ACHOO! This is not a joke as it feels like a sneezing fit is coming on. Seriously, it was one of those nights last night that will be considered a bad sneeze or a trend in the ECF as the New York Rangers blanked the New Jersey Devils 3-0. It became more of what the Devils did not do as opposed to what the Rangers did. When Dan Girardi stepeed into a slapper from the blue line that beat Martin Brodeur, the game was pretty well over. The game really did have that first goals wins type of feel.

New Jersey clearly came out flat last night then ran out of gas in the third period. These are things that cannot happen in the playoffs but still do anyway. The Rangers suckered the Devils into playing their type of game and the Devils simply fell for it 100%. Who did we give our Fantasy POTN to? It is time to find out.

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Fantasy POTN:

Dan Girardi, D, New York Rangers

The leader of the Rangers defense led by example as he hit and blocked everything in sight. Then he punctuated the game by scoring the first and game winning goal. It was the overall body of work that made him the most fantasy relevant and yes Henrik Lundqvist did have a shutout but how much of that was due to the 26 blocked shots and countless altered shots because of the defense? Ah, there you have it. Give Girardi credit, he does have quite a few points in these playoffs but that goal may be the biggest goal of the playoffs so far.

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SCHEDULE TIME:

This is going to be a different sort of game tonight. Los Angeles played a hard, physical game on Sunday Night as they won 4-2 with a whopping 48 shots on goal. The overall hitting and intensity could not be matched by Phoenix. Yes, Phoenix did get two gifts in this game that led to goals but LA was simply too much to be contained in Game 1. Phoenix has to match that for longer, more sustained period to win Game 2. Also, their first line has to at least show up and not be manhandled like it was on Sunday Night. Ray Whitney looked his age as Los Angeles keyed on him early and often.

With this in mind, let us run the NHL 12 simulation to see who wins Game 2.  So far we are 1-1 in the Conference Finals round.

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NHL 12 — Game 2 Kings Vs. Coyotes

It comes down to a more critical Game 2 than Phoenix could have imagined at the start of this. Phoenix again has to keep the intensity err start the game with an urgency that was not there at Game 1. This game felt like Phoenix started it an hour late. That is a considerable problem. Simply, the Coyotes have to hit and get pucks to the net. If they do not, it is going to be a long Game 2. Here is what the sim brought in……

Kings @ Coyotes Game 2
1st Period
LAK — Justin Williams (12:45, Brown and Doughty)
2nd Period
PHX — Ray Whitney (2:42, PP, Yandle and Hanzal)
LAK — Dustin Penner (17:45, Voynov)
3rd Period
PHX — Shane Doan (15:56, Klesla)
LAK — Dustin Brown (18:25, unassisted)

Team Stats:
Shots
LA- 35 PHX- 30
Power Plays
PHX- 1/4, LA- 0/4

Final: Kings 3 Coyotes 2
3 Stars:
1. Dustin Brown 2. Ray Whitney 3. Jonathan Quick

The game is just hours away and if it approaches anything like the sims, it will be an awfully good one. We literally had the seven sims go in all different directions and there was no real consensus. The final sim literally after the first six were split was this one and its what we ultimately went with.

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Good luck everyone and thanks once again for reading.

So it was Tyler Seguin’s first playoff goal last night and that really never made the impact Boston hoped for.  At 3-1 Tampa, clearly the game was at a crossroads but in the end, Tampa held Boston scoreless in the second period, scored a couple in the third and cruised to a 5-2 win in Game 1.  It really was an eye opener for Boston who was kind of expected to be more rusty but they were the ones who were rattled.

KEY MOMENT FROM LAST NIGHT:

At 2-0 Tampa, it might not have been so bad if Boston had survived the first especially with the Seguin goal but Tomas Kaberle made a gaffe that reminded me of Boston defensemen past last night.  I think Teddy Purcell was more stunned than anyone else as he took the turnover and stuffed it past Tim Thomas for a 3-0 lead that was insurmountable.  Tampa scored back to back unassisted goals in a game where clearly Tampa’s opportunistic nature was crucial to their success.

FANTASY STANDOUTS:

Really other than Dwayne Roloson’s 31 saves, there was a balanced attack for Tampa Bay. Teddy Purcell was our standout offensive player with a goal and an assist.  Purcell embodies the work ethic that Tampa has become known for not only this year but in the playoffs as well. Even Simon Gagne scored a goal mostly from effort by Purcell.  Again the depth of Tampa shined in the clutch.  Also, Tyler Seguin had a goal and assist while the Krejci-Horton-Lucic line was well, offensive in a bad way for fantasy poolies.

LOOKING AHEAD TO TONIGHT:

Well Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals gets underway at 8pm ET tonight as the San Jose Sharks play the Vancouver Canucks. It will be interesting to see what happens as far as the Sedin Twins.  They have been kind of invisible for long stretches of the playoffs.  This is the one series that they have to make a presence and the earlier they do so, the better off Vancouver is. Douglas Murray will try to rattle the twins in any way he can along with the rest of the Sharks because that is clearly the blueprint in slowing down the Sedin Twins.  Ryan Kesler has been on fire with 11 points in his last five games (hottest fantasy performer).  

Again it is funny to say but San Jose has the same problem.  The trio of Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton, and Patrick Marleau have also disappeared at times in these playoffs but have come up sort of clutch too.  Thornton got the series clincher against Los Angeles while Marleau did the same against Detroit.  San Jose’s success does involve the consistency of these three along with players like Logan Couture, Devin Setoguchi, and Joe Pavelski.  Depth is essential and gives fantasy poolies so many options if, of course, you picked these guys to go that far.

SCHEDULE TIME:

Well often how it goes in these playoffs is the road team tends to steal Game 1 and last night we expected a low scoring game and got a high scoring one.  Tonight going middle of the road may actually be a good idea as both teams will not be quite as rusty.  So expect fireworkd and early as these teams do not like each other and they are kind of kindred spirits due to some of their postsason failures.  One of these teams is going to move on to the Stanley Cup Finals.  Which one takes that first step tonight?  It is time for some quick projections.

SUNDAY SCENARIO:

• Roberto Luongo (VAN) — 2 GA on 29 shots
• Ryan Kesler (VAN) — 1 goal, 4 SOG
• Alex Burrows (VAN) — 1 goal, 1 assist, 5 SOG
• Antti Niemi (SJ) — 3 GA on 35 shots
• Logan Couture (SJ) — 1 goal, 6 SOG
• Joe Thornton (SJ) — 2 assists, 2 SOG

This one will come down to late in the third period again and something tells me that it will be Ryan Kesler who scores the goal even though he will be a nonfactor for most of the game.  The Sedin Twins it would seem will not make a major impact according to the simulations but one never knows.  Later in the series, their scoring will be needed but tonight an assist each should just about work for them.  In the end, Vancouver takes this one with potentially an injury to occur for Game 1.  Good luck fantasy poolies and see you tonight on The Program at 8pm ET on Blog Talk Radio’s Fantasy Sports Channel.