Eastern Conference Finals

(6) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (4) Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh won series 4-0
With my first choice Capitals and second choice Bruins out, I was stuck picking the lesser of two evils here. I really don’t like the Canes, and after his “he probably has sore knuckles” response to Scott Walker’s sucker punch, I decided I hate Carolina coach Paul Maurice. So I was rooting for the Penguins in this one. I didn’t want to see the same team represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals two years in a row…but I really wanted the Canes out as soon as possible…

With a decisive 6-2 victory in Game 3, the Pittsburgh Penguins had a stranglehold on this series with a 3-0 lead… I missed Game 1, but I managed to watch the other two games. The once nicknamed “Cardiac Canes” seemed to have run out of magic. They hadn’t managed any dramatic comebacks like they did in previous rounds to earn that goofy nickname. Game 2 was like watching two heavyweights exchange blows. When Pittsburgh scored, it didn’t take long for Carolina to come right back and answer, and vice versa. Late in the game though, Pittsburgh ran away with it, winning 7-4. That game was highlighted by a hat trick for Penguin Evgeni Malkin. His first two came from some good old fashioned net crashing, but his third one…wow… Malkin put away an otherworldly backhand from a bad angle right past Cam Ward’s arm. It was amazing. And in Game 3, the guy they call “Geno” netted two more goals in what was an all around dominant performance by the Penguins. Malkin recorded 6 goals and 3 assists in the mere three games played up to that point! And so Pittsburgh fans were getting those brooms out…

Fun fact: the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and 1975 New York Islanders are the only two teams in NHL history to ever come back from 3-0 down to win a playoff series. Fortunately, the 2009 Carolina Hurricanes didn’t join that prestigious group as the Pittsburgh Penguins completed the sweep with a 4-1 victory in Game 4. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch any of this game, but I heard Penguin netminder Marc-Andre Fleury had a great game, as his numbers indicated. He stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced that night… I’m sure some people were hoping the “Cardiac Canes” would mount another miraculous comeback and at least make a series out of it, but I wasn’t one of those people. I was hoping for this sweep. I was glad to see the Canes finally out of the playoffs, and now, I’m rooting for their executioners, the Pittsburgh Penguins, due to how the other series ended…

Western Conference Finals

(4) Chicago Blackhawks vs. (2) Detroit Red Wings
Detroit won series 4-1
Before the Conference Finals began, I kept telling myself, “I honestly would hate to see a Red Wings/Penguins rematch in the Stanley Cup Finals.” I wanted to see new faces vying for the Cup. And with Buffalo boy Patrick Kane and the Hawks flying high after ousting the Canucks, a Chicago bid in the Stanley Cup Finals seemed possible. I was hoping this rematch of this year’s Winter Classic would be a good one…and I was rooting for the Hawks to finally knock out the Wings. And since I wasn’t particularly fond of either Eastern possibility for the Finals, I was actually hoping Chicago would go all the way. GO KANE!!

Like the other Conference Final series, I also only watched Games 2 and 3 out of the first three games. In Game 2, Jonathan Toews single-handedly carried the Blackhawks into overtime. He scored Chicago’s only two goals in a 2-2 deadlock. However, just over five minutes into the extra frame, Detroit’s Mikael Samuelsson scored courtesy of an ugly Brian Campbell turnover at the Red Wings’ blue line… Game 3, the first of this series in the Windy City, was considerably more dramatic. The Hawks owned the first period, jumping to a 2-0 lead midway through. And their momentum spilled over into the second period, as they struck again just 45 seconds in to take what looked like a commanding 3-0 lead. Late in the middle frame though, in a span of roughly four and a half minutes, Detroit netted three quick ones to tie the game up again. I couldn’t believe it…and didn’t like it. However, in retrospect, I was glad it happened because the Wings at least made a game of it. After an evenly played third period, the Hawks and Wings again went into overtime…and it again didn’t take long for a winner to be determined. This time, within the first two minutes, it was Chicago’s Patrick Sharp who scored his second of the night on what was essentially an open net thanks to a beautiful feed from Sammy Pahlsson. The Hawks looked like they had a little life. They then had an opportunity to even the series in Game 4…but alas, it was not to be… Detroit dominated with a 6-1 victory.

Down 3-1 in the series, it was “do or die” for Chicago in Game 5. I watched almost all of that game, and Chicago at least made a game of it. The teams remained in a scoreless tie after the first two periods. The first goal wasn’t scored until about six minutes into the third, when Dan Cleary deflected a Brett Lebda shot by Cristobal Huet to give Detroit the 1-0 lead. The Hawks continued to play strongly after that though, and just under seven minutes later, Patrick Kane tied the game with a wicked backhand from a bad angle. In all fairness, Chris Osgood probably should have stopped it, but there’s also no denying it was a beautiful shot by Kane. That thing had eyes! In the dying seconds of regulation, Huet had to make a fantastic save with the right pad on Johan Franzen to force overtime, the third OT game of the series. Like the previous two overtimes, it didn’t take long for a winner to be decided. A shade under four minutes into the extra time, the active endboards of the Joe sent a Lebda shot bounding back towards Tomas Holmstrom. The puck then somehow trickled through the paraphernalia of Huet into the crease, where Darren Helm tapped it home to send the defending Stanley Cup champs back to the Finals…