Plenty of storylines as a goalie controversy is brewing Philly, the Bruins try to stave off a 3-0 hole and a battle with history, Pittsburgh tries to bounce back after an embarrassing Game Two, and Detroit looks to put Phoenix in a hole.
The Night that Was:
Two series in the Western Conference are in danger of wrapping up quickly. With the Chicago Blackhawks going down 3-0 the night before, the Phoenix Coyotes found themselves in an identical hole after Game Three against the Red Wings. The Wings were up 2-0 before the game was even three minutes old thanks to the rare scoring touch of Rusland Salei and Drew Miller’s first of the playoffs, and Phoenix wouldn’t score until Valtteri Filppula made it 3-0. Johan Franzen and Ray Whitney exchanged third-period goals, but Detroit would score four goals for the third game in this series, winning 4-2. It was a less-than-stellar night from Ilya Bryzgalov, who despite making 30 saves didn’t look that strong. Jimmy Howard meanwhile, made 28 strong, sturdy saves to put Detroit up 3-0 in their series.
The goaltending carousel stopped on Brian Boucher in Philadelphia and Sergei Bobrovsky was relegated to the press box as Michael Leighton backed up Bouch for Game Three. It seemed to work too, as Boucher made 35 of 37 saves, as Philadelphia overcame another strong game from Marc-Andre Gragnani (2 assists) for the 4-2 win. The Sabres and the Flyers left the first tied at one thanks to Jeff Carter and Drew Stafford, but two goals in the second from Philly helped sink Buffalo, as Nathan Gerbe’s late-period goal just made things a little closer. The victory put the defending Eastern Conference Champions up 2-1 in their series.
Boston came out with a point to prove last night: That they were no pushovers. The Bruins’ proved that point as they scored three minutes in to try and take the Montreal crowd of it, and Nathan Horton added another in the first period, his first playoff goal since he was in the OHL. Jacques Martin accused his team of only playing half the game and that seemed to show as, once they were down 3-0 early in the second, Andrei Kostitsyn and Tomas Plekanec but the Habs within two, and Tim Thomas was forced to make 15 saves in the third period, with about half of them happening in the last seven minutes of the game. Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi had two assists, Zdeno Chara had one in his return to the lineup, and Thomas made 36 saves overall to get Boston back in to their series as they now trail Montreal 2-1.
Every team who scored first last night won, and all of them seemed to score before the game was five minutes old. The same can be said about Pittsburgh, who got one out of Maxime Talbot as the game had been going for five minutes, and Aaron Asham added another less than a minute later. Martin St. Louis would score two goals, one late in the first and one early in the third, to tie it, but Tyler Kennedy would put home a rebound just 30 seconds after St. Louis tied it. Dwayne Roloson stopped 27 shots in the loss, but many of those saves were last-ditch efforts that Pittsburgh created from moving the puck and exploiting the defense, while Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves to back-stop his team to a 3-2 win and a 2-1 series lead.
The Injury Bug:
-Chris Pronger was skating yesterday and working his hand out, but the Flyers also had to deal with rumours that another break had surfaced in his hand. He’s still questionable for Game Four.
–Henrik Zetterberg was skating yesterday and trying to push himself through his knee sprain. Mike Babcock says it’s now down to Zetterberg getting used to playing with the discomfort.
-For Chicago, trying to stave off elimination, Dave Bolland and Brent Seabrook are probably for Game Four, while Tomas Kopecky is out, and Bryan Bickell is questionable.
UPDATE: Neither Bolland or Seabrook are on the ice for practice.
What’s on Tonight?
Vancouver tries to send Chicago home…well…in Chicago, as the Blackhawks host Game Four, and San Jose and Los Angeles battle for the upper-hand in their series with things tied at one game apiece.
News and Rumours Around the League:
-Raffi Torres will not be suspended for his hit on Brent Seabrook in Game Three of Chicago/Vancouver, while Chris Kunitz and Ben Lovejoy have hearings scheduled for their hits in last night’s Game Three.
Your Top Playoff Performer of the Night:
Patrice Bergeron’s two assists, plus-three rating, and 10/17 on faceoffs helped Boston get back into their series with Montreal last night. Bergeron assisted on the first and final goal for Boston.
You can follow Bryan on Twitter at BryanThiel_88.