The Detroit Red Wings went in to todays game against the Dallas Stars as a team on a roll. They had won 9 straight, and they had the comforting knowledge that Dallas netminder, Marty Turco, appears to have issues defeating the boys in red.
The Red Wings expected to leave todays game with a berth in the Stanley Cup finals.
It wasn’t to be.
The Dallas Stars proved today they can compete with the high flying Red Wings. They proved they can outskate, outpass, outshoot and outplay them, and after 60 grueling minutes, Marty Turco and the Dallas Stars left the rink 3-1 victors.
This win gives the Stars a major boost going into the must-win game 5 back in Detroit. Most importantly however it gives the confidence of Marty Turco and the rest of the Stars squad a shot of nitro.
Loui Eriksson opened the scoring in the closing seconds of the 2nd period. The Wings struck back 49 seconds into the third but it wasn’t to last. Mike Modano scored what was to become the Game-winner and Brenden Morrow added the insurance goal to round out the scorers.
Game 5 in the series is on Saturday at 1:30pm EDT.
For the Dallas Stars, Christmas came early today when they found out their star center, Mike Ribeiro got off without a Suspension after his swing against Chris Osgood in game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.
Then again… the same could be said about the Detroit Red Wings. The swing that got so many people talking came directly after an extremely dangerous play by Chris Osgood that saw the butt end of his goalie stick “accidentally” collide with the face of Ribeiro.
“He actually tries to do it. It’s not like he accidentally hit me,” Ribeiro said, defending himself Sunday after not being around for postgame interviews. “He kind of was bent down, raised up and clipped me in the face.”
- Yahoo! Sports
Both players ended up with fines, which given the alternative, is not so bad.
Going into game 3 later today, both teams will need to focus on their games. This applies more so to the Dallas Stars, so are trailing 2-0 in the series against a team that has shown itself to be bigger, faster and stronger after 2 games.
That’s not to say the Stars are smaller, slower or weaker however. In fact, the Stars have not been on their game in the first 2 games. Being at home for game 3 might be the wake up call the team needs.
That quote from Mike Richards really sums up how the entire Philadelphia Flyers team are feeling right now. After dropping game 2 against the cross state rivals, Pittsburgh Penguins, the Flyers now go in to game 3 under pressure not just to perform, but to come up with a victory.
“We’ve played in a Game 7 where if you lose, you go home,” said goalie Martin Biron, who made 34 saves. “Game 3 isn’t like that, but it’s as close as it’s going to get. I think we played pretty good, but we can play better. … It’s all about desperation and urgency.”
Game 3 between the 2 teams will be on Tue, May 13 - 7:30 pm EDT. (TV: VS., CBC)
It took 129 minutes to achieve, but the Dallas Stars finally eliminated the pesky San Jose Sharks from the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Brenden Morrow netted the puck 9:03 into the 4th overtime period to give the Stars their first Conference Finals appearance since 2000.
Marty Turco faced 61 shots in the epic battle, making him the 1st star of the game. Evgeni Nabokov of the Sharks was 2nd star and Brenden Morrow was 3rd.
The Dallas Stars now go on to face the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference finals.
Earlier tonight the Pittsburgh Penguins eliminated the New York Rangers, making way for an all Pen State EC final between the Penguins and Flyers.
The Dallas Stars tried again to eliminate the San Jose Sharks today, but failed to achieve the task as the Sharks rallied to win in overtime, 3-2.
Jere Lehtinen opened the scoring for the Stars. Brenden Morrow put the Stars up 2-0 going into the third period. The 2nd period saw not one, but two waved off goals by Brenden Morrow. In the third Milan Michalek and Brian Campbell evened the score, taking the game to overtime, where Joe Pavelski netted the game winner in the 2nd minute of OT.
“Every game we lose, we give them more life, but I like our position better than theirs,” Morrow said. “The third period was our downfall. We have to move on, earn our breaks. We earned this 3-2 lead.”
- Yahoo! Sport
For the Stars, Hope, Joy, Bliss, Excitement. For the Sharks, Dismay, Fear, Concern.
4 minutes into the overtime period, unlikely hero, Mattias Norstrom shoots a wristshot from the blue line. This isn’t the first wrister he’s fired in this series, and it probably wont be his last. But todays was different, because it managed to go through all the traffic, past Nabokov and into the net.
And with that, the Stars took a very convincing 3-0 series lead over the (#1 contender going into the regular season) San Jose Sharks.
“I tried to get it on net, it went off a stick. Fortunately, it went in,” said Norstrom, sounding as shocked as anyone about his game-winner.
- Yahoo! Sports
After the first round i find myself only just above 50% in my predictions. Here’s how I did for round 1:
East: Montreal Canadiens - correct
Pittsburgh Penguins - correct
Washington Capitals - incorrect (but they were close)
New Jersey Devils - incorrect
West:
Detroit Red Wings - correct - I predicted a sweep, so i was far off.
Calgary Flames - incorrect - it went to 7 though.
Colorado Avalanche - correct
Dallas Stars - correct (i nailed this one)
So, for round 2 we have:
Montreal Canadiens - Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers only just scraped past the Washington Capitals, and pretty much fell apart the minute the Capitals put any offensive pressure on. They wont last long under the Canadiens attack.
Pittsburgh Penguins - New York Rangers
The Penguins dominated their first round opponent, but the Rangers wont be anywhere as easy. I believe this game will come down to M.A. Fleury Vs Henrik Lundqvist, and I simply don’t feel M.A.F. has what it takes to be the victor.
Detroit Red Wings - Colorado Avalanche
Detroit have just come off a long series with the Nashville Predators, and appeared to falter a number of times during that series. The Wings special teams were also a lot worse than they should have been. The Avalanche on the other hand are motivated and have their good players healthy again. I think special teams and netminders will decide who win this series.
San Jose Sharks - Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars showed dominance in their round against the Anaheim Ducks. They outplayed, outskilled and out-believed them in all areas of the ice in all but 1 of the games. They also have shaked the monkey off their back as far as expectations of these playoffs - pass the first round. The Stars have nothing to lose now, and everything to gain, so expect to see them give the Sharks all they have. The Sharks have 1 good offensive line, and it’s been their checking line… the Stars however have 3 solid scoring lines, all which scored 8-7-6 goals per line respectively in round 1. Special Teams will play a big role here, and the Sharks may be in danger if the Stars get Sergei Zubov back on the blue line. Turco Vs Nabokov, Zubov Vs Campbell are the 2 key matchups here.
Washington Capitals - incorrect (but they were close)
New Jersey Devils - incorrect
So, the predictions:
Montreal Canadiens in 5 games
New York Rangers in 6 games
Colorado Avalanche in 6 games
Dallas Stars in 6 games
The Detroit Red Wings went in to todays game against the Dallas Stars as a team on a roll. They had won 9 straight, and they had the comforting knowledge that Dallas netminder, Marty Turco, appears to have issues defeating the boys in red.
This win gives the Stars a major boost going into the must-win game 5 back in Detroit. Most importantly however it gives the confidence of Marty Turco and the rest of the Stars squad a shot of nitro.
For the Dallas Stars, Christmas came early today when they found out their star center, Mike Ribeiro got off without a Suspension after his swing against Chris Osgood in game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.
“It’s frustrating”
A picture tells a thousand words.
