Last
night, we saw some more excitement from the Eastern Conference second round.
First, the Tampa Bay Lightning evened the series between the New York Islanders
at 1 game apiece. Here’s how it transpired:
The Lightning once again started off
well, with Tyler Johnson breaking the ice at 6:03. They would take a 2-0 lead
on a Johnathan Drouin goal at 11:55 that snuck between the legs of Islander
goaltender Thomas Greiss. Meanwhile, in the other net, Ben Bishop looked like
his old self again, making 12 saves in the first period. The Islanders got on
the board at 15:15 of the 1st when Nikolay Kulemin deflected a
Thomas Hickey shot behind Bishop on the power play.
Despite being outshot 12-5 in the 1st,
the Lightning were up 2-1 and would carry the play for the rest of the game. At
one point in the 2nd period, the Lightning held the puck in the
Islanders zone for so long, they made 2 line changes and 26 passes. This doesn’t
just happen by accident. Coming into the game, the Lightning knew how important
it was not to go down 2-0 in the best of 7 series. They came out flying while
the Islanders appeared lazy at times.
The Lightning went up 3-1 at 11:59 of
the 2nd when Victor Hedman directed a shot off of Islander
defenseman Calvin da Haan’s skate into the net on the power play. The 3rd
period was uneventful except for Tyler Johnson’s empty net goal at 17:42. The
Lightning had handily beaten the Islanders, and the series will now shift back to
Brooklyn for game 3 on Tuesday.
Penguins
vs. Capitals Game 2
The Pittsburgh Penguins also entered
Saturday trying to avoid going down 2-0 in a series. On the other hand, the
Capitals just barely got by the Penguins in overtime of game 1. Here’s how game
2 ended up:
Though outplaying the Capitals in the 1st
period, the Penguins couldn’t get any pucks by Vezina finalist Braden Holtby.
The 1st period ended with a scoreless tie and the loss of young Penguin
defenseman Olli Maatta. Maatta was hit up high with a questionable hit by
Brooks Orpik early in the game. Orpik will face a disciplinary hearing with the
NHL Department of Player Safety today.
The Penguins continued to carry the
play in the 2nd period, and finally broke through when Carl Hagelin
scored off of a behind-the-net feed from Nick Bonino at 7:08. This game did not
have the same intensity as game 1 until the end of the 2nd . The
Capitals thought they had scored, but the goal was immediately waived off when
Evgeny Kuznetzov fell on top of Penguin goaltender Matt Murray. As a result,
the Penguins were awarded a power play, much to the displeasure of the Capitals
and their fans.
Though the Penguins failed to convert
on their power play, tempers continued to flare at the beginning of the 3rd
period when Kris Letang took a penalty, causing Marcus Johansson to score on
the power play out of a net mouth scramble at 4:08. The Capitals had finally
found their game, and largely outplayed the Penguins for the rest of the period.
If not for the goaltending of rookie Matt Murray, the Penguins probably would
have lost the game.
Eric Fehr, a former Capital, broke the
tie at 15:32 when he redirected a pass from Evgeni Malkin past Holtby’s glove.
The Capitals had a big push in the final 2 minutes of regulation, but Murray
came up big again. The Penguins somehow weathered the storm and escaped with a
2-1 win. This series now shifts to Pittsburgh for game 3 on Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment