The first game of the conference finals in the 2015 Stanley Cup has been played and the home teams won. New York Rangers got another odd goal, 2-1 win in this year’s play off and Anaheim was led to victory by Swedish forwards Jakob Silfverberg and Hampus Lindholm.
New York Rangers 2-1 Tampa Bay Lightnings (1-0)
Derek Stepan, who scored the decisive goal in the quarterfinal against Washington, began the Rangers goalscoring in the first conference final. With a few seconds to go of the second period, he scored 1-0 on a rebound from Bishop in the Tampa Bay goal. In the third period, Tampa Bay came back and Ondrej Palat tied the game in power play. However, with two and a half minute left of the third period, Dominic Moore “kneed” in the decisive goal, making it 2-1 for the Rangers, which also became the final score. This result is interesting for those of us who like statistics. It was Rangers seventh 2-1 victory (counting full time and overtime) in the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs and their thirteenth straight game where the goal difference was only one goal. Now may be the time to place a bet for match result in the next game. Anyhow, to win the trophy this year, Rangers need to get their goal scoring going. More often than not, goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist (also called “Mr game seven”) has been a wall in the goal, especially when his team needs it the most. Against Chicago or Anaheim, solid goaltending won’t be enough however.
Anaheim Ducks 4-1 Chicago Blackhawks (1-0)
Hampus Lindholm scored the first goal of the game, assisted by Jakob Silfverberg in the middle of the first period, making it 1-0 to the Ducks. This is the first team the teams meet in the play offs. The second goal of the game came four minutes into the second period when Kyle Palmieri scored 2-0. With 40 seconds to go of the period, Brad Richards scored 2-1 on a giveaway, an extremely important goal at this time of the game. However, Anaheim answered in the third period with 3-1. 4-1 came in the open net. Advantage Anaheim, but we will have to wait and see how the seasoned Blackhawks answers to this.
