Round 1: Saturday, April 25

Pittsburgh 5 : Philadelphia 3

Pittsburgh wins series 4-2
OH HAPPY DAY!! At first it was dreadful to hear the horn sound three times for the Flyers. I could not believe they could win this game so effortlessly so I spent the entire game pacing between my new found photog friends Tim and Tom and my sister who was also rooting for the Pens. After the 1st period the Flyers were up 2-0. The only thought I had about the Pens winning was that from my years of watching Flyers hockey, Philly does better when they either bully effectively or score the first goal within the first 10-12 minutes of the game which they did not do, the first goal (Mike Knuble) occurred with about 3 minutes to go in the 1st period. That was the good news going into the second, the bad news…Danny Briere scored #3 a few minutes into the 2nd. However, the second period turned out to be the game changer. The pens were able to get off 20 shots despite 13 penalty minutes whereas the Flyers has the same number of penalty minutes but only 9 shots. Two other game changing happenings in the 2nd period – after the third Philly goal Marc-Andre Fleury went into a zone and remained there and the Pens did what the Flyers did not do – diffuse the weight of winning the game among as many players as possible. In the 3rd period, Philly was too much on the defensive so 5 shots on goal was not going to bring them a come from behind win. Although considering that the Pen’s sixth goal was an empty netter by Sidney Crosby in the last minute of the period, tying the game was not out of reach for Philly. Surprisingly Flyer fans were not sore losers this time around, they seemed too disappointed to be obnoxious, or like some of the fans around us, too liquored up. It’s always hit or miss when going to the Wachovia Center but this time around I had a fabulous time – great view of the game, lots of laughs with staff and fans, edge of your seat hockey… all culminating in the Flyers going boo-bye. Here's a video of the last 10 seconds of the game:



Calgary 1 : Chicago 5
Chicago leads series 3-2

Anaheim 2 : San Jose 3 (OT)
Anaheim leads series 3-2

The Flyer/Pens game must have tired me out – after arriving back at my mom’s house I went to say hello to my cat Freddy Bear and conked out next to him. Zzzzz. So I missed the later games. In reading the recaps and watching highlights – advantage still stands for Chicago and Anaheim. Chicago is just getting started in playing their ‘better than’ hockey and with 48 shots on goal, San Jose better have won the game…yet they won by only 1 goal. The Ducks can figure out a strategy to win the series based on the last two games won by the Sharkypoos, who seem to have woken up but the question is, did they wake up in enough time.