Staying Alive

Going into last night's game 4's both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Vancouver Canucks were down 3-0 in their series and facing not only elimination but the embarrassment of getting swept.

Usually when being down 3-0 in a series one of two things happen. The team goes through the motions, mailing it in for the season or personal pride sets in and you play your heart out hoping to force at least one more game.

Last night both the Penguins and Canucks were successful in doing the latter.

In Philadelphia both the Flyers and Pittsburgh traded goals in the 1st period. That ended after Philadelphia took a 3-2 lead. Pittsburgh would score eight unanswered goals en route to a 10-3 win.

What worked for the Penguins last night was that for the first time in this series their best players were their best players.

Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assist while Evgeni Malkin scored his first two goals of the post-season. Leading all goal scores for Pittsburgh last night was Jordan Staal who recorded a hat trick.

Most importantly for the Penguins is that Marc Andre Fleury played a decent game in goal.

It didn't start out that way as he gave up a couple shaky goals in the first period but with his teammates being able to match the Flyers goal for goal Fleury was able to settle down and give his team a chance to win.

That's more than I can say about the combination of Ilya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky in net for Philadelphia. I say combination because both got to play last night and both had a night they would like to forget.

Bryzgalov gave up five goals while facing eighteen shots before being pulled early in the 2nd period. Bobrovsky didn't fare any better also giving up five goals on eighteen shots.

So what does this mean in the series? It depends on which team you are rooting for.

If you are a Flyers fan you are telling yourself it's only one game. Your team has played well in the series until game four and you are going back to Pittsburgh where you have played well all season.

Your goaltender does concern you a little but no more so that it has the entire season. You have three more chances to close out the series. History tells you you should be able to do so.

If you are a Penguins fan you are telling yourself momentum is finally on your side. Your best players showed up on the score sheet last night and had a breakout game.

Fleury played his best game of the whole series and you are getting two of your key players, James Neal and Craig Adams back in the lineup for the next game.

Philadelphia still has the edge but if Pittsburgh wins game five then doubt starts to creep in and the pressure goes strictly on the Flyers to end the series in Philadelphia.

After watching their goaltending last night I don't think many Flyers fans are comfortable with that scenario.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, the Vancouver Canucks were able to force a game five of their own, defeating the Los Angeles Kings 3-1.

It didn't start well for Vancouver as Los Angeles struck first when Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings in the 1st period.

The Canucks would get on the board in the 2nd period when Alexander Edler scored a power play goal. Vancouver would take their first lead of the game nearly five minutes later on a Kevin Bieksa slapshot.

An insurance goal in the 3rd period by Henrik Sedin would give Vancouver the 3-1 win and force a game five Sunday in British Columbia.

The two storylines to take away from this game is the return of Daniel Sedin and the play in net of Cory Schneider.

Sedin made his return to the lineup after missing the last 12 games due to a concussion after taking an elbow to the head from Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith.

In his return to the lineup Sedin played 19:33 and added an assist on the third Vancouver goal. He finished the night on the ice +1.

As for Schneider he was solid in net once again turning away 43 of the 44 shots he faced. More importantly it was the second game in a row where he has given up only one goal.

So now we go back to Vancouver for game five and like Pittsburgh the Canucks have a little momentum on their side.

Schneider has been just as good in net as Jonathan Quick has for Los Angeles. Even though it isn't Roberto Luongo's fault Vancouver lost the first two games at home I don't think we'll see him again in this series.

The bigger news is the return of Daniel Sedin to the lineup. Teams have had trouble scoring on Quick the entire season. Having Sedin back in the lineup can only help Vancouver.

There is still a lot of work for Pittsburgh and Vancouver to do and odds are against them in winning this series but for one night they gave their fans bases hope.

That's all you can ask for at this point.