
The Pittsburgh Penguins got their 1st shutout of the playoffs. It was a 5-0 victory for the Penguins over the 8th seed New York Islanders. Rookie Beau Bennett scored the opening goal early in the 1st period. It turned into the game winning goal. Pascal Dupuis scored the insurance goal making in 2-0 in the same period. In the second period it was goals by Kris Letang, Pascal Dupuis and one of my favourites Tanner Glass that really sent the Islanders over the edge. Jarome Iginla, Evgeni Malkin and Jussi Jokinen all recorded 2 assists each in the win. Keep in mind this was all done without Captain and All Start hockey player Sidney Crosby who skated with the team during practice today but hasn't played a game since getting a puck to the face ironically during a game against the Islanders in March. The Penguins lead the series 1-0.
The other game last night was between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. It ended in a 4-1 victory for the Bruins. It was the Maple who scored 1st. It was early early in the 1st period and James Van Riemsdyk scored. Boston then went on to scored twice in the 1st period and twice in the 2nd period. The Bruins lead the series 1-0.
The final game of the night was here on the West Coast in Vancouver! It was Game 1 between the Vancouver Canucks and the San Jose Sharks. I wasn't planning on going to the game. I picked up Hunter from daycare and we were walking in the door home at about 5:20pm and I got a text from my friend Art asking me if I wanted to go to the game. He had an extra ticket. I made a quick few phone calls and my neighbour Mary said she would be more then happy to watch Hunter while I ran out to the game. I was off and out the door 30 minutes later. Who knew?
Art has been a friend of mine for years and he is the same Art I interviewed in Episode 3 of Hockey Talk with Courtney this year. We were sitting up in the Best Buy section of the arena. Somewhere I had never sat before. It is up in the rafters and you get the eagle eye view of the game. I got to the rink about 6:25 with a 7:30 game time. Art and I went upstairs and ate delicious food provided in the section and had a glass of wine. Then Art went to go check on his crew quickly and I ran down to ice level to watch warm up. It is one of my favourite parts! I walked over to the Canuck side and it was busy. I wiggled my way down to about the 3rd row by where the Zamboni comes on to clean the ice. It was slightly less crowded and I had a perfect view to watch the players take shots on the net.
Once warm up ended and I ran back upstairs for the pre game show. Art and his crew had spent days putting everything together and had been at the rink till 10:00pm the past couple of nights rehearsing and making sure the show went off without a hitch! Needless to say it was a great show. It really got the crowd going. The towels were waving and it was loud.
The game started off in a good direction. Kevin Bieksa scored the opening goal of the game in the 2nd period. Logan Couture scored in the 2nd to tie up the game. In the 3rd period the Sharks made it 3-1 with goals by Dan Boyle and Patrick Marleau. The Sharks lead the series 1-0.
The are 4 games being played tonight on the 3rd day of playoffs (all times are PST):
The Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadians kick off their series off at 4:00pm
The New York Rangers and Washington Capitals series starts at 4:30pm
The Los Angeles Kings and St Louis Blues play again at 6:30pm (St Louis leads series 1-0)
The Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings go head to head at 7:00pm (Anaheim leads series 1-0)
Below I have uploaded a video I took of warm up. Enjoy and Happy Playoffs!