Notes from the first period:

Philadelphia 3 Pittsburgh 0

Pittsburgh came out like gangbusters and had an 11-4 shots on goal lead as the Flyers made it 1-0 on a Joffrey Lupul goal. The goal was on a slapshot by Lupul that Penguins defenseman Hal Gill deflected over the shoulder of Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Flyers then took over and made it 2-0 on a power play goal by Daniel Briere. It was Briere's first goal this round and head coach John Stevens moved him to the wing alongside Mike Richards and Scott Hartnell in an attempt to get Briere going. It seems to have worked.

Jeff Carter made it 3-0 late in the first, also on the power play and it looks like the Flyers are going to go back to Pittsburgh for Game 5.

The Flyers ended up outshooting the Penguins 17-13, so they outshot them 13-2 in the final half of the period.

Biron was outstanding early in the period and he kept the Flyers in the game, something he had trouble doing in the previous three games.

Randy Jones led the Flyers in shots on goal with four and Daniel Briere chipped in with three, while Marian Hossa led Pittsburgh with three shots. Hossa was stopped on a power play breakaway by Biron while the score was still tied and the Flyers seemed to take over the game at that point.

The Flyers won 14 of 20 faceoffs with Mike Richards being perfect in four draws.

I'll be back at the end of the second period.

Continue reading "Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia Game 4 (In Game Coverage)" »

Posted by Michael Finewax at 08:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Second Period

Talk about a role reversal. The Wings were all over the Stars outshooting them 14-6. However, Loui Eriksson, perhaps Dallas' most dangerous forward tonight, scored with 23 seconds left to give the Stars their first lead in any game of the series so far.

Marty Turco has held the Stars in the game thus far and will need to continue to play well to prolong this series.

The Wings were 0-3 with the man advantage.

Brenden Morrow continues to play his usual gutsy brand of hockey blocking shots and moving bodies.

Both teams' top-line centers are having a great night in the faceoff circle. Ribeiro is 7-8 and Zetterberg is 10-14.

It should be a wild third period as the Stars try to stay alive.

First Period

It was a pretty uneventful first period with the Stars outshooting the Wings 9-5.

Dallas did a good job of controlling Detroit's big guns holding Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg to one shot between them.

The Stars also stayed out of the box, while the Wings were penalized three times.

Mike Ribeiro is having a good night so far in the faceoff circle with five wins in six draws. Now if he could just score!

Back after two.

Posted by Brian Rosenbaum at 09:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Second Period

The Penguins have completely neutralized the Flyer attack. Philly had only three shots on goal in the second period, and only eight overall. That’s embarrassing! If you don’t shoot, you can’t score. And if you don't score, you can’t win. It’s that simple.

Speaking of shots on goal, Jeff Carter has half the Flyer total with four.

Biron stopped all nine Penguin shots in the frame.

Jason Smith leads both teams with five hits and the Flyers have the edge in faceoffs 21-13. At least Philly is leading in a few categories tonight.

First Period

The Flyers don't seem as desperate as they should be with only five shots on goal after one period.

Luckily for Philly, the surprising R.J. Umberger scored his 10th of the playoffs (second only to Johan Franzen).

Jordan Staal is a trooper for playing despite his grandfather's death. He is getting smoked on faceoffs though, at 44%.

Gary Robert is not playing due to illness. Some reports state he has pneumonia.

Crosby has two assists. What else is new?

Back after two.

Posted by Brian Rosenbaum at 08:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brad Richards banks one in off Brad Stuart to tie the game. However super fourth-liner Jiri Hudler ties it on a breakaway on a beautiful individual effort.

Shots were even again at 7.

The Stars are forcing the play but can't stop the Wings' counterattack. There have been numerous breakaways and odd-man rushes after Dallas got caught in the Detroit zone.

The Stars have never had a lead in this series.

Marty Turco seems to be fighting the puck. Whereas, Osgood looks sharp and confident.

The Stars are 0-6 on the power play, and seem to be missing Lehtinen.

Dallas needs a hero. How about it Mr. Morrow?

Posted by Brian Rosenbaum at 09:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A very low shot total for the first period 7-7. Only Loui Eriksson and Pavel Datsyuk have more than one shot on goal.

Marty Turco can't solve the Wings or Datsyuk. He's allowed two goals to the Detroit center on only two shots.

Mike Modano is killing on face offs (7/10).

Jere Lehtinen is not playing due to a leg injury.

At least the Stars are hitting. They have out hit the Wings 14-8 so far.

Back after the second.

Posted by Brian Rosenbaum at 08:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wow!!! What a first period!

The goaltending left a lot to be desired at the Penguins grabbed a 3-2 lead at the end of the first period.

Fleury seemed to get more comfortable after poke checking Umberger on a breakaway and then making a nice save on the rebound, on a shot by Lupul. This was just after Crosby tied the score at 2.

Sykora opened the scoring for the Penguins on a beautiful goal and Mike Richards then potted two to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead, with Umberger getting assists on both.

Malkin scored with 6.5 seconds remaining in the first. That has to give the Penguins a boost and really deflate the Flyers with a goal so late in the period.

Flyers outshot the Penguins 12-11 in the period with Mike Richards and R.J. Umberger leading the way with four and three shots respectively for the Flyers. Malkin had three shots on net for the Pens.

Flyers were 12 of 19 on the faceoff.

Jordan Staal is lining up against Mike Richards. Richards is plus two and Staal is minus two for the period.

Sergei Gonchar led the Penguins in ice time with 8:37 while Braydon Coburn had a whopping 9:11 for the Flyers in the first stanza.

Continue reading "Game 1- Philadelphia @ Pittsburgh" »

Posted by Michael Finewax at 08:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Notes from the first period:

Boy, is Johan Franzen Superman or what? It looks like the only way the Stars will be able to stop him is with Kryptonite.

On Detroit's first goal, Tomas Holmstrom gave Marty Turco no chance to make the save as he screened him perfectly. The only way he was going to stop Rafalski's shot was if it hit him.

The Stars better stay out of the penalty box as both Red Wings goals were with the man-advantage.

Kirk Maltby is playing in his first game of the post-season. He played 2:16 minutes in the first period.

Notes from the second period:

Another power play goal for the Red Wings as Holmstrom potted one.

The first even strength goal by Filppula. A beautiful passing play as Kronwall hit Samuelsson who got it quickly to Filppula and the puck was in the net.

Dallas finally came alive after the Red Wings made it 4-0 as they swarmed around Osgood, who was great when he had to be.

The Stars finally beat Osgood as Morrow knocked in a rebound.

Brad Richards has five of the 15 Dallas shots on net.

Pavel Datsyuk has seven shots and Henrik Zetterberg has four shots on goal, out of 25 by the Red Wings.

All three have combined for 16 shots and no goals through two periods of play.

Notes from the third period:

No scoring so Detroit leads the series 1-0.

Detroit outshot Dallas 31-21 in the game,with Zetterberg and Datsyuk each getting seven shots apiece.

Detroit won 35 of 56 faceoffs.

Well, at least the Stars signed Fabian Brunnstrom today.

Posted by Michael Finewax at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)