In the first game of the 2015 Stanley Cup quarterfinals, Rangers was down by one goal before the third period after Alexander Ovechkin gave the away team the lead with an incredible shot in the first period. After a goalless second period, Carl Hagelin assisted his fellow Swedish countryman Jesper Fast to the tie with 4:40 to go in the third period.
Joel Ward scored the decisive goal for Washington
The end of the game was dramatic. Washington’s Nicklas Bäckström checked Dan Boyle into the boards, Alexander Ovechkin could snatch the puck and make a brilliant pass to Joel Ward in front of Henrik Lundqvist in the Rangers goal. Ward made no mistake and scored the decisive goal for Capitals with just 1,3 seconds to go of the game. We are already looking forward to game two in what have started as a very exciting series where Washington Capitals is in a 1-0 game lead.
Anaheim ran over Calgary
In an earlier post we asked ourselves if young Calgary Flames, who knocked out Vancouver in the last round, can continue to surprise in this year’s Stanley Cup. If we are to judge from the first game against Anaheim in the second round, the answer is no. Anaheim won with 6 goals to 1 (2-0, 2-0, 2-1) and might be on the way to another clear victory in the play offs. In the first round, Anaheim eliminated Winnipeg with four consecutive wins.
Chicago lost a 3-0 lead
Chicago reached the quarterfinals after eliminating Nashville in the round of 16. In the first game of the play offs, Nashville lost a 3-0 lead in the second period. In the first game of this round, Chicago was in a 3-0-lead after the first period, but lost it in the second. However, the Blackhawks have an outstanding ability to find ways to win. Thay managed to regain the lead with a 4-3 goal by Teuvo Teräväinen late in the second period. In the third period, Chicago could defend their lead and gain a 1-0 game advantage in this series.
Kucherov scored twice(!) for Tampa in Sudden Death
Tampa Bay got eliminated by Montreal in last year’s playoffs. Now they went up to Canada with hopes of revenge. They got it, but it took two overtime periods and two goals by Nikita Kucherov. The score was 1-1 after full time. In the first overtime period Kucherov got a no-goal because of roughing in the goal area. A questinnable decision by the referees when you look at the replays. However, Kucherov scored again in the second overtime period and thus gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 game lead in the series. The Lightnings were actually offside before the decisive goal so that pretty much evens up the referee’s decisions. Maybe some sort of fair hockey-God watched the game from above..
