West/East Finals – Game 1 Recap
Both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals began Sunday. One game went as expected. One was a much different story. The seventh-seeded Philadelphia Flyers absolutely took it to Montréal in their Game 1 matchup, beating the Habs 6-0. The Flyers’ amazing victory is accented by the fact that they scored six times on only 25 shots against a Montréal team that has proven itself this postseason to have an incredibly tough defense, and a red-hot goaltender. Jaroslav Halak, Montréal’s stellar netminder, allowed four goals in 14 shots and was pulled at the halfway mark of the game for the mediocre Carey Price, who then went on to allow two goals in 11 shots. Although the goaltending play was incredibly poor in Game 1, Montréal’s defense is to blame. The normally stout, physical defense of the Habs allowed Philly to crash the net early and often to disrupt Halak’s vision and focus. Montréal played a sloppy game from beginning to end. I think most people, including myself, picked the Habs to take out Philly after they managed to beat the President Trophy winning Washington Capitals and defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. They knocked out the top two favorites in the east, so they could easily wipe out lowly Philadelphia, right? Wrong.
Give credit to the Flyers. They played tough. Rookie James Van Riemsdyk scored early in the second to get the Flyers rolling. Simon Gagne scored another goal, as he continues to improve his impressive playoff resume. Michael Leighton came up huge again in net, and Philadelphia may have found their goaltender for next year. Only time will tell. Game 2 is set in Philadelphia on Tuesday at 7 p.m. EST. Game 1 between the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks proved to be the close, physical game that many predicted, which should leave room for a long series. Chicago’s Antti Niemi stalled the Sharks at every turn. His playoff-high 44 saves proved to be too much for San Jose, as Chicago takes Game 1, 2-1.
Chicago’s defense was absolutely stellar Sunday afternoon at HP Pavilion in San Jose. Duncan Keith was everywhere on the ice, as he notched 27:16 of ice time. Keith, Brent Seabrook and the Chicago defense came up huge, especially on easy goal opportunity off the rebound for Joe Thornton as a defensemen got in the way to disrupt Jumbo as he poked toward the puck. Niemi seems to be garnering the most credit for this victory and rightfully so, but Duncan Keith was the difference maker for Chicago. For the Sharks, they are probably reminded of Game 3 against Colorado and Craig Anderson’s amazing performance as they pummeled him with 51 shots, and game up with zero goals. This series could go to the bitter end, lasting seven games, but San Jose will need to win Game 2 at home Tuesday night at 10 p.m. EST. Otherwise, they head to Chicago down 0-2 in the series.
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