Yelnats Cup Playoffs: Recap for 04-18-2011

Things we've learned today:

- Heart and hard work don't win games. Of course, we already knew that, right Tom? I know a certain legendary Minnesotan coach who would beg to differ here as well. I'll give you a hint: his surname rhymes with ''crooks'', although that word has nothing to do with him.

Anyhoo, enough with that miniature version of Thought Bubble, on to the recaps. 4 games on the docket:

Join me after the jump for 4 servings of text-based Game 3 action!

Calgary Flames @ Edmonton Oilers

1st period:

2nd period:

3rd period:

Overtime:

Boom, Oilers take a bad penalty and suffer a heart breaking loss. Rene Bourque jumped on a Glencross rebound to win it for the road team, 5-4 in OT
In short, the Oilers showed a lot of HEART and scrapped their way to OT, but a costly mistake made it a loss. The problem is they waited too long to come to life. 3-0 in the series for Calgary, alert status red for Edmonton. There was an uncharacteristically low number of penalties between both teams, perhaps it's because they saw how deadly both powerplays were.

Game Summary:

Period                          1               2             3            OT            Total

CGY                              1               1             2              1                 5 

EDM                              0               1             3              0                 4

PIM CGY                      0               2             2              0                 4

PIM EDM                     0               0             2               2                 4

SHOTS CGY             12             11           8               3                  34        

SHOTS EDM             10              9          15               4                  38

3 stars:

#1 Curtis Glencross (2G, 1A, beast)

#2 Ryan Jones (GTG, A)

#3 Rene Bourque (OT winner, A)

Toronto Maple Leafs @ Florida Panthers

1st period:

2nd period:

3rd period:

2 fights in this one, lots of fury from both sides. The birth of a rivalry? Maybe I should send this recap to both teams. Toronto leading the series 2-1 now as the Panthers drop one at home.

Game Summary:

Period                         1                 2              3                 OT               Total

TOR                             1                2               0                    -                     3

FLA                              1                0               1                    -                     2

PIM TOR                   2                 5               5                    -                   12  

PIM FLA                   4                 5                5                   -                     14

SHOTS TOR         11              11               8                   -                      30

SHOTS FLA          10                7              14                 -                       31

3 stars:

#1 Dion FANOOF (2G)

#2 James Reimer (29 saves, 2GA)

#3 Joffrey Lupul (2A)

Atlanta Thrashers @ Ottawa Senators

1st period:

2nd period:

3rd period:

3-0 series lead for Ottawa, but you can bet the Thrashers are coming out with their guns ablazing in game 4,seeking retribution for the Lessard hit.  

Game summary:

Period                      1                   2                 3                  OT              Total

ATL                           0                  1                  0                     -                    1

OTT                          2                  0                  1                     -                    3

PIM ATL                  2                  2                   2                    -                    6                  

PIM OTT                 6                  4                  15                   -                   25

SHOTS ATL         12                10                  9                  -                    31 

SHOTS OTT          9                 10                 9                   -                    28 

3 stars:

#2 Erik Condra (1G, 1A)

#3 Radek Dvorak (G)

Minnesota Wild @ Columbus Blue Jackets

1st period:

Talk about an uneventful period. Seems like these two teams are always turning in these low shot, low scoring games doesn't it? No scoring, shots were 6-6, no penalties at all, lots of sleeping fans.

2nd period:

3rd period:

Overtime:

Game summary:

Period                               1              2              3                  OT              Total

MIN                                    0             0              2                      1                    3

CBJ                                   0              1              1                     0                    2

PIM MIN                           0             2               7                      0                   9

PIM CBJ                         0              0              4                       5                   9 

SHOTS MIN                  6              3             9                        4                   22

SHOTS CBJ                 6             10           16                      4                   36

3 stars:

#1 Niklas Backstrom (34 saves, 2GA)

#2 Martin Havlat (GTG, A)

#3 Pierre-Marc Bouchard (OT winner) 

PLAYOFF TREE

WESTERN CONFERENCE

bye

#10 Calgary Flames -  3

#15 Edmonton Oilers  -  0

#12  Minnesota Wild  -  3

#13 Columbus Blue Jackets  -  0

EASTERN CONFERENCE

bye

#10 Toronto Maple Leafs  -  2

#15 Florida Panthers  -  1

#12 Atlanta Thrashers  -  0

#13 Ottawa Senators  -  3

Playoff leaders:

GOALS

#1 Curtis Glencross, CGY, 5

ASSISTS

#5 Ilya Kovalchuk, NJD, 4

POINTS

#1 Travis Zajac, NJD, 7

#2 John Tavares, NYI, 7

#3 Ilya Kovalchuk, NJD, 7

#4 Curtis Glencross, CGY, 7

#5 Matt Moulson, NYI, 6

+/-

#2 Curtis Glencross, CGY, +4

#3 Lance Bouma, CGY, +4

SV%

#1 Niklas Backstrom, MIN, 0.967

#2 Craig Anderson, OTT, 0.960

#4 James Reimer, TOR, 0.913

GAA

#1 Niklas Backstrom, MIN, 0.70GAA

#2 Craig Anderson, OTT, 1.30GAA

#3 Steve Mason, CBJ, 1.88GAA

#4 Ondrej Pavelec, ATL, 2.59GAA

#5 James Reimer, TOR, 2.67GAA

SHUTOUTS

#1 Niklas Backstrom, MIN, 1

#2 Craig Anderson, OTT, 0

#3 Ondrej Pavelec, ATL, 0

#4 Steve Mason, CBJ, 0

#5 Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY, 0

WINS

#1 Niklas Backstrom, MIN, 3

#2 Craig Anderson, OTT, 3

#3 Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY, 3

#5 James Reimer, TOR, 2

For the next fews days, I may have trouble posting these because I'll be losing my internet connection sometime tomorrow because I'm moving back home soon, but I'll try to find a way, even if it's just game summaries.