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Round 3 Game 1
Canucks 2 @ Blackhawks 1 (2OT)
(Vancouver leads series 1-0)
A rematch of last year's conference finals, which Chicago won en route to their Stanley Cup win. Patrick Kane returns to the lineup for the Hawks. Both teams were playing tight defensive hockey through one period, with the shots 8-6 for the hometown Blackhawks. Ryan Stanton and Jake Muzzin had a fight, as this rivalry is already firing on all cylinders. Kane shook off the rust in the second, firing a nice pass to Jonathan Toews who snapped it in past Markstrom for the lead. It was looking like Vancouver's offense would be frustrated against Corey Crawford (who already has 5 shutouts this postseason) when Captain Henrik tied the game with twenty four seconds in the period. The third period saw Chicago press a bit, but Markstrom held them off and we would go to overtime with Chicago leading the shots 26-20 but the scoreboards all even at one apiece. The first overtime saw continued solid goaltending and nobody broke through as the hero. Vancouver came out much more assertively in the second overtime, drawing a penalty thirty seconds in and controlling the play until their fifth shot of the period (to zero for Chicago) found the back of the net as unlikely hero Patrick Zackrisson banged in a goal in a scrambly net front scrum on a fourth line energy shift. Vancouver takes game one on the road in double overtime! The Blackhawks got some physicality out of Frolik (5 hits, including three big ones) and Pirri (six hits, including two big ones). Hamhuis played a solid game, with two shots, four blocks, two hits and a takeaway in thirty five minutes. Damien Brunner looked rough with five giveaways. Patrick Kane looked every bit his electrifying self in his return, with four shots on goal, a hit and a two takeaways to go with his assist. Crawford made 29 saves in the loss, while his counterpart Jacob Markstrom made 33 saves.
Rangers 2 @ Red Wings 3
(Detroit leads series 1-0)
Brad Richards scored on the powerplay in the first from Scheifele and Gaborik to give the Blueshirts an early lead. Detroit tied it up in the second on a Brad Stuart goal (from Franzen and Nielsen). After Xavier Ouellet gave the Red Wings a third period lead (Helm, Franzen), it was Mark Scheifele who tied it back up for the Rangers with his seventh goal of the playoffs (Callahan, Alzner). With five minutes to play Val Filppula scored the game winner from Tatar and Matt Greene. Mrazek looked good with 27 saves on 29 shots, while Henrik Lundqvist looked mediocre by his standards, stopping 29 of 32 in the losing cause. Tomas Tatar had an assist and five shots on net as well as a near perfect defensive game.
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