Playoff Hockey Recap — April 16th
San Jose 3, Nashville 1
Continually putting the puck on net is certainly one way of beating an opponent in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Milan Michalek and Ryane Clowe scored second-period goals, as the San Jose Sharks pounded Nashville with 41 shots in a methodical 3-1 victory in Game 3 on Monday night. “We just wore them down,” Joe Thornton, last season’s MVP said. Captain Patrick Marleau scored the clinching goal with 4:26 to play, and Evgeni Nabokov made 19 saves behind the Sharks’ relentless offensive attack to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. After an initial surge of energy from its frenzied sellout crowd, San Jose calmed down and took control. Even with Thornton leading the attack, there wasn’t much glitz to this win, just the intensity and imposing physical game common to the Sharks’ best performances. “When we’re on top of our game, we get the puck deep and try to wear other teams down,” Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. “I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”
“We knew the energy level would be great in this building,” Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. “I thought we had a pretty good first period for coming into a tough place. In the second period, the Sharks got momentum, a couple of penalties.” Both teams still played a physical game: Nashville winger Martin Erat left the ice in the second period after receiving a hard hit from Bernier, and Trotz said he’ll be re-evaluated Tuesday. Michalek then left with 2 1/2 minutes left after Jason Arnott’s stick apparently got underneath his visor. This game was not nearly as feisty as the first two games.
The Sharks’ power play, second-best in the NHL during the regular season, failed six times in the first two periods. But Nashville’s string of penalties wore out its penalty-killers and frustrated the skill players who couldn’t get on the ice. San Jose tied it midway through the second period when Michalek tipped Craig Rivet’s low shot from the point. The Sharks’ power play flopped again moments later — but when Paul Kariya left the penalty box and skated to his bench instead of joining the Predators’ defense, Clowe was unchecked when he scored his second goal of the playoffs.
Nashville stayed close by aggressively killing off a 79-second two-man advantage for the Sharks, but couldn’t generate much offense of its own despite long, exhausting shifts for Peter Forsberg and Kariya. “We had a couple of chances to tie it up, but overall we need to work harder, and we need to play a little smarter,” Forsberg said. “We didn’t get the puck deep. They got the puck deep, and they outworked us down low.”
Game 4 is Wednesday night at the Shark Tank, with Game 5 back in Nashville on Friday.
Buffalo 3, NY Islanders 2
The Buffalo Sabres have some pretty good goals scorers on their team, and some good players who score goals. Adam Mair got Buffalo’s offense rolling with a rare goal before serious scorers Thomas Vanek and Daniel Briere finished off a second-period spurt that carried the Sabres to a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Monday night. Just enough goal scoring to give Buffalo a 2-1 lead in the first-round, Eastern Conference playoff series. The Sabres split two games at home but only got two of their six goals from forwards. “I didn’t even know that,” said Mair, who had two goals in the regular season. “We don’t really care who scores. We’re just focused on winning the game.” But for Buffalo to go far in the playoff run, more goals are needed by the big three: Vanek, Briere and Chris Drury. “We want to see more offense from our forwards,” Briere said. “The first couple of games we were throwing a lot of pucks away but tonight we did a better job protecting the pucks. “That’s the way we have to keep it going because these guys are tough and playing us hard.”
“We have depth of scoring throughout our lines that have kept teams a little bit on their heels,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We can get rolling, and it can come from any line at any time.” You don’t have to look any further than Mair, who landed a hit shortly before a deft redirection off a feed from Drury. The Sabres scored all their goals in a span of 7:39 in the second period. Trent Hunter and Ryan Smyth answered in the frame that featured all the scoring, but the Islanders never caught up after falling behind 1-0. “We have to get back to basics and get the puck to the net,” said Smyth, who made it 3-2 with 8 seconds left in the second period. “It comes down to execution. It’s a long series. They’re a good hockey team.”
Rick DiPietro made 32 saves in his first home game in three weeks following post-concussion syndrome, but couldn’t help the power play that went 0-for-4 and is 1-for-11 in the series. “Nobody took it away from us,” DiPietro said. “They came out hard in the third period and played a great period. You don’t want to go back to Buffalo down 3-1.”
On an unsportsmanlike note, when Randy Robitaille was whistled for tripping with 1:34 left, the white towels stopped waving and came flying down along with several beverages that left soda-colored stains on the ice.
“Our fans were pretty upset, too, they just didn’t throw stuff the other night,” Ruff said.
Tampa Bay 3, New Jersey 2
The New Jersey Devils are used to playing with a great netminder, one who not only can win games you, but playoff series too. “We all know what he’s capable of and that he’s carried this organization for years during the regular season and the playoffs,” forward Jamie Lagenbrunner said Monday night after a 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay left the Atlantic Division champions facing an uphill battle in their first-round Eastern Conference series.
“Maybe he hasn’t been at his best,” Lagenbrunner added, “but we know it’s there.” Martin Brodeur made the tough saves. It was the deflection goals that did him in. Vincent Lecavalier scored his fourth goal of the playoffs on a sharp-angle shot that skipped between the goalie’s leg and the post, and then Vinny Prospal delivered the winner on a third-period deflection.
Meanwhile, the Lightning continue to get strong play from goalie Johan Holmqvist, who has rebounded from a shaky performance in a Game 1 loss to outplay Brodeur the past two games. After stopping 34 shots to win Game 2, he had 30 saves Monday night. After the Devils tied it at 1 on John Madden’s goal with 2:33 left in the second. Holmqvist kept New Jersey from going ahead with a huge save as time expired in the period, rejecting John Dowd from point-blank range. “I wasn’t sure if I should go out and I stayed in. It was kind of a lucky save,” Holmqvist said.
The Devils had some good fortune of their own in the third. After Richards gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead 69 seconds into the period, New Jersey countered with Zach Parise’s goal that deflected off Tampa Bay defenseman Dan Boyle three minutes later.
“We slugged our way through. It could have gone either way,” Lightning coach John Tortorella said. “A big play wins it. Fluky goals both ways on both teams, but we just found a way to slug our way through and get a win.”
