The first round of the NHL playoffs has been thrilling thus far, as the 16 teams have battled for a spot in the next round of action. Tonight, six teams square off in three important games.
The Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars have played three out of four of their games into overtime. They are knotted at two a piece and the Stars are hoping they can take the edge in tonight's game as the teams travel back to Dallas for one game before returning to Canada.
In game two, Edmonton evened the series at a game a piece through the efforts of Dan Cleary, Rem Murray, and Anson Carter who all scored on power-play goals as the Oilers beat the Stars 4-3 for the first time in 13 games in Dallas.
Game three saw the Stars go into Edmonton and regain the momentum, only to be deflated in game four by an overtime loss. For Edmonton, they must continue to keep pressure off goalie Tommy Salo, who has been inconsistent throughout the season and his entire career. But thus far, they have been able to use their youth and speed in their favor. The more overtimes they force, the better the chance they have of pulling off a series upset.
Another match-up, even at 2-2, will be played tonight in Missouri. The St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks are reliving last year's memorable series in which the Sharks came out on top.
With home-ice advantage, the Blues came off to a good start. Lead by Pierre Turgeon, who had a goal and two assists, the Blues won 3-1. St. Louis also got an outstanding performance from goalie Roman Turek, who saved 21 shots and allowed only one goal.
As the series has progressed, the Sharks have seen that Turek is playing with conviction, and not with the inconsistency he showed in the season. Thus, the Sharks are having difficulty scoring, even with power house players such Vinny Damphousse, Teemu Selanne, and captain Owen Nolan.
Unlike the Blues, the Sharks are having problems in the net as Evgeni Nabokov has the flu, which probably played a role in his poor performance in game three, and resulted in his absence from game four. His replacement though, Miikka Kiprusoff, came up with 39 saves in that game, which, combined with solid offensive production, led the Sharks to victory.
Now, with the series even, the Sharks must continue to work hard offensively and try to defeat Roman Turek, for this is the battle within the series that will determine the winner. Turek is trying to make up for poor play last year that resulted in his team's early exit, and so far has done well.
The Philadelphia Flyers are not having much luck with the Buffalo Sabres. After winning their regular season finale, Philly held the higher seeding, but now, when it matters most, they are folding.
The Flyers lost the first two games of the series in Philly. They then went to Buffalo two games down, needing to win one of these road games to stay in the series. They were able to do this by taking game three in Buffalo with the winning goal coming from an unlikely source.
Andy Delmore, a third year defensman for Philly, was told he was playing only 90 minutes before game time. He was inserted into the lineup in place of Chris McAllister, who had an awful night in the previous game. With people wondering whether this was a good decision, Delmore scored a goal with nine minutes left in the game to give Philly 3-2 victory and their first win in the series.
Now, the Flyers return home in hole, down 3-1, but at least they are not out. In order to win this game and push the series into the weekend, they will need to control Buffalo's Miroslav Satan, the right wing who scored 62 points this year. He leads the series with six points and has controlled the ice with the power play and penalty killing units. If they cannot, then Satan and the Sabres will finish off the Flyers, and earn a brief rest before round two.
