Wednesday, May 06, 2009

A Pair of Game 3s

Big night for the Canucks on Tuesday, as they managed to overcome the United Center crowd and their own doubts to come up with a win against the Blackhawks. The 3-1 win for Vancouver gives them a 2-1 series lead, regaining home-ice advantage in the series, which they had lost in Game 2.

The top pool point-getters on the team were Alex Edler, Steve Bernier and Roberto Luongo, who all finished a pair of points each. Edler having two assists, Bernier scored the winning goal and Luongo earning the win. Of the three, it should come as no surprise that the most popular player is Luongo, with 18 selections in the pool.

The Ducks and Red Wings continued on their series on Tuesday night, playing their first game since the triple-overtime marathon and this game was denied another overtime session after a quick whistle negated a tying goal for Detroit. The Ducks went on to win the game 2-1 and took a series lead, which is also 2-1.

It was a fairly gritty win for the Ducks, as non-pool goalie, Jonas Hiller, made 45 saves for the Ducks in the win, but it was Scott Niedermayer that had the only 2-point effort for the pool in the game, scoring the winning goal in the second period. Niedermayer was only taken twice in the pool in the playoffs, so his bonus point did not ripple through the pool.

The Ducks are now awaiting word on the injury suffered by James Wisniewski in Game 3 last night. Wisniewski first took a slapshot into his upper body, which seemed to really hurt him and before the play had ended, he also took an elbow to the face, but it seemed clear that the puck to the body was what initially stung him. Wisniewski was taken off the ice on a stretcher and taken to hospital, but there was still no word on his condition.

Tonight's Games

It's a pair of Game 3's in the Eastern Conference tonight, both getting going rather early. In the first game, it's the Capitals, who are carrying a 2-0 series lead from their two home games, are heading to the igloo in Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins. The Penguins have a lot of work to do to make it through this series now and it all begins again tonight at 5pm MT, televised on CBC.


In the second game, the Hurricanes earned a split in Boston and will look to use their home-ice to take advantage of the Bruins in Game 3. The Bruins will have their work cut out for them after the performance that Cam Ward gave on Sunday, but their offense is rarely stifled in two consecutive games. This game will go at 5:30pm MT and it's televised on TSN.

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