Round 2 started last night. Less then 24 hours after Round 1 ended. One thing about the playoffs is that there are unexpected surprises around every corner. If you look at the Conference Finals in the Western and Eastern Conference last year the Vancouver Canucks played the San Jose Sharks and the Boston Bruins played the Tampa Bay Lightning. This year Tampa didn't even make the playoffs, San Jose was eliminated in 5 game by St. Louis. Vancouver was eliminated in 5 games by Los Angeles and Boston was eliminated in 7 games by the Washington Capitals in large part by the amazing play of rookie netminder Braden Holtby. Interesting isn't it. Round 2 officially kicked off with the match of the Phoenix Coyotes and the Nashville Predators. The Preds are playing in round 2 for the second time ever in franchise history. Last was the first time they made the second round and were outed by the Canucks in 6 games. Phoenix on the other hand made the second round for the first time since they were relocated from Winnipeg back in 1996. And what a matchup last night ended up being!
Last night's gam ended in an entertaining overtime! Phoenix opened the scoring with a goal by Radim Vrbata, his first goal of the 2012 playoffs. Nashville tied it up with a goal by Brandon Yip to end the 1st period 1-1. Early in the 2nd period Rostislav Klesla scored for Phoenix only to have Andrei Kostitsyn tie it up with a goal for Nashville. But it wasn't over. Mikkel Boedker (who scored multiple OT wind for his team in the 1st round) made it a 3-2 Phoenix score by the end of the 2nd. Start of the third Nashville down by one. Late in the 3rd period it happened: Nashville tied it up with a goal on a rebound by Martin Erat. The game into OT and Ray Whitney scores for his team. Game over, Phoenix wins and leads the series 1-0. Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne stopped 20 of 24 shots but Mike Smith oh Mike Smith was the busy goalie stopping 39 of 42 shots! This was actually Phoenix's first appearance in the 2nd round since 1987. Ray Whitney scored his first OT goal since 1995, Phoenix sets a NHL record with 6 of there first 7 playoff games ending in OT and finally the Coyotes win a 2nd round playoff game for the first time ever in their franchise history! It was a big night in Phoenix! Below you can check out photos of the game and Brandon Yip's goal, Martin Erat's goal and Ray Whitney's Game Winning OT Goal!
Tonight's lineup starts early and consists of two games:
The Washington Capitals play the New York Rangers at 12:00
The Los Angeles Kings play the St. Louis Blues at 4:30 Enjoy X
The Washington Capitals play the New York Rangers at 12:00
The Los Angeles Kings play the St. Louis Blues at 4:30 Enjoy X
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