The weekend that was

We had a full slate of playoff hockey on our hands this past weekend. Today I'll take a look at what happened in each series and give you my thoughts as we prepare for week 2 of Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Boston vs. Buffalo:

The Bruins evened up the series with a 5-3 over the Sabres on Saturday afternoon but the big story to come out of this was the injury to Sabres forward Thomas Vanek. The injury occurred in the first period when he slid into the end boards after being hooked by Bruins' defenseman Johnny Boychuk. From the looks of it it seems he injured his foot on the play. At this moment Vanek is listed as doubtful for Game 3 tonight. This is a big blow for the Sabres as Vanek may be their best scoring forward. All of a sudden these two teams are more equal at forward than they were before which means goaltending becomes more important for Game 3. The play of Sabres goalie Ryan Miller & Bruins goalie Tukka Rask should determine which team wins Game 3 later tonight.

Montreal vs. Washington:

Washington came out looking to send a message after losing in overtime 3-2 to Montreal in Game 1. Instead they found themselves down 2-0 to Montreal with the Canadiens scoring on both their shots on goal. This lead to Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau to pull Jose Theodore in net and replace him with Seymon Varlamov. It didn't work right away as the Canadiens increased their lead to 4-1 before the Capitals started their comeback. Nicklas Backstrom scored his 1st goal of the game just before the end of the 2nd period to make it 4-2. In the 3rd period Alex Ovechkin got is 1st goal of the series on a tip in and Backstrom added another goal to make it a 4-4 game. Game 1 hero Tomas Plekanec scored on a wrist shot with five minutes to play to give Montreal a 5-4 lead and seemingly deflate the crowd at Verizon center. Capitals defenseman John Carlson was able to reignite the crowd scoring on a snap shot with under 90 seconds to play to tie the game at 5 and force overtime. In the overtime it didn't take long for the Capitals to win the game as Backstrom scored on a snap shot thirty seconds in to give the Capitals a 6-5 win.

Nicklas Backstrom scored the 7th hat trick in playoff history for the capitals but lost in the shuffle was Andrei Kostitsyn hat trick for Montreal which their 1st playoff hat trick since Eric Desjardins scored one against Los Angeles in Game 2 of the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals. Game 3 is tonight in Montreal and the question is who will be in net for the Capitals. Bruce Boudreau says that both goalies could see action the rest of the series and is not tipping his hand as to who will start Game 3.

Los Angeles vs. Vancouver:

The Kings evened up this series at 1-1 with a 3-2 win over the Canucks. Vancouver jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st period before the Kings rallied, scoring two goals in 27 seconds to tie the game at 2-2. Kings forward Anze Kopitar was the hero in overtime scoring on wrist shot to give the Kings a 3-2 win. So far this has been the most entertaining series of the 1st round. I just have a feeling this one is going seven games.

Onto Sunday's action starting with Phoenix vs Detroit.

The Coyotes scored 29 seconds into the 1st period and never looked back beating the Red wings in Detroit 4-2. As a Red Wings fan what is frustrating about this loss is that Detroit is clearly the more talented team and yet they are playing to the level of the Coyotes. Their defense seems like they are always out of position and while Howard hasn't looked bad he has looked ordinary in net. Lucky for the Wings Phoenix goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov has also looked ordinary.

Right now Detroit is playing like a team that just thinks they can flip a switch and turn it on when they want. That may work in the regular season but if you play that way in the post-season you will find yourself in a hole. That is the case here as the Wings trail the Coyotes 2 games to 1. I expect the Wings to bounce back and win Game 4 of the series.

New Jersey vs. Philadelphia:

Flyers forward Daniel Carcillo scored on a wrap around 3:35 into overtime to give the Flyers a 3-2 win and a 2 games to 1 lead on the Devils. This game wasn't televised and since I didn't see it I don't have much to say. All I will say is I don't like the Flyers and I don't like Carcillo. Let's just move on.

Pittsburgh vs. Ottawa:

The Game One win by Ottawa has seemed to light a spark under the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Evgeni Malkin & Sidney Crosby scored on wrist shots in the 2nd period to break a 1-1 tie and lead the Penguins to a 4-2 win over the Senators. I only was able to watch a few minutes of the game last night and it seemed like there was always a scrap going on and the Penguins were doing their best to get underneath the skin of the Senators. With Matt Cooke on Pittsburgh's roster this is very likely the case. If Ottawa wants to win their series they will have to learn to keep their composure on the ice.

Nashville vs. Chicago:

Antti Niemi stopped all 23 shots he faced and goals by Dave Bolland & Patrick Kane gave the Blackhawks a 2-0 win over the Predators evening up their series at one game a piece. After dropping Game 1 to Nashville it was an important win for Chicago but Nashville accomplished their goal which was getting a split on the road as they head back for Game 3. Chicago is the more talented team and I expect a split in Nashville for games 3 & 4 making this series a best of three.

San Jose vs. Colorado:

The Sharks are in trouble once again this post-season. The Avs won in overtime last night 1-0 when Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle accidentally shot the puck into his own net. What is happening here is the same thing that happens every post-season for San Jose, the forwards disappear and the opposing goalie is out playing Evgeni Nabokov. This time it is Avalance goalie Craig Anderson matching Nabokov save for save. Both of Colorado wins have come because of fluke goals but this time of year you need a little puck luck. The Sharks are lucky they aren't done 3-0. What San Jose needs is their forwards to start finding the back of the net & Nabokov to play better than net than Anderson. Both have yet to happen in the same game and if it doesn't happen soon it will be another short post-season in San Jose.

We have three games tonight with a double-header on Versus. Buffalo travels to Boston followed by Vancouver taking on Los Angeles. The other game this evening is Washington vs. Montreal. Take care and enjoy the games tonight.