Capitals are a big deal in Moscow, where the quartet of Ovechkin, Sergei Fedorov, Viktor Kozlov and Alexander Semin has turned the Capitals into ‘Russia’s team,’ much the way the Detroit Red Wings’ ‘Russian Five’ became the country’s surrogate squad in the 1990s. They are headline news in Sweden, Backstrom’s home. And they’re the talk of sports television and radio programs in Canada, where the game’s most rabid fans have been drawn in by Ovechkin’s record-breaking season and the Capitals’ remarkable rally from last place to Southeast Division champions.”

– Watch an English news report from “Russia Today.”
– Thom Loverro on unassuming Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau.
– Read Capitals owner Ted Leonsis’ playoff journals in USA TODAY.

FLYERS LOOKING FOR CAPITAL GAIN WITH BIRON
Jack McCaffery writes in the DELAWARE COUNTY TIMES, “The Flyers took a train from Philadelphia to Washington for the Stanley Cup playoffs. They also took a gamble. Not that it was a dramatic risk, or that it was a lottery-ticket, trillion-to-one stab. Not that it was born from anything other than solid scouting principles and courageous commitment of funds. Not that it has seemed ridiculous more than one calendar year later, or that anyone warned them of a hockey folly. But something told them that they could end their 0-for-three-decades championship slump with a goaltender who has never arrived by plane, train, automobile or even odd hockey luck to play in an NHL playoff game. Not one. Not a period. Not a shift. Not a shot. As they turn now to face the Capitals — then look forward to another series, and another, then another — the Flyers’ lone prayer for success is that they were not wrong when they traded for, then committed to Martin Biron.”

FROM THE STAT WIZARDS AT ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU
Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Martin Biron is expected to make his NHL playoff debut tonight at Washington. Biron’s 378 career regular-season games without a playoff appearance ranked second all-time among goaltenders to Mike Dunham (394).

QUICK HITS
– Scott Burnside on the affable nature of Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

ON THIS DATE IN PLAYOFF HISTORY
April 11, 1936 – Detroit coach Jack Adams steered the Red Wings to their first Stanley Cup championship with a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 4 of the best-of-five Stanley Cup Final. The Red Wings, who had entered the NHL in 1926-27, became the last of the League’s “Original Six” teams to win the Cup.

April 11, 1965 – Detroit Red Wings center Norm Ullman set NHL individual and team playoff records by scoring two goals just five seconds apart in Game Five of their Semi-final series against Chicago. Ullman scored at 17:35 and 17:40 of the second period in a 4-2 Detroit victory. The goals were scored in almost identical fashion — snapshots from about 50 feet out, using Chicago defensemen as screens to beat Glenn Hall. Chicago won the best-of-seven series 4-3.

April 11, 1971 – Boston Bruins defenseman Bobby Orr became the first defenseman to score three goals in a playoff game during a 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Since then, nine other defensemen have equalled Orr’s mark.

April 11, 1980 – Montreal’s Yvon Lambert scored at 0:29 of overtime to give the Canadiens a 4-3 victory over Hartford and a sweep of the best-of-five Preliminary round series. The game marked the final NHL appearance of two Hall-of-Famers as Hartford’s Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull retired following the Whalers’ elimination from the playoffs.

April 11, 1981 – The Boston Bruins set a new playoff record by scoring three shorthanded goals against the Minnesota North Stars in Game Three of their Preliminary round series. The three shorthanded goals were not enough as Minnesota won the game 6-3 and swept the best-of-five series. The record has since been equalled by NY Islanders (Apr. 17/83 against NY Rangers) and Toronto Maple Leafs (May 8, 1994 against San Jose).

April 11, 1989 – Philadelphia’s Ron Hextall was the first goaltender to score a goal in the playoffs with an empty-net goal against the Washington Capitals. The Flyers won the game 8-5.

April 11, 2007 – Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo made a record-setting Stanley Cup playoff debut, stopping 72 of an NHL-record 76 shots and helping the Canucks defeat the Dallas Stars 5-4 in four overtimes in the opener of the teams’ Western Conference Quarter-final. Luongo faced the most shots in an NHL game since the League started recording the statistic in 1956. The previous mark of 75 was shared by the New York Islanders’ Kelly Hrudey, against Washington in the 1987 playoffs, and the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Ed Belfour, against Philadelphia in the 2003 postseason. Luongo’s 72 saves matched Belfour’s total and came within one of Hrudey’s NHL-record 73. The previous top performance among goaltenders making their first playoff start was that of Anaheim’s Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who made 63 saves in a 2-1 triple-overtime victory at Detroit on April 10, 2003.

STANLEY CUP FINAL PLAYOFF ACCREDITATION APPLICATION NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
The NHL Public Relations department has launched an online media accreditation application to help streamline the credentialing process. Please click here to submit your credential request for the 2008 Stanley Cup Final.

– Credential applications sent via e-mail and fax are still being accepted. The application may be downloaded by clicking here. The deadline for the Stanley Cup Final media accreditation application is FRIDAY, MAY 16.

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