Last night the road teams won both games, one in dramatic fashion and one by a TKO! The Game 2’s featured a little of everything as Washington unexpectedly scored two goals, blew the lead, then won anyway. Los Angeles went on a scoring binge with four markers in the first 20 then coasted to a 5-2 victory to go up 2-0 in their series with St. Louis. The two games came down to Alex Ovchkin (less than 15:00 ATOI) firing a huge wrister and Jonathan Quick being Jonathan Quick.
Who was our Fantasy POTN? The answer is actually quite simple. We did go goaltending of course!
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FANTASY POTN:
Jonathan Quick, G, Los Angeles Kings
Now Anze Kopitar could have been a very good choice with his two goals but it was Quick who kept stopping St. Louis at those crucial moments where a game could have been made. Quick made an amazing save in the first 45 seconds that would have turned the game and then stopped several key advances in the third period. What is clear is that the Kings best penalty killer has been the netminder who is up for the Vezina Trophy. The reality is that is no surprise. This is a goalie on the playoff rise and a reason why St. Louis is down 2-0 and almost headed out.
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SCHEDULE TIME:
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 |
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| Teams | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | at | Philadelphia | 7:30 PM | Gameday | ||
This is it honest! It really is the only thing on the schedule. The fun part is it does make life easier on the hockey and fantasy hockey fan. Now it may be time to get down to some pertinent business.
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INJURY UPDATE:
Ilya Kovalchuk, LW, New Jersey Devils
We have known that Kovalchuk has been hampered by a minor groin strain since the middle of the Florida series but the bigger issue may be back spasms. If you have watched video of the games since Game 3 against Florida, it is more evident. The team is listing it as a lower body injury but it is all about where the ice bags are. What is know is that Kovalchuk will be out tonight for Game 2 against Philadelphia. Short term this may be a good thing for New Jersey as the Russian sniper was not himself in the first game at all. Going forward, if the injury persists or is worse than feared, it will be more of a problem obviously.
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KEEP AN EYE ON:
The goalies…….
It does not sound odd to even say this anymore but goaltending in the East has been an adventure at times in the playoffs, actually most times. Ilya Bryzgalov dropped a couple friends behind the goal line in Game 1 and Martin Brodeur made some seriously questionable clearing attempts (1 cost him). Game 2 could be more of the same honestly as both teams try to figure out the identity of this series. Brodeur made some amazing saves and so did Bryzgalov but they have made routine plays dangerous all postseason at times. Though Brodeur has been more consistent, the Flyers offensive talent is clearly greater than the Devils.
David Clarkson
If there was ever a time for Clarkson to net one or two, tonight would be the night. Yes he has the assists but no goals in this postseason. When a guy tops 30 goals, you kind of expect him to put one in the back of the net by now. Yet Clarkson has flubbed so many opportunities. New Jersey really needs secondary scoring to come from other than the first line and Elias with the fourth line chipping in. One of these middle lines has to step up.
Danny Briere
Here is the guy that loves to just show up for the playoffs. The regular season does not mean anything. Okay we will stop there. The bottom line is Briere has seven goals in the playoffs and a few game winners to boot. He gets in those spots that few dare to in the second season and New Jersey did not do a good job of slowing him down in Game 1. He had quite a few good scoring chances that did not go in the net. It comes down to Briere and of course slowing down Claude Giroux, who leads the playoffs in scoring.
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Good luck once again tonight and we will have our eye on it as always.
