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.

Still 3-0 for the Flyers as there was no scoring in the second period.

Pittsburgh outshot the Flyers 12-9 in the second, so it's 26-25 for the Flyers after two.

Biron was been great for the Flyers in goal.

Pittsburgh were much better on the faceoff in the second as they won 11 out of 17.

The Flyers will head into the third period on their fourth power play. They have scored twice in the game with the man-advantage after going one for twelve in the first three games.

Notes from the third period:

Jordan Staal made it very interesting with two goals in the third before Lupul scored his second of the game.

Staal returned to the Penguins after missing practice on Thursday to attend the funeral of his grandfather. A nice gift for his grandfather.

Martin Biron was outstanding tonight as the Flyers were outshot 38-34.

Joffrey Lupul had seven shots on net including his two goals.

Game 5 is on Sunday in Pittsburgh.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Pittsburgh 4 Philadelphia 2

You don't get Evgeni Malkin mad. Mike Richards took Malkin hard into the boards behind the Flyers net during a Flyers power play. The Flyers quickly broke out on a 4-on-2 and Malkin got up slowly and tried to get back. Sergei Gonchar got the puck and found Malkin by himself at the Flyers blueline. Malkin came in on a breakaway and actually took a slapshot, beating Martin Biron. Malkin looked mad after scoring the shorthanded goal, so it seems to me that had he hit Biron with the hard slapper, that would have been fine with him as well.

The Flyers outshot the Penguins 7-6 in the second and have a 19-17 lead after two.

Penguins were a lot better in the second period on the draw as they won 12 of 18, after a poor first period.

Coburn continues to lead the Flyers in ice time with 17:28 minutes through two periods, while Gonchar has 16:26 to lead the Penguins.

Notes from the third period:

No scoring so the Penguins lead the series 1-0.

Evgeni Malkin was the best player on the ice and was even in the mix when there was a scuffle with 1:28 to go in the game. He was the only Penguin to take a penalty in the skirmish as he stuck his nose in there.

Fleury was outstanding after a shaky first 13 minutes. He really gained a lot of confidence after the poke check in the first period.

The Flyers outshot the Penguins 28-21 in the game, including 9-4 in the third. Biron better bring his 'A' game on Sunday for Game 2 as he was less than stellar tonight.

Gonchar led the Penguins in ice time with 22:44 while Coburn led all skaters on both teams with 25:09 minutes. The Atlanta Thrashers made a big mistake in dealing Coburn last season and kudos to GM Paul Holmgren for stealing him for Alexei Zhitnik.

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.

It's hard enough stopping Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Holmstrom and Franzen. What the Preds don't need is goals against by the likes of Draper. If Hasek stones Nashville for the second half of the game, this series could also be over by the weekend.

That is the kind of goal that can change a series.

Can't blame Gerber for the 3-2 deficit against the Pens after two periods. He's kicked out 38 of 40 Pittsburgh shots.

The snore in New Jersey continues. 27 shots between the teams. No goals

Pittsburgh was the only home team to win and they did it in convincing fashion with a 4-0 shutout. They peppered Ottawa's Martin Gerber with 35 shots, while Marc-Andre Fleury was perfect in stopping all 26 shots headed his way.

The Rangers are starting to look very good in the drive to the Cup. The Rangers were 7-0-1 against the Devils this season, but four of the games were tied in regulation. Martin Brodeur will have to be his usual outstanding self in order for the Devils to win this series.

Out West, the Avs knocked off the Wild in overtime, but this series could go the distance. It would be no surprise for Game 2 to be a wild one (pardon the pun) as Minnesota was not too happy about the hit that Mark Parrish received. Don't be surprised to see at least three of Derek Boogaard, Chris Simon, Aaron Voros and Todd Fedoruk in the lineup. It shall be interesting to see who Colorado puts in their lineup for Game 2.

Miikka Kiprusoff absolutely stole Game 1 for Calgary. He stopped 37 shots as the Flames were outshot 39-23. There are two ways to look at Game 1. What chance do San Jose have if Stephane Yelle scores twice in a game. The other way to look at it is that the Flames needed Stephane Yelle to score twice to win. They won't get that again this season. This is another series that looks like it could go the distance.

Don't fret if your team lost Game 1. There is still a lot of hockey to be played.

Can the Anaheim Ducks do the same this season?

It is very hard for a team to play into June and come back the following season and do the same. The Ducks two best players last season, Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne retired last season, took a long vacation and unretired.

Niedermayer returned in mid-December (playing in 48 games) and Selanne returned in February to play in 26 contests. The duo took off enough time to get a six month rest for Niedermayer and an eight month vacation for Selanne.

Don't underestimate how important this may be. Their aging bodies had a lot of time to recover from the various bumps, bruises and more, that occur during the playoffs. The two will be at full strength when the playoffs begin on Wednesday.

When you add the fact that the Ducks have the best set of blueliners in the NHL, and the emergence of Ryan Getzlaf as a star, you can see why the Ducks cannot be dismissed in talking about Anaheim's Stanley Cup chances.

Every major sport in North America has had repeat champions since Detroit last did it in 1998. The Lakers in basketball did it three years in a row ending in 2002. The Yankees won three times in a row from 1998-2000 and the New England Patroits won the Super Bowl in back-to-back years in 2003 and 2004.

It seems that hockey is the toughest sport to repeat in, with a salary cap and the demands of playing playoff hockey for two months, only to go back on the ice a measly three months later. It is a price that not too many teams can make anymore, with the sole question being, can the Ducks do it?

We shall find out in June, if not earlier.

With their loss to the Bruins Friday, the Sens have recorded only five out of a possible 16 points over their last eight games. The team's record over its last 20 games is 7-11-2.

To top things off, captain Daniel Alfredsson and inspirational forward Mike Fisher were both significantly injured in Thursday's 8-2 drubbing of Toronto.

Last year Ottawa seemed on the verge of becoming Stanley Cup champions. They might have won the cup last season had they been better equipped to handle the Ducks' physical wingers.

It now seems that the window for ultimate success has closed. Where has that talented Senators team gone?

I don't know. But it is clear it has left the building.

Ovechkin is both.

He leads the NHL in goals with 62.

He leads the NHL in points with 109.

He leads the NHL in power play goals with 21 and is ninth this season in plus/minus with a plus 26.

What more could one player do. I know the argument will be that the Washington Capitals won't make the playoffs and that the MVP has to be on a playoff team. Well, if Ovechkin wasn't on the Capitals, they would be the favorites to get Steve Stamkos in the Entry Draft. The Capitals would have finished last and the only way that Stamkos would not be Washington-bound would be if some team jumped up in the lottery.

Nobody has stats like Ovechkin in the NHL and no one deserves to win the Hart Trophy more than he does. Not Nicklas Lidstrom, not Evgeni Malkin, not even Martin Brodeur or Jarome Iginla.

It should be Ovechkin, Malkin and Lidstrom as one, two, three.

We shall see how the voting goes in June.

If Florida, Columbus and Phoenix don’t qualify for the post-season this year--and it does not look as if they will--they will miss the playoffs for an unbelievable seventh consecutive campaign. Atlanta has played in only one playoff series since the new millennium, and Washington has missed the Stanley Cup dance five out of the last seven years. Chicago has qualified for the playoffs only three times since the 1995-06 season and Los Angeles has made only two playoff appearances over that same time span.

On the flip side, New Jersey and Ottawa have not missed the playoffs since the 1995-06 campaign and Detroit has an incredible streak of 17 straight seasons in the post-season, the longest in pro sports.

Some may argue, that because there have been six different Cup winners over the last six seasons, there is some sort of parity in the NHL. I say, tell that to Kings’, Blackhawks’, Panthers’, Blue Jackets’ or Coyotes’ fans. And when you do tell them, make sure you do so at a distance, for you may be egged for your ignorance.