Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before. It appears that the only thing separating the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings from a date in the Stanley Cup Finals is the formality of a fourth win. Just like Detroit had done in Dallas Monday night, the Penguins took a 3-0 series stranglehold in Philadelphia with a 4-1 win last night.
Defenseman Ryan Whitney and trade deadline acquisition Marian Hossa scored goals less than three minutes apart in the first period to open the Game Three scoring, with new playoff scoring leader Sidney Crosby assisting on both goals. Flyers forward R.J. Umberger cut the lead in half with his 10th goal of the postseason, but a third period goal by Ryan Malone and an empty-net goal by Hossa sealed the decision for Pittsburgh.
It's tough to say why 3-0 series leads are such the rage in the NHL lately, but since the first round ended, five of the six series in Rounds Two and Three have started with near-sweeps. While I'll admit that there is some excitement generated from having elimination games happen early in a series, in a practical sense it makes for some quickly uninteresting series. Granted, I'm a fan of a team that was eliminated in Round One, so I'm somewhat cynical. Even so, from a competitive angle these playoffs seem to have lost the thrill of a tightly-contested series; right now the most interesting topic of discussion seems to be what will happen when juggernauts collide in the cup finals. It looks as if the Fanhouse panel will be discussing that Detroit-Pittsburgh matchup sooner than we thought.
After the break: More from your Fanhousers, the Stat of the Day, and a YouTube summary of Detroit and Dallas Game Three.
Elsewhere from your Fanhouse staff:
- If you missed yesterday's Game Three liveblog, Pat Lackey and Bruce Ciskie both added game commentary using Cover It Live technology. Take a look at its interactive functionality and make sure to check in tonight as they cover the Wings and Stars in a crucial Game Four.
- Meanwhile at Japers' Rink, JP takes a look at what will likely be Olaf Kolzig's last season for the Washington Capitals.
- James Mirtle puts a list together of head coaching vacancies in the NHL next year, and a list of possible candidate names that might fill them.
- With the Ducks out of the playoff picture, I've been mostly quiet over at Battle of California, but I did take time last week to mark the blog's second birthday. Here's looking forward to BoC's Terrible Twos!
Obligatory YouTube embed: In preparation for tonight's Game Four, here's a video recap of the action from the Red Wings at Stars in Game Three. Again, check back in tonight for your Fanhouse liveblog.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-14-2008 @ 4:41PM
Shteek! said...
This Philadelphia Team went as far as it could with what it had in the tank. If the previous two series wins were done with mirrors?, they finally met up with a team that had a bag of rocks, and broke their way of winning. It has been some time since a Flyers team has lasted this far into the Stanley Cup playoffs, so Kudos' for that, but mirrors are only good for looking into and finding fault with what is projected back, not as a method to see into the future, that's only done in a childrens' fairy tale. So find the faults, make the ajustments, and maybe next year, the attire will be a better fit.
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