Just when you thought that the 2nd round was a dud, 2 underdogs decided to stop being pushed around and now we have 2 game 6's on our hands. Thanks to Nashville and Detroit, we will still have 2nd round games Monday night and Tuesday night (respectively). The NHL is more than pleased as not only do they have some drama in the second round, but 2 great cities are hosting game 6. The legendary Hockey Town of Detroit and their die-hard fans and of course Nashville. Commissioner Gary Bettman (cursed be he) tried to bring the Devils to Nashville before the 1995 season (we showed him by winning the Stanley Cup). But Bettman felt for the city and by 1998, the puck heads in Nashville were able to build up a strong enough support and they were granted a team. So Bettman's project and hockey history are giving us some extra hockey this year.
Thanks to a spirited Nashville win in Vancouver, there is a game 6 in the close Canuck-Predator series. They could have folded in game 5 after losing 2 straight on home ice but they were able to pull out the W on the road. The win came thanks to timely goals specifically by Joel Ward who had 2 tallies at the beginning of the third period to put the Predators up 2 goals. These 2 goals put Ward in a tie for most goals in the playoffs in the NHL. It tied him with only Bergenheim as players who are still in it (major shocker). Without Steve Sullivan though, who went down with an injury in game 4, their powerplay looked a little lost and went 0-3 and failed to get a good look on Luongo. But a fantastic play by Ward on the penalty kill was Nashville's special team highlight of the night as he assisted David Legwand as they were able to score the first goal of the game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPo99dFCDNg. Nashville may very likely win game 6 at home (considering their great home crowd whom I love http://robinsnest-yoro.blogspot.com/2011/05/big-2-games-coming-up-for-predators.html) but I think Vancouver will put their foot down this round. After an emotionally draining first round against Chicago, the last thing they want is another facing-elimination-to-forcing-a-game-7 opponent. They'll give it all they got in game 6 and try to win in Nashville for the third game in a row this series.
Detroit has a different story. Although the games were close, San Jose' clearly was dominating the series. The only reason the games were so close was because Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard was playing spectacular for them. The high-octaned San Jose' offense was peppering him with shots and at the beginning of the series, he was coming up on the short end of it. But over the past 2 games, Detroit came out stronger than the pesky Sharks. Game 4 had the perfect balance of veteran-ship (Lidstrom, 2 goals, 6 shots) and gritty role players (Darren Helm GWG with a minute and change left). And tonight's game 5 victory came from true grit and determination. Pavel Datsyuk AND Johan Franzen were questionable for game 5. While Datsyuk looked a little less like himself (with his hand injury, the centerman didn't take a single face off and lost the puck more often than usual), he still played over 20 minutes and logged 3 assists. He didn't do what he always does (fake everyone out of their jock straps) but he contributed by doing what he could; the small things (he was later named 1st star of the game). Franzen, however, only played 9 minutes tonight but still tried to play his best. Franzen appeared to have aggravated his ankle after being driven into the boards late in the first period http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=defOE1Ewxsk (and kudos to Joe Thornton who was just nominated for best acting performance of the decade) And of course who can forget Henrik Zetterberg who, after missing the entire first round with an injury, came back for the second round and has a goal and 5 assists in his first 5 games after his injury. This dedication is the complete opposite out of San Jose's Patrick Marleau. The team leader in points, goals, and time on ice in the regular season, has disappeared completely this round. He has yet to register a point in this series while he is a -1 rating and has taken 15 shots. His lack of anything has even led to a raid on him by VS's analyst Jeremy Roenickhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZZl9AyIZB1M (courtesy of Puck Daddy's Greg Wyshynski). So if San Jose' wants to end this series, they need their stars, ESPECIALLY MARLEAU, to step up. But I think Detroit has too much momentum right now and I think this series will go 7 games.
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