
Two more series kicked off last night. The first was Game 1 between the all Canadian series the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens. It was an intense game filled with all the extras. Senator D-Man Erik Karlsson opened the scoring late in the 1st period. It was a beauty of a goal for the young swedish player who has only played 4 games since returning from injury. Karlsson only played 17 games in the regular season before a skate cut his leg during a game leaving him out of the lineup. Montreal took a 2-1 lead in the 2nd period only to have the Sens score 3 goals in the 3rd period and win 4-2. There was on "oh no" moment in the 2nd period Lars Eller was hit by Eric Gryba and knocked to the ice face first. There was blood and Eller was taken to hospital on a stretcher. For as physical as hockey is you never want to see this. Gryba insists that he was not going after Eller's head. Head hits are a no no in any level of hockey play. Eller was kept in hospital over night for observation. The Senators lead the series 1-0. A little fun fact? Considering these 2 teams are so close geographically it is wild to think that they are meeting up for the 1st time in playoffs in modern history. Remember the Canadiens are an Original 6 team while the Sens only joined the NHL in 1992. Let the sparks fly!



It looked like the Wings were going to take the "W" in regulation play. The Wings scored 2 goals in the 1st period and one in the 2nd to take a 3-0 lead. Anaheim was able to find the back of the net once and close the gap to 3-1. Detroit answered back with a 4th goal early in the 3rd period. 4-1 Wings until Anaheim Captain Ryan Getzlaf scored to make it 4-2 and give his team some energy (what was it with Captains yesterday just leading their teams). Kyle Palmieri scored for Anaheim to make it 4-3 and then it was a tying goal by Bobby Ryan that sealed the deal and sent the game into OT!
What were the Wings to do? End it early in OT which is just what they did. It was Gustav Nyquist 81 seconds into overtime that ended it! The series is now tied 1-1 and the teams head to Detroit to play games 3 and 4. Below I have included the highlights of this game. They are to good not to watch! And please check out Episode 3 of Hockey Talk with Courtney!
The Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadians play back to back with Game 2 at 4:00pm (Senators lead series 1-0)
The New York Islanders look to bounce back after a bad lose to the Pittsburgh Penguins at 4:00pm (Pens lead series 1-0)
The Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks battle it out at 6:30pm (Chicago leads series 1-0)
The the Vancouver Canucks look to even their series with the San Jose Sharks at 7:00pm (San Jose lead series 1-0)
Enjoy X